NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS v CARDINALS

October 16, 2004

Phil Garner

PHIL GARNER: Well, I might adjust my bullpen just a little bit. With the Rocket going and with Oswalt going, I typically go deeper in the game with those guys, give them a little more opportunity. You may see a little difference in the next couple of games. May not do the similar things with Brandon Backe, I manage a little bit differently with him. But our guys have done a pretty decent job out of the bullpen. We hit a little rocky spot right here. Hopefully, we can get over that. I think we can.

PHIL GARNER: I was exactly six miles east of La Pryor, Texas. It's 20 miles south of the valley. That's the precise moment. About 1,000 yards off of Highway 57, close to the Nueces River. I was actually in a barn.

PHIL GARNER: Yes, it was my granddaughter's birthday. I was with my son, we were at the barn, headed over to the birthday party. They were getting the birthday party ready to go, so I was helping my son do a couple of things when I got the call. I normally don't have my phone with me, which is kind of unusual. I guess I had it clipped on my side because when we're out there working or doing something, I don't usually have it with me. So it was kind of unusual.

PHIL GARNER: Getting back into the game, well, I had thought that if an opportunity came up, I wanted to take a look at some opportunities. Having not thought it was going to be the Houston Astros. I had been to a few games this summer, reading some of the comments that were made in the papers here, really didn't think I was on the radar screen here. I knew Gerry Hunsicker, but not very well. I'd only talked to him in passing perhaps once, maybe twice over the past few years, just at the golf tournament to say hello. Didn't really think I was in the mix here, so hadn't really given it much thought here.

PHIL GARNER: He does have a slight pull, I think, in the rib cage, on the left side of the rib cage. He's taken some injections, just some numbing injections, kind of like novocaine. It works for him very well during the game. It's something we've tried to manage that way. It's not anything that he's going to hurt any more by doing that, as we've discussed all that with the doctors. I don't think it's a factor for him once you get going in the game. He has good days and bad days. He'll have some days in between starts, a lot of times when he throws bullpen, he doesn't feel it at all. Of course when you start to ramp up a little bit for the game, that's when you tune things up, push a little harder, so you notice it a little bit more there. It really hasn't been a factor. There are occasions late in the ballgame when he might feel it a little bit, but it's not something I've had to go take him out because he can't pitch anymore.

PHIL GARNER: Well, days when it's hot, I think it's probably a little better for us to have it closed. I've not noticed a difference. Some of the players think the ball carries a little bit better, particularly if the wind's blowing out, if the flags are blowing out a little bit. Some people think the ball carries a little bit better. I haven't noticed. I haven't seen the wind blow out that much. I haven't noticed that much. My preference is when it's a beautiful night, it is nice to have the roof open. We've had a couple of nice nights when the roof's been open, it's very nice. We've not had a game here where we've had it open during the day and we've experienced these shadows, so that's a question today we'll have to take a look at.

PHIL GARNER: Well, he is quiet. He doesn't speak very much. He's very confident. He carries himself very confidently. Very bright young man that I think understands the game very well, understands what he wants from the game and what he has to do to stay at the top level of the game. Sometimes you see young kids that need to experience a little bit of flavor before they realize how hard they have to work before you stay on top of the game. I think he understands how much you have to work to stay on top of the game. He's a very giving person. Very quietly does things on his own right for charitable things. He's a very kind person, and a tremendous athlete. I think what you would notice from him is a very even personality. Doesn't get angry, doesn't get upset very much, very even temperament. The more you watch him play, as I described to somebody this morning, some players, the more you watch them play, you see some of the things that they can't do and maybe some of the warts come out. The more you watch him play, the more you like him. He does things effortlessly, and in the beginning, you don't realize how much ground he covers when he runs, you don't realize how really a good player he is; you have to watch it over time.

PHIL GARNER: I think Roy pitched well in his own right before Rocket came here. I think Rocket's done nothing but help take Roy to the next level. One of the things that I feel like Roy will benefit from is over the long haul, from what he gains from watching the Rocket work and pitch and how he goes about his business. Now, Roy is in his own right works hard and has learned to work a little bit harder. Going back to what I say about some young guys, sometimes they don't realize how much work you have to put into it to stay on top of your game. Roy, from this year, from what I understand, he has worked harder, he has a routine that's better-suited now for longevity. I think he'll learn even more, as time goes on, what he's seen Roger do, how Roger prepares himself and how he works in between starts will be something that Roy will draw on for many years. Also, I think having somebody like Rocket on the team is just good from the sense of the feeling that you get when you're around him. There's a great sense of confidence. We've all spoken about the Rocket's intensity. There's no question there is nobody more intense than him. I think that's good for Roy. Roy is intense in his own right. I think it helps Roy. I think one pulls the other up. I think Rocket pulls Roy up a little bit and I think there are times when Roy can lift us a little bit as a team, too.

PHIL GARNER: When I took over the club, we were struggling offensively. Everybody might remember that. We were having a lot of problems. So we were trying different things, we were putting people in different slots. I read every stat, I think, there is out there, and I'm aware of a lot of things. One of the things you talk about, you put your high on-base percentage guys ahead of your high slugging percentage guys, so we stacked the lineup like that for a while. Didn't work. We stacked the lineup, left-handers for a while, right-handers. That didn't work. You try to put your best hitters together for a while, that didn't work. I'm fooling around one day, I noticed Beltran hit well in the second spot. I decided to move him up there. Baggy has always been a good number 3 hitter, we tried that, moved Berkman 4, Kent 5. That's where everybody seemed to be comfortable. It looked like Beltran took off when he was in the 2 hole. It looked like Baggy was comfortable in the 3, Berkman 4, Kent 5. We just left it that way.

PHIL GARNER: I think it's important to have left-handers in the lineup. I think that most teams don't win unless you have a pretty good lineup. I go back to the old Toronto Blue Jays. They were a dominant right-handed hitting team. I think they only had Olerud as a left-hander in a lineup, if I'm not mistaken, when I think back to that lineup when they were winning the World Series. But they hit right-handers very well. The reason you like to have left-handers in the lineup is because the league is dominantly right-handed. We look at all the stats, and you think you have to have left-handers, and most people are going to turn Beltran and Berkman around. King has had some success. It was good to see Berkman be able to come through against him the other night. One side, I'm glad to have three switch-hitters in the lineup, but from one side it's hurt the bench a little bit because when you have Vizcaino on the bench as a switch-hitter, I think it helps strengthen your bench because most managers like to bring in left-handers to face left-handed pitching. If you have a left-hander and you have a switch-hitter on the bench, it makes choices a little more difficult sometimes. But I think having the switch-hitter in the lineup is a good thing. Is it a dying art? I don't know, I don't recall a lot of switch-hitters when I was playing. So if I go back to the decade I was playing, I don't recall a lot of switch-hitters and prior to that, I don't know. So that's a good question that might have to take a little research. I don't really know that.

PHIL GARNER: Well, I sure hope so. We did play well at home. I think we're more confident at home. And certainly we're in a situation where we need to win at home. Our crowd has been fantastic. The city is abuzz. Everywhere you go, people are excited and wishing us good luck. I stopped at a restaurant last night and walked in, people were just going crazy. So I have a bunch of napkins in there with good luck wishes on it. Certainly, our fans here are excited and they're happy for us. That's going to help. This is a partisan crowd and it's going to be in our advantage in that regard.