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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GIANTS v PHILLIES

October 15, 2010

Bruce Bochy

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Workout Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Bruce Bochy.

Q. Bruce, have you made any final decisions on the roster? And if not, what's still up in the air?
BRUCE BOCHY: We'll have the roster set this evening. We just want to talk to the players before we do set it. And whether we tweak it or not, we're still talking about it a little bit but would like to let the players know before we do set it.

Q. So it's been decided but you just haven't talked to the players?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah.

Q. As a former catcher, how much can you appreciate the matchup tomorrow?
BRUCE BOCHY: It's going to be a tremendous matchup. I mean, you have two of the best pitchers in the game. We have all the respect for Halladay. I mean, tremendous command in the strike zone. Great stuff. Great competitor. He's come off a great team, too. And we have a good one going, too.
I think as baseball fans we should all love this matchup and look forward to it. Two different styles. Their guy's probably a little bit more conventional to me with his unique delivery. But really when it comes down to it, he's in the same position. They have four plus pitches they can throw at any time with good command.

Q. The Phillies, did you see this coming a few years ago when you were in San Diego or even San Francisco that they were on the verge of doing something like this, of having this kind of run?
BRUCE BOCHY: You really could. What a great foundation they had back then of course with Howard and Utley. They've got Victorino. They have Werth, of course Rollins. And they have tweaked it a little bit. But they had the foundation. Had Hamels here. Good pitching staff.
So, no, I'm not surprised to see what they've done the last few years. And I think you have to say they're the elite club in this league. They've been to the World Series the last two years. They're where they're at right now. And I think everybody felt for you to get to where you want to go, this is the team that you'd be playing.

Q. With Tim's first game against Atlanta, the 14 strikeout game, was there any discussion of -- what went into the decision to send him back out there for the ninth? I know some people -- he was so dominant. There were some people saying would he go a complete game or not. And secondly, how do you balance that with him, say, tomorrow night, will you manage it like you do in the regular season, when it comes time to balance how far do you let Tim go if he's pitching well versus what the game dictates?
BRUCE BOCHY: Really, there was not any discussions as far as him going out there in the ninth, he had the ninth. If you look at the seventh and eighth, he was throwing the ball very well, and his pitch count was fine. And there's no question he was going to start the ninth.
And it comes down to a feel on the pitchers. Every game is a little different, how much they have to labor, the innings, pitches, how they go. And so as far as managing the game, we'll let our pitchers go if we think they're fine and they're not at that point. And that's not going to change.
And that means they have plenty of time off, and so I don't think we've ever really babied this kid. He's shown that he can go long innings and pitches.

Q. Can you talk about the decision to sit Pablo down and what does he need to get back in this series or just in the future? Is it really patience at the plate?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think a couple of things come into play here with Pablo. I think it's fair to say that he was searching with his swing. He probably lost a little confidence. It's been an up-and-down season for him. He had a tremendous year last year, and got off to a good start this year, in April, and then he started fighting it. And looked like he was coming out of it and he would slip back a little bit with his discipline.
So we just felt at that point Fontenot would give us a little more discipline, maybe a little bit more range at third base. So that's why we made the change. We still think a lot of Pablo. And this has been a tough year for him in the fact that he's had some ups and downs and he's not used to it. And we all go through it and he'll be a better player because of this but at some point you feel you need to make a change, which we did, you do it. Those games were vital. And we felt it was time to make a change.

Q. Just to follow up on that question, will Fontenot be playing third tomorrow? And also with Cody, any temptation to move him up from 8th based on the way he hit in the last series?
BRUCE BOCHY: As far as the lineup, we'll have it down tomorrow. Again, I'd like to talk to the players and let them know who is starting and who is not starting there.
As far as Cody, I thought he did a pretty good job where he was hitting in that 8th spot. He's a guy that does give you a little speed down there if you want to bunt him over. So I don't know if I'm going to move him up or not.

Q. You haven't needed a long guy, who is your long guy now, who would be? And might a move be made to try to get a long guy in there?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, when you are in a short series, and this is a little longer series, but you do have days off. We have guys that can go two innings or even three. Last series we had Mota, who we felt could give us two or three innings. Affeldt, Casilla, Ramirez, all of them, really. So we were comfortable there.
Plus, we had Bumgarner who did go to the last game, but needed we would have used him. But it would be similar in this series. We don't feel right now that we need a long guy because we have three, four, five pitchers that we would be comfortable throwing out there a couple innings.

Q. What do you see in Bumgarner that led you to make the decision to start him in Game 4 on the road being a rookie?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, since we brought this kid up, I think the way he's carried himself, he's not just great talent, he's got great makeup. There's no fear with him. There was no concern there he would be in awe of anything. Because the short time he's been up here, he's really handled himself so well. Last year it started when we had to give him a spot start when Randy Johnson went down, and he went out there and pitched the game like it was another game, and I really believe that was a great experience for him getting a little bit of time there in September.
As we got in Spring Training, he wasn't quite ready. So he went down to Fresno, to his credit worked hard. But when he came up, it was the same guy, very determined and, again, a great competitor at his age. I just love the way he handles himself out there, and the poise he carries throughout the game.

Q. Last time before you released the Division Series roster, you did volunteer that Rowand was on it. Is Rowand on it for NLCS?
BRUCE BOCHY: Aaron Rowand will be on the roster, yes.

Q. I have a question: In '98 I think Game 2 of the NLCS, and it was Glavine, Kevin Brown, do you remember that matchup? It was a great game. I think it was 3-0 that game. Do you remember that? Looking forward to that and thinking about that matchup, those two guys gone, any similarities here or is this just --
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, sure, I think they're similar to the matchups you're going to get here. And I think anytime you get down to this point, where you have four teams left, you're going to have great matchups. They will, in the American League; we will. Here every game to me is going to be a great matchup of starting pitching.
That's why you're at this point. But, sure, I go back even Johnson and Brown going at it, Houston there. But every team gets to this point probably has pretty good starting pitching.
Even in the Atlanta series, those were good matchups. We had to go in Atlanta and see Hudson and Lowe who were throwing the ball very well. So that's going to happen when you get to this point.

Q. If I can follow up on Aaron: When we talked about the Division Series, the Braves had the lefties late, these guys have right-handers late. What about him do you think he can contribute to the series? Is it experience in this ballpark or environment? What do you like about him?
BRUCE BOCHY: I think the things you just mentioned, he's been through it. He's not the guy we just put in there against lefties. He can handle right-handers. He's played in this park. He knows what it's going to be about. He can help out the other players. He gives me flexibility if I want to double-switch and keep a pitcher out there, I could put him out in the outfield and be comfortable with that.
So he gives you some options, which you do like. And as you mentioned, experience is nice to have when you're in this situation.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Bruce.

End of FastScripts

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