THE MODERATOR: First question for Mike Scioscia, please.
Q. If you could talk a little bit about the Giants' pitching, particularly Jason Schmidt and how he seemed to set the tone the first couple innings?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I think a lot of that, he really pitched Ersty tough. When we had Adam on third base, when Eck moved him over, worked a lot on him and made some tough pitches. You got to tip your cap to Schmidt. I think in a couple situations he really stepped up and made some pitches. He was trying to go for a strikeout, he got it with Ersty. That was key. Made a good pitch on Tim Salmon, too, for the popup, he got it out where he wanted it. Those are obviously two important parts of the game, we've been good at that all year. We'll bounce back and get it done tomorrow.
Q. We talked about the Fullmer double, then Anderson, obviously the situation dictated him going. It didn't look like --?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: It was Spiezio's double.
Q. Didn't look like he was running very well.
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Garret has had a tight hamstring for the latter part of the year. He's still not 100 percent. He was going -- I thought he was moving well. It's just the ball ricocheted a little bit shallow out to Reggie in rightfield. Then they had a nice relay lined up. Even though it got by Jeff Kent, J.T. was right there and he was going to make a relay home. Garret wouldn't have beat that.
Q. Mike, how big was Anderson's striking out in the fifth inning? You got a base hit there. Just about opened the game up. How big was that strikeout for you?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, I think there were points of that game where we were gathering a little bit of momentum. In fact, I think, offensively, I think we pressured them a lot during that game. Those guys did a good job on the mound. They came up with some key pitches. That at-bat you're talking about, Garret, he made some terrific pitches to Garret to obviously strike out a very, very good hitter. So, those guys did a good job on the mound tonight. I thought we pressured them, like we needed to. We didn't -- a couple at-bats hurt us a bit, but for the most part, I thought, offensively, we put pressure on them, which usually gets us a breakthrough.
Q. This is now the third straight Game 1 loss for you guys. Do you think that makes it easier for you to bounce back tomorrow?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, this obviously isn't a blue print to go out and lose Game 1 of any series. It is the third time it happened, but we're not looking at anything along those lines. Like I said, we come out here, we're going to look one game at a time and let you guys add them up. You need four games to win this series. We didn't help ourselves tonight. We will bounce back and play a good game tomorrow. I know this club. Tonight, we did a lot of things like we needed to. Those guys on the mound, when there were some key at-bats, they made some clutch pitches.
Q. Did Bonds' home run in the second inning change your strategy pitching to him?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: No, I thought Jarrod didn't get the fastball where he wanted to and Barry hit it out. That was really that at-bat. I thought we made some good pitches to Barry. He hit a couple balls hard to first -- hit a ball hard to first, Jarrod worked the latter and got him on a strikeout. As we talked about before, I think there are going to be times when you are going to back off and not want to challenge Barry and there are going to be times you're going to go after him. Tonight, Jarrod challenged him, didn't quite get the fastball where he wanted to. He hit a home run his first at-bat. That's baseball.
Q. There were no hits by either team off either bullpen. Is that pretty much sum up these two teams?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, both teams have the ability to shorten a game. We know that coming in. We've been great at it all year. The Giants have been great at it. The key for the Giants, too, is Felix Rodriguez is back throwing the ball very well for them. I think he's a key part of their bullpen. He did a good job for them tonight. I think you're going to see these games be able to be shortened like that, and we hit some balls hard, we didn't have much to show for it there in the last couple innings. Both clubs definitely, I think the reason why we're even here in the World Series is the work of the bullpen. Both clubs can shorten the bullpen as well as anybody in the game today. I think you saw an indication of it tonight.
Q. Most people, obviously in the Bay area, are aware of J.T.'s fielding and defense. How about the home run? Was that at all a surprise?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: Well, J.T.'s got some pop in his bat; we know that. As that at-bat was going on, and actually as the game was going on, he was really getting better swings up at the plate. Jarrod got behind him. When you're pitching behind a lot, it obviously gives the advantage to the hitter. He tried to come back into the zone, he got behind 3-0, tried to come back into the zone, did for a strike. The next pitch J.T. didn't miss. So, J.T. has some pop; we know that. He can definitely hurt you and stayed on that pitch and drove it out to left center. That was obviously a good at-bat for him and a key at-bat in the game.
Q. If two elements in this series that you don't normally have, you have a daytime and a nighttime portion of the game. Can you tell us how -- does the ball differ that much between the day and night? Is that going to be a factor in the rest of this series?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: I thought coming in, when we started the playoffs, it would have a factor, obviously starting on the West Coast, we were starting at five o'clock, that it would be a factor. But it really hasn't. I don't think the shadows have had much to do with it. I don't think the twilight has much affected the game. I think guys are seeing the ball well. I'm a little surprised that it hasn't been an issue, but I think -- I don't know if today, it was a little bit overccast, it hasn't been an issue But shadows can get nasty. I don't really remember Pac Bell, it's certainly something we want to look at when we get up there, see the time of day.
Q. Does the ball travel better here?
MIKE SCIOSCIA: The ball will travel better during the day. I thought the ball was traveling well tonight, though, as the night went on. So...
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