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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GIANTS v PHILLIES

October 21, 2010

Bruce Bochy

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Game Five

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Bruce Bochy.

Q. Did you have maybe your daily conversation with Juan about his wrist? Is it any better than even it was yesterday?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I did talk to Juan earlier. He says it feels a lot better. He said that after batting practice yesterday. So he's good to go and that's why he's in there. Much improved, and that's good news for us.

Q. As Buster was going 1 for 11 to start this series, was he scuffling, just not quite doing them? Because he looked like he was pretty locked in last night?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I think you have to give credit to the pitching we're facing. As they say, good pitching can shut down good hitting. And he has been seeing some outstanding pitching. But all hitters, they get out of sync occasionally, and I think that's the case with Buster. But they came out of it, which he did last night.

Q. Yesterday you said that no one in the clubhouse was thinking World Series. You're up 3-1. You're at home. The city's ready to explode if you guys win. How do you keep this team focused with the task at hand today, tough game?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think you have to remind yourself it's the same game. You play the game the same. And that's play it right, play it hard. You have to forget the bigness of it and go out there and play. And these guys have done a great job of that.
We've had a lot of big games down the stretch in September. Of course Atlanta. They're all big games. But you just gotta keep going out there and doing the same thing you've been doing.

Q. Are any of your relievers not available to you today?
BRUCE BOCHY: They're all available in the bullpen. So we're all set there. No problems there.

Q. You just talked about all the tight games you guys played in September. And we've focused a lot on how those one-run games, the tight games in September, have helped your players in the postseason, because they draw on that experience. How does that help you? You constantly have to draw on your managing experience throughout your career, but what about the month of September and all those tight games, how have they helped you in your decisions making tough decisions that have paid off a lot in the postseason?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, sometimes they pay off. But, you know what, it's how we play. You get used to it. And that's the part of the game probably as a manager that you enjoy. When you play a lot of tight games, you have a lot of moves -- we made three double switches last night -- you certainly can't drift mentally, that's for sure, when you're not putting a lot of runs on the board and playing these tight games.
And I got Ron Wotus there to help me out, Dave Righetti, and we talk about the different options we have. But when you do it enough times, it does help you too, not just the players, to remember all your options, because you have something to draw back on.

Q. A lot has been said about this team having a bunch of outcasts, misfits. They've all kind of come together. Do you think that in the age of sabermetrics that a lot of the qualities these guys have, like clubhouse presence, maybe gets overlooked?
BRUCE BOCHY: Oh, I do. I think those type of things, the guys with makeup, can get overlooked. Because when you put together a club, hopefully you have guys who are unified. You have that chemistry.
And that's not something that just happens. You have to work at it. These guys do. They play well together. And, like I said, we've had roles change. But they've accepted it and they've gone about their business in a professional way. But those type of tangibles do get overlooked, I think. You have a lot of great winning-type players out there.
If you look at their tools, they may not grade out all that well, but they find a way to win.

Q. We were just debating about how it seems like you're managing in a different way, maybe from mid-September on through now than you did earlier in the season. How aware of that are you? And are you less concerned about ruffling some feathers or people being hurt because of some lineup changes?
BRUCE BOCHY: I don't know if I'm managing really any different than what I was doing earlier. Maybe somebody told me that there's something that stands out that tells me that. But it's not so much ruffling feathers, it's doing what's right and putting the guys out there that you think are going to help you win that game.
Now, a player's performance does dictate playing time. When you have a guy like Torres, for example, goes out there and plays the type of ball that he's been playing, he's going to be out there. It's nothing against the other -- the other players, when a player does that, it's just doing what's right.

Q. I wanted to ask you if you can just talk about the team contribution, yesterday's game was phenomenal, but it just seems like each game the team just gets that much better.
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah. What's great about what's happened to this point, it's been different players who have found a way to contribute. They find a way to step in the breach and get it done. And that's what it takes. We don't have one guy that carries a starter that you may see on some other clubs.
Now Posey had a great day yesterday. Ross has had some great days, but if you look at really everybody that's done something, Edgar Renteria gets in there and gets a couple of starts and helps us. Rowand gets a couple of starts. He gets a big double and makes a great throw. That's what it takes to win ballgames, you have 25 guys who find a way to contribute and these guys are doing it.

Q. Can Pablo's contribution last night really jump-start this guy? He looked like his old self. And I know he's been trying to relax and take deep breaths and all that stuff.
BRUCE BOCHY: That's what you hope. I thought he had some good at-bats yesterday. And this guy can hit. He's a good player. Sure, he's had his ups and downs, and we all do. But he's always going to have that ability to hit and sometimes he becomes his own worst enemy by putting a little added pressure on himself.
But I thought last night's game was a game that should give him some confidence and something to build on.

Q. What did you see from Sanchez in Game 2?
BRUCE BOCHY: Jonathan you're talking about? I thought he threw the ball well. I thought he did a good job. Johnny's been probably as good as anybody on our staff the last six weeks. I thought he did a nice job in Game 2.

Q. As you said, you were kind of busy last night with all the double switches and right to the last second of that game. I'm just wondering if you were able, like when you got home, to reflect on it and think, wow, that was quite a baseball game we were in?
BRUCE BOCHY: Not really, to be honest. Brian Sabean and I stayed here in the clubhouse for a while. Had the families in and we just got together.
But no, because you're thinking too much about tonight's game. And you put that game behind you. And hopefully in the winter you have time, maybe reflect back on a great ballgame like we had last night.

Q. First quick one, are you going to take any money from Row for missing the cut-off man?
BRUCE BOCHY: No. There's no charge there. The rule is if you throw them out, there's no fine.

Q. Actually, the other question I wanted to touch on, whenever you ask Sabean anything related to the lineup he always says: Well, that's Bruce's call. But I get the sense that you and he almost work it as a team trying to make some of the decisions -- maybe not on a game-by-game basis but some of the longer-term decisions who are we going to give a shot to at this position for a while. Is that fair to say?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I think Brian and I do work together well, as far as baseball decisions, the lineups. I like to listen to my staff, Brian, our Major League scouts, Joe Lefebvre, he's been here. And we talk about a lot of different options we have with the lineup. And I get all the information I can. But Brian and I do discuss the lineup. And he has suggestions and we work well together. And we come up with what we think is our best lineup.

Q. You remember last time you did three double switches in one game?
BRUCE BOCHY: You know, somebody asked me that earlier. I'm sure I did earlier in the year. I couldn't tell when you. I just got caught in a situation where I wanted some more work out of a pitcher. Just happened to come up. And what's nice to have here is the luxury of having that flexibility with guys who can play different positions or guys that I can double-switch with.
Last night, when Pablo hit in the double play, well, I knew I wanted Lopez to face one hitter, and that's why I didn't pinch run for Pat at that time. But if Pablo doesn't hit in that double play, then Fontenot probably hits and Schierholtz runs for Pat.

End of FastScripts

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