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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: TIGERS v ATHLETICS

October 12, 2006

Ken Macha

DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Workout Day

Q. Talk a little bit about Kenny Rogers, particularly coming off his last performance, and what kind of a match-up he provides.
KEN MACHA: He's pitched -- actually he pitched in Oakland here when I was here as a coach, and I know what kind of competitor he is. There's a lot of things that he does very well. Actually we have some guys that are going to be in our lineup that have had some success off him.
But he can induce a double play. He's very good at holding runners. He can limit your running game to zero. He can pick you off. Tremendous fielder. He can size up a situation and pick his spots as far as who he wants to pitch to and move on to the next guy.
He's pitched this long and had this much success because he knows what he's doing out there. You know, he's got a tremendous amount of respect coming from me. He's pitched well against our clubs all the time.

Q. What's your best-case scenario for Rich Harden tomorrow?
KEN MACHA: Five innings, all zeros. How's that? Having today off, we'll rest our bullpen. We've had guys come out of the bullpen, particularly Kennedy and Gaudin. They've pitched very well. And Joe Blanton pitched two innings the other day, so those guys will be ready.
So if we can get five innings out of Rich, we've got some coverage out there, not just coverage, and as I say, Kennedy has done very well, as has Gaudin and Blanton.

Q. Is there a pitch count with Rich?
KEN MACHA: You know, I can't see why. He threw 90-some pitches in Anaheim, so I can't see him getting into that area anyhow.

Q. How is Justin Duchscherer? Do you expect him to be available?
KEN MACHA: Well, he's having an MRI this morning. He's had the spasm in his neck. Larry says it's just mild. We haven't gotten the results from that. He played such a big role in our first series, and yesterday as the game was going on, I'm looking around trying to count the innings, and that's a guy that's sorely missed out of our bullpen.
I know the Tigers don't feel bad for us because they didn't have Zumaya for yesterday, and certainly we didn't feel bad about that, either. He's a key part of the bullpen. I'm hoping that there's no problem with him.

Q. Is it easier said than done to put this type of weather out of your mind when you're playing?
KEN MACHA: I felt nice out there. It's real nice. It's good.
I told these guys, the pitching coach called me last January. It was 35 degrees and I was on like the 8th hole, and he was telling me that Renee Lachemann had a hole in one and I was telling him I had two skins, so it felt real nice to me.
Actually when the sun is out -- they moved the game to 4:00, so when the sun is out it's pretty nice.

Q. I was wondering, what was the scouting report on Rich when he pitched the other day that made you believe he was ready to go?
KEN MACHA: Well, we had three people there from our organization. Billy Owens, that's, I guess -- I don't know exactly what his title is, player personnel. We had our Minor League farm director -- actually four people, Minor League farm director watched, our Minor League pitching instructor, revolving pitching instructor, and Curt Young, our pitching coach all went down there.
They felt he was pain-free, threw the ball free and easy, breezed right through the first three innings. In the fourth inning he gave up some hits and they got some runs, but it might have been just part of fatigue or whatever. First three innings they said he was outstanding.

Q. Could you talk about Comerica Park and the nuances there and how it plays from what you've seen coming into tomorrow?
KEN MACHA: I'm sitting there writing up the lineup, I've got to be my best outfield out there; it's huge. One of our vice presidents is down here. We've got hopes to get a new ballpark in Oakland, and he was kind of looking around out there. I said any ball hit into right center here, that's a triple.
The Tigers have got some guys with some speed, and if they hit the ball out there it's going to be a triple. You've got to have your best defensive outfield out there. That's probably the biggest thing with playing here as compared to Oakland.

Q. Does that mean that Kielty will not be in the lineup tomorrow?
KEN MACHA: Yeah.

Q. What were the reports on Milton Bradley when you guys got him before the year? What was your impression of him from the outside looking in? And how has it changed now that you've had him for a while?
KEN MACHA: Well, reports were -- I mean, the ones that I got -- I watch ESPN, too. But I went into this thing with the mind -- one of the things they did during Fan Fest last year, is we have a luncheon with the Giants, and I went right up to Felipe Alou, give me the lowdown.
Felipe had him in Montreal, and he said he's probably your second most talented player behind Chávez. He said you've got to think ahead a little bit. You've go to see -- envision maybe some situations that may crop up as a possible problem, and you've got to try to use a little vision and forethought to try to avoid that.
My philosophy coming into this season, I want the guy to go out there and enjoy himself and go out and play. He plays hard. He's very emotional, and certain players you've got to handle certain ways.
I think we've gotten a lot of Milton this year. He hit third for us for most of the year. He was a catalyst, turned it around all the All-Star break. We were only two games over after the All-Star break, so we played 22 games over after the All-Star break. He certainly supplied much of the excitement the other night with the performance he put on.
But he's a very talented player, very intense. And sometimes when he gets real intense, the best thing to do is let him show that intensity and back off a little bit because he'll cool down after a while. You've got to kind to let him turn the gas off and let the steam stop coming out, so to speak.
He's been a very productive player for us.

End of FastScripts...

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