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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GIANTS v PHILLIES

October 16, 2010

Bruce Bochy

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA: Game One

San Francisco Giants 4
Philadelphia Phillies 3

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Bruce Bochy.

Q. When Cody Ross takes Roy Halladay deep twice, do you count that as just part of this run that he's on right now? How do you attribute those two home runs?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, Cody's a good hitter, and you saw two good pitchers tonight. Both sides hit some balls hard and you give the hitters credit sometimes. And Cody's been swinging the bat well and certainly gave us a sense of confidence in that dugout, putting us on the board like that. But the last game in Atlanta, got a couple of big hits, including a home run.
Good hitter. He's helped us a lot since he's been here. And we faced a tough pitcher tonight, and we got a couple mistakes and took advantage of them.

Q. Can you talk about, you went out to talk to Tim. Looked like he got a little rattled out there. Why did you decide to go out there at that time and what did you say to him?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I could see that he was showing a little frustration. I just wanted to calm him down. And I mean, he's really hyped up a little bit in this big game. And he was in a jam there. So I just wanted to make sure he calmed down and kept his poise out there and came back, made some good pitches there on Howard.
But I could see a little frustration on his part. That's why I went out there.

Q. 16 times this year you used Wilson for more than one inning in an outing. Did you consider Casilla in the eighth inning in that spot? And talk about Wilson's ability to battle through with the Phillies having several tough at-bats there in the last two innings?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I did have Casilla ready. Willie has shown the ability to get four or five outs. He's had a lot of rest. We're in a one-run ballgame, so I brought my best, my closer in there. That's what I will do.
Now, tomorrow may change. He had to work hard tonight. And tonight's game, he was available for four or five outs.

Q. This is the fourth straight game that you guys have gotten a one-run win. What do you attribute it to, just the ability to come up with the big hit when you need it and whatnot?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, tonight, we had a three-run lead and Werth got them back in the game. So that turned into a one-run ballgame.
I think you have to look at the pitching staff, what they did. Timmy went out there and settled down and got us through the seventh. And Lopez got a couple of big outs there. And of course Wilson closed it out. But as far as one-run games, that's our style. And we seem to play a lot of them. And it's been a good experience for these guys playing in these type games. And they keep their poise out there, what you have to do in these type games.

Q. You talked about the sense of confidence with Cody's home run, how much did that first home run mean for the rest of the guys, just finally somebody breaking through on that guy?
BRUCE BOCHY: It's huge for a club. I mean, you're facing one of the best pitchers in the game. And he gets you on the board at that point. We weren't doing a lot. Hit a couple balls hard. We did have some good at-bats. But when somebody hits a home run like that, which he did in Atlanta, when we're getting no-hit by Lowe, it does a lot for the club, no question. And it just helps to settle the hitters down. And I thought we had some pretty good at-bats tonight.

Q. What's your evaluation of Tim's outing overall? Looked like he battled through some tough spots, besides the one there when he came out?
BRUCE BOCHY: I mean, it's a gutty effort. He got in some jams and made pitches when he had to. I mean, that's a tough lineup. There's no relief throughout their lineup. They got lead-off double and he settled down and made pitches when he had to.
And he worked pretty hard out there. That's why he was done after seven. But I thought it was a great effort by him. Like I said, Werth got them back in the game. He got a mistake and took advantage of it. But Timmy settled down and pitched well after that.

Q. I know one day at a time and all that stuff, but this is huge. You're a prohibitive underdog, you win this game here that very few people expected you to win. What does that do for you tomorrow? I don't think it makes you more confident because you're already confident going in, but how much looser can you play? You got a split, if you can win two and go home that would be pretty sweet?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, it's big to get the first game. We're on the road. We're facing Halladay. We knew we had our work cut out. But we had a pretty good guy out there, too. So we were confident going in tonight's game.
We thought it would be a close game, which it was. And it's a long series here. And it's a start. And that's all it is right now. But it's good to get a win the first game. And this is the club that, I said yesterday, we all knew that we had to get through to get to where you want to go.
But the important thing was, I think, was to get a win off the start to give the team a sense of confidence.

Q. Any chance of moving Ross up from eighth?
BRUCE BOCHY: I think you mentioned that yesterday. You know, he's having success where he's at. So why mess with it? He's done a great job in that hole. And I don't think I'm going to change it.

Q. Ross is kind of a guy you got him and you really didn't know what to do with him. Now he's sort of like he's filling into that Brian Doyle, Buddy Biancalana, coming out of nowhere in the post-season to have a great post-season. How much of a surprise is this?
BRUCE BOCHY: I don't think it's a surprise at all. I mean, he's a nice player. He's accustomed to playing every day. Now, we were in a situation where again he was getting a lion's share of the playing time. Now, compared to Pat Burrell, from when Pat came up here, we brought him up, really, as a pinch-hitter coming off the bench but forced his way into the lineup. That's what Cody's done.
He's done such a great job, that he has to be out there. But it's not a surprise, because I mean we got him for a reason. He's coming through big time for us.

Q. Talking to Cody outside and when he first came here he made no bones about it, he was shaken up. He wasn't expecting to be leaving. You got him when he didn't want to go to San Diego, and he said a month -- he said, "We were out of it, I was headed home as far as I'm concerned." You look at that and you look at Burrell, who you got very surprisingly. When you reflect on that, does that make you think maybe, I don't want to get too weird on you here, but maybe something special's going on, these things happen serendipitously?
BRUCE BOCHY: I think when you get a few guys -- if you look at this team, we have some characters here, you know, whether you want to call them cast-offs or misfits. I compare them to the Dirty Dozen. That's the way they play but they've coalesced into a team that goes out there to win. When you're talking about Cody Ross, here's a guy that wanted to be a rodeo clown, and that's a tough job. So it's a great group of guys. They go out there and play the game the way it should be played. They play hard, play to win and they give you everything they've got for nine innings and you can't ask for more than that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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