MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS v WHITE SOX

October 23, 2005

Phil Garner

PHIL GARNER: No, I don't think so. We had to pitch up to Podsednik and I started last year, every time we get a pitch up over the plate he's hit it hard somewhere. And we've had a tough time pitching him consistently. And that's what happened tonight. Didn't have anything to do with last week.

PHIL GARNER: Well, we're certainly not in a good spot. We had a chance to win this ballgame tonight. As badly as we played, we had a chance to win this ballgame. And that would have been a feel-good experience. We have to go home and regroup and see what we can do now. This is not the best situation, but it's the one we're in and we'll do -- we'll bounce back. We'll make a series out of this.

PHIL GARNER: I thought the ball hit the bat. And I don't know what would have happened after that, but clearly I thought the ball hit the bat.

PHIL GARNER: He's pretty sore. We're still in a day-to-day mode with him, but he's pretty sore today.

PHIL GARNER: I like the non-DH better, I think it's better baseball. And of course each night every player on the bench gets a chance to be a part of the ballgame. And so I think that's just a lot more fun, a lot more fun way to play. We'll make the moves we always make. We'll pinch-hit, we'll double switch, we'll defensively make moves.

PHIL GARNER: No, he said it was his call.

PHIL GARNER: Brad (Ausmus) asked him to get help and I asked him to check the ball if it had a black mark, and the ball was already gone. We didn't get any.

PHIL GARNER: Yeah, again, we had -- you know, clearly everything they're doing right now is right. They can't do anything wrong. And so a lot of things are going their way, even if they check swing and break a bat, they move a runner along. The next guy hits a ball that would be a double play, instead he gets to third base, just little things like that that are going their way right now. I kind of thought we turned it around when we went ahead in the ballgame. So it hasn't been that way. We hit some balls good against Buehrle, but just like last night, the art of pitching is throwing the ball over the plate and making them hit it at somebody, and that's what they're doing right now to us.

PHIL GARNER: No, I wanted to win. I'm confident. I thought you said "comforted." No, I'm confident we can come back. I'm not comfortable at all. I'm upset, I'd like to win a ballgame.

PHIL GARNER: We had three balls that should have been caught. And instead of outs we had two runs on the board. You don't know if we make those plays, which we're very capable of making the plays, it might take them out of the ballgame at that point. But we didn't and they made them count. And the good news is we bounced back in the game. We came back from that.

PHIL GARNER: I'll say something to them by putting them right back into the same situation come Tuesday.

PHIL GARNER: I don't know if it was. I haven't talked to him about it, but clearly he didn't throw the ball like he normally does or locate like he normally does. But I didn't have a feel that the conditions were a factor tonight, necessarily. It might have been with -- when it started raining a little bit with a couple of players, water dripping off your hat, it has to have a little bit of an effect on you. But I thought aside from that, both teams did a pretty good job of handling the conditions tonight.

PHIL GARNER: With Lane in the outfield --

PHIL GARNER: No, he's been about the best leftfielder in the National League well. And he's been hitting the ball well, too.

PHIL GARNER: I'll say the next time we have the same situation, it's Tuesday night, he'll be in the ballgame. He's my closer. He's our go-to guy. He's going to be fine. He'll do just fine.