MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 13, 2004

Jack McKeon

JACK McKEON: Well, I thought we might be in trouble. (Laughter.) You know, he's been a warrior and sometimes it happens to the best of them. They get an early jump on them. You manage in this league so many years, you say to them, get this guy early because, if you let him get by he's going to be tough. We saw the same thing in the World Series last year with Roger; got a couple, three runs off him the first of inning and the rest night he shut us down. He's a premium pitcher and just had a bad first inning. What are you going to do about it? It's tough. You put yourself in a big hole, and our guys battled back; we just didn't have enough fire power at the end.

JACK McKEON: Well, you know, if you go on what happened last year, it doesn't mean a thing. You know, somewhere along the line, it's going to pay off for somebody. I think as Joe Torre and I said earlier today, sometimes it's tougher when you play the first two games at home that you almost have to win two, because if you get a split, you're in the hands of the opposition by going into the next place where you've got three games and they could have the advantage. You know, I think baseball is trying to find a solution that would make this game worth something, and they have been doing a good job. As far as saying it's definite, that this is going to happen every year, these guys out here are all pros. They come out, everyone went out there and they want to show the whole country and the whole world what kind of players they are. They play hard. Sometimes it's the luck of the draw, the breaks you get that determine whether you win or lose the ballgame. The first inning tonight was the difference in this ballgame. You can't say that we went out and tried to give somebody the game so that we could not have a home-field advantage.

JACK McKEON: Not really. You know, I had my mind how I wanted to use most of those guys, and, you know, we wanted to get Barry and some of the good guys up three times and let the fans see these guys. Whether we'd have been ahead by six runs or behind, we'd have done the same thing. I think it may have -- the difference came out in your pitching. The only bad part of it was we weren't prepared to substitute in the second inning. We figured Roger might be able to go two. But after he threw 30-some odd pitches, I don't think it was advisable to let him go. And here was a youngster out here that could warm up quickly and had a chance to get him in the game rather than go with Johnson who maybe we didn't give enough time to warm up.

JACK McKEON: Well, you know, the crowd, the fans come to see Barry Bonds. But, I mean, this is all baseball. That pitcher who was pitching did not try to walk Barry Bonds. You know, does anybody give him a reaction when you walk Thome or somebody else? It just happens to be, you know, Barry Bonds. It's now taken for granted that every time he walks, he's not supposed to walk. But he's no different than any other player, and especially in the game tonight where there was nobody worrying about whether you pitch to him or you didn't pitch to him. You were pitching to him tonight and he walked. So, no, it wasn't going to change the strategy of the game. He just wanted three at-bats and that's what he got. Thanks a lot guys, you're wonderful and I appreciate it. Oh, Joe, you're here, congratulations.

JOE TORRE: You guys have got the World Series, let me alone. (Laughter.)