MLB WORLD SERIES: PADRES v YANKEES

October 17, 1998

Bruce Bochy

BRUCE BOCHY: It was obvious we would like to have had it. Langston, he thought it was there. Carlos thought it was there. It's hard to see it in the dugout. I haven't seen the play. It turned out to be a big pitch and the ball didn't go our way.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, we said before the inning started if he scuffed at all, we're going to get him. He was getting there. He did his job. He pitched a great game for us, took a great shot off the shin. I know he wasn't saying much about it, but I caught him pretty good. We talked about it, and said, hey, if he struggles at all, which he started to, we felt he was at that point. And Donne came in, he'd been in that situation all year. It just didn't work out.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, there's not a whole lot you can do. You have to throw a strike and that's all he was trying to do. You have no place to put them. He was frustrated. Mark was -- he was upset. You know, it's tough when a call doesn't go your way. It certainly hurt us there.

BRUCE BOCHY: Sure we do. This bullpen has done a great job for us. You know, Donne is a big reason why, you know, we've had a good year in that bullpen, and it didn't work out for him today. I thought Langston made some good pitches. You know, you give them credit. They came back on us, but the big inning killed us. It's something we have to stop. You know, all these games, bullpens are going to play a role. You have to go to them. We feel like we had a good bullpen here.

BRUCE BOCHY: No, actually, Miceli is doing pretty good now. Toward the end of the Atlanta series, his arm was fatigued there. But he's okay to go now.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think a little bit of both. You know, I thought he made some good pitches too. But he did run some deep counts there. He worked hard out there. You know, he was out of his routine a little bit because he was going to start that seventh game in Atlanta, but I thought -- he pitched well. He did his job. You know, we just couldn't hold them with our bullpen.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, he's a good hitter. You're hoping he doesn't get on track. But you know, you look back and you know when Langston threw a 2-2 pitch, you're wanting it bad and it didn't happen. Mark had to come at him. He got all of it.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I don't think it's a wasted opportunity. Sure, you hate to lose a 5-2 lead. You know, this is something we'll have to put behind us. But, you know, that's a good ball club over there. I thought we played well, thought we swung the bats well, off of Wells. We came out and, you know, played a good ball game until the 7th inning, it got out of hand there. That's what a big inning will do to you.

BRUCE BOCHY: Joey was available. But, again, Donne's been in that situation all year, all year we've used him in that 7th inning and he's done a good job there. You know, you kind of stay with what got you here and, you know, we felt like Donne would get the job done. It didn't happen. He needs to put that behind him because this bullpen, it's going to get used this series. They need to keep their confidence up.

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think it's fair to say he, you know, he wasn't quite on. He threw a great game. You know, again, he did his job. But there were, I think, the ball off his shin, it affected him. It was on his landing foot there, he wasn't saying much about it. But it caught him good, and -- but to compare him, hey, he did a great job this outing. Just like his previous ones.

BRUCE BOCHY: I don't know. I need to talk to the trainers. Again, he wasn't saying much about it. I didn't know it hit him that good, the way he reacted. But he's that tough. You know, he's not going to say it's bothering him. But I think he'll be fine.

BRUCE BOCHY: The left.