DUSTY BAKER: Well, last two games guys usually go deep into the ball game. We didn't get there. Livan started out throwing the ball excellent, then that leadoff walk to Eckstein started things off like he usually does. It was a tough night for us. They were hitting. They've been hitting the last two games. I don't know, hopefully they hit themselves out, I hope. I don't know, just a rough night for us. Those pair of fours made it a very tough deficit. I think in the third and fourth inning, any time you get a pair of fours like that, it makes it extremely tough.
Q. Can you just talk about Barry's performance over these first three games?
DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, well Barry is doing his thing. He's doing what he's capable of doing. He doesn't surprise us, because we've been watching him for a long time. Barry is swinging the bat great. Hopefully we can get some other guys in on the hit parade. Quite frankly, this is the first -- second series in a row where we started off with a 2-1 deficit, almost a mirror image game of Atlanta. I think they beat us 10-2, then we came back and won the next two. Hopefully, history will repeat itself starting tomorrow.
Q. The Angels have batted around six times in this postseason. From what you've seen of them, what is it about their style of play, their line-up, that allows so many big innings for them?
DUSTY BAKER: Number one, they have right, left, right, left, right, left. You get a right-hander out, here comes a left-hander, another right-hander, left-hander; they put the ball in play, they run the bases well. If you walk somebody, most of them have good speed and that allows Scioscia to do some things. Most of the guys over there are contact hitters, you don't strike them out very much. They do have a very good line-up.
Q. What about your pitching? It seems that your relief pitching has let you down also.
DUSTY BAKER: Well, your relief pitcher is down when you have to go to them uncharacteristically early. We've been going to them the last two days in the third and fourth inning. We need some innings from our starters. Kirk Rueter, the big-game guy tomorrow, hopefully he can go deep into the ball game and give our relief pitchers some breathing room - at least some time off. When they're in there as early as they've been the last two days, it's really more about preserving somebody versus having the proper matchup against whoever is up there hitting. When you go that early, it's more about damage control than anything, because you certainly don't want to go the next day with everybody tired. That's why today we didn't go with Felix in that one inning, even though his pitch count was low. We didn't use Worrell, Zerbe that went four innings two days ago and we didn't use Robb Nen. So that's why our usually great relief pitching has been down the last couple days.
Q. You think the cold weather affected Livan's start tonight?
DUSTY BAKER: No, I don't think so. We're used to playing in cold weather. But Livan does love the hot weather, being from Cuba and Miami. I don't know if it was the cold weather or just their hot bats.
End of FastScripts...
