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MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 11, 2006

Phil Garner

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Q. That had to be set up pretty much the way you figured with Trevor coming in there, two outs.
PHIL GARNER: Two quick outs. I couldn't have scripted it any better. We had the lead. You're going to turn it over to Trevor Hoffman, who has been golden over the years.
Well played game. It was a wonderful experience for me. I hope the players had as much fun as I did. It was very enjoyable to get to know some of these guys on a personal basis and find out what a class act we have for a group of National League players, National League All-Stars.

Q. Are you surprised that it was such a low-scoring game?
PHIL GARNER: Well, you look at the great pitching that both sides had. That doesn't surprise you.
I looked at the numbers, the stats, if you looked at the matchups, the offense against the pitching, you could make a case that it could have been a higher-scoring game. So it didn't surprise me that it was a low-scoring game, it didn't.

Q. As somebody with a long Pittsburgh background, what did the Clemente tribute mean for you?
PHIL GARNER: Well, I didn't know Roberto. I came here after that. Of course, being a player here in the organization, it was -- you know, we were very proud of the heritage that we had with Roberto Clemente and the Latin community.
His family is wonderful. Of course, as they spoke to the Lifetime Achievement Award, his humanitarian efforts are well documented. But he was a legend for us young ballplayers in this organization, something to aspire to be like.

Q. Things happen and happened quickly in that 9th, seeing Trevor get those first two on groundouts and then have it kind of unravel, kind of unusual for him?
PHIL GARNER: Most unusual. It's unfortunate. He's a great closer. If we had the same situation tomorrow night, we'd do the same thing. He's been fantastic.
I told him when he got here, he was fine, he was going to close, we knew, we were going to go there. We actually had the game set up just like we had it all laid out there on paper. We have no regrets there, there is nothing we would have done any differently.

Q. Obviously you saw what home-field advantage last year meant to the White Sox, and to you guys, did this sting a little bit more, knowing you guys are in position for the second half run?
PHIL GARNER: No, it doesn't sting at all. This was a well-played ballgame, a nice game. You tip your hat to those guys who came back in the ninth inning.
I am not disappointed at all. Obviously I'd love to win the game. But I'm not disappointed. It was well played.

Q. Jason Bay was obviously the face in a lot of ways of this All-Star Game. How do you think from your perspective, how do you think he performed over the last couple of days with the media attention and tonight in the game?
PHIL GARNER: It was a lot of fun to see a hometown crowd get behind two of their players, Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez. Freddy makes a couple of plays and really excites the crowd and Jason makes a nice hit.
More to the point of your question, I thought Jason Bay did a very nice job. This is a harried couple of days where you're really pushed, everything is compressed, a lot of media attention. And of course those guys that play here in Pittsburgh have to spend a lot of time talking to a lot of people. There's just no time to kind of gather your thoughts. Typically players like to have a pregame routine, and that involves some relaxation at some point and we just didn't have that happen. I think all of the players did a remarkable job, and Jason in particular did a nice job.

Q. I was going to ask about Sanchez and he made plays that reminded you of, well, you.
PHIL GARNER: Oh, no, he's a much better player than I was.
It's kind of fun to be able to put Freddy on the team. It didn't necessarily turn out the way I thought. Edgar Renteria had to leave a little quicker than what I expected. When he ran down to first base, he kind of had a cramp in his leg.
So it was nice, I had Freddy warmed up to go in the game, I was going to play him in the game at third base and within seconds, just a change and put him in at shortstop. It's nice to have that flexibility with a guy when you're playing in a National League situation to put him anywhere on the field and feel very comfortable he's going to play to All-Star caliber.

Q. Now that you've watched the game, would you say that one roster had a more talented players than other roster this year?
PHIL GARNER: No, I would not. I liked the players on the American League. I've seen a few of them and gone to battle against them and I think they are fantastic players.
But if we wanted to choose to play again tomorrow, I'll take this same crew. Perhaps they had a little more power than we did, but there's nobody any grittier on a ball diamond than Eckstein and Sanchez. If we had to do battle again, I'd be comfortable going with going in with these guys.

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