NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PADRES v BRAVES

October 11, 1998

Bruce Bochy

Chris Gomez

BRUCE BOCHY: Greg Vaughn feels much better. He's -- he was taking ground balls today, and he can get all the way down. Yesterday it was still biting him a little bit. His status right now: He's available to pinch-hit. If we had to put him out there, we could do it. As far as a start, I still -- I say he's questionable for tomorrow, but he should be ready in a couple of days.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, with this situation -- it wouldn't matter what the record would be in this series, I couldn't put him out there today. He's just not quite to that point where he could go out and play left field. I said yesterday that that's the area he's having trouble with, his lateral movements and getting down on the ground ball. As far as swinging the bat, he's fine.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think every manager uses his instincts. You have your information and you prepare before a game, and then really it comes down to the players, how they perform. They can make you look good. In this game, it doesn't matter a lot of times what moves you make, if they work, it looks like you did the right thing, if not, then, sure, we're going to be questioned. That's the nature of the game. Myself, sure, I use my instincts, and I think every manager does that.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, frankly, I felt like either Hitchcock or Donne Wall or Vander Wal -- there were guys that had great games. So for me, one of those players should have won that. But it's an honor and I appreciate it, but, again, those guys certainly came through for us.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, it's a different situation. I was a player. I was a road player on that team, being a back-up catcher. I mean, actually my job is more involved. I didn't play in the Chicago series in '84. In the World Series, I got one at-bat. So this is a little bit different. You have to be involved on every play, and to be honest, sometimes you sit there. It may be tougher as a coach or manager, because the only thing you can do is sit there and watch.

BRUCE BOCHY: Andy Ashby will be in Game 5. He threw well in Atlanta. We want to keep him on his rotation.

BRUCE BOCHY: Sure. Kevin Brown would go game 6.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, Wally's had a nice year. He's been very productive for us. He had a setback with his shoulder that has been nagging him, really, the last six weeks, but he's battled through it. But he means so much to us, his presence in the line-up; he does a good job at first; he's a clutch hitter. Leyritz will be at first base today. It's probably more the case with a lefty out there. Jim is playing well. I'd like to give Wally another day because it's still there. And I think at times, he's better off taking a day off.

BRUCE BOCHY: Yes, Ruben is out in left field.

CHRIS GOMEZ: I guess you could say we're thinking sweep, just because of the fact if we win tonight it is a sweep. We're just saying: "Let's win this ballgame." As boring as that may sound, you just take it one day at a time. That's how you have to do it, especially with this pitching staff. You can't look past anybody. I'm sure that the Atlanta Braves are very capable of winning four in a row. We realize that. We're going to go the same way we've been doing all the playoffs.

CHRIS GOMEZ: It's amazing. I think it gets everyone going. It doesn't take much to motivate you at this level, at this point in the season. But if there's an extra level we can get to, this stadium and these fans are taking us to that level. I've never experienced anything like this before in my life. Even like opening day when we had big crowds when Sammy and McGwire were in town. We had the big crowds, loud crowds, but nothing like this. You can see it in the players, in their emotions. We're out there playing hard, and the fans appreciate that. And we appreciate the fans coming out and showing their support like that.

CHRIS GOMEZ: For them or for us?

CHRIS GOMEZ: Yeah. You've got to realize we're competitors, and we were trying to go for the home field advantage at the time. And it's kind of a weird situation where it was late in the ballgame, tie ballgame, you need a home run, and the fans are going crazy. I think we can understand the home run chase. But being competitors like we are, and pro athletes, I think the guys got upset because that pretty much lost the ballgame for us, and they were cheering it. It's just a spur of the moment reaction. And that's long forgotten. Hopefully by the fans, too.

CHRIS GOMEZ: I think just beating them in general. I guess you can say Randy Johnson is a big factor in that with the confidence thing. We've always had confidence. I don't want to say that gave us any extra confidence. We played well all year. We slumped toward the end of the season, and we feel we can go and beat anybody they throw out at us. All these pitchers have been throwing well against us. I think the pitchers have been doing the job of not giving up too much. And we've been able to beat these teams. So we haven't really been -- yeah, we beat them, but we really haven't been shelling them or anything. It gives us confidence so we can win these close games.

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