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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GIANTS v PHILLIES

October 19, 2010

Charlie Manuel

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Game Three

Phillies Â– 0
Giants - 3

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Charlie.

Q. Will Joe Blanton still be starting Game 4 for you tomorrow?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Yeah. He's starting. Yeah, he'll be pitching tomorrow, yes.

Q. In 2008 and 2009 you guys had big wins in Game 4 with the Dodgers and it really seemed it turned the tide of the series. How big can tomorrow be in terms of a swing game, either evening it or going down 3 to 1?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I would say tomorrow is the biggest game we played so far. Today was the biggest game, but tomorrow becomes bigger. That's how I look at it.

Q. Charlie, what did you think of Cain tonight, and basically Cain and Lincecum did what they were supposed to do in this series?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I thought Cain was too good. He didn't give us any runs. No, I thought he pitched real good. You've got to give him credit. Even though like he hit a couple of batters, he had three walks. When he got in trouble he even got better, seemed like. Made good pitches.
Like we always talk about, he made the pitch at the right time to get people out. And we couldn't score on him. We didn't hit him. We didn't hit many balls hard. Did a real good job. Mixed his pitches well. He was aggressive.

Q. Your lineup, starting lineup in aggregate came in with great numbers against Cain. Did he look different to you than the last few times you faced him?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Actually, I think today, from what I've seen of him in the past, he used to be -- he would get kind of aggressive with his fastball. And today he used all of his pitches and his command was better today. But he pitched a real -- he pitched a super game.

Q. You said Blanton's pitching, was there any discussion after the game to change that up at all? And also what did you think of Utley's defense today. The second run was close. The third one was originally scored an error and then changed, do you think he could have made those plays?
CHARLIE MANUEL: What's that?

Q. Utley's, on the third run where Utley, the ball went off his chest, originally scored an error but changed. Do you think he should have made that play and the second one was a runner just got by him, too?
CHARLIE MANUEL: The one you're talking about where the ball -- Sanchez hit the ball and it hit in front of him. Sanchez didn't really hit the ball that hard but at the same time he got caught. He got caught up and the ball made it hop like real close to him. And that was a tough play.
Could he have made it? From what happened, where he was at the ball, he couldn't. I don't know if he could have -- he couldn't have definitely probably couldn't have come in more because he would have felt that way.
But it was a tough play for him.

Q. On Blanton, was there any discussion to change it up after the game at all or not?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I didn't see any use in discussion. Did you? Whatever. No. No discussion.

Q. Ibanez is I think 0 for his last 15 and you have a lefty, Sanchez -- or Bumgarner going tomorrow. Is there any chance you may put Francisco in left there?
CHARLIE MANUEL: He's been hitting lefties good the second half of the season. I'll think about it. He's got some big hits off lefties. Francisco hasn't played since we left Washington at the end of the season. I'll think about all that. But at the same time it's getting kind of late to be trying to make moves, isn't it?

Q. So much has been made about the good pitching in the series, but are you concerned at all about the team's lack of hitting?
CHARLIE MANUEL: We don't score runs, I'm always concerned. We came in the series and everybody built us up as a pitching series and so far the three games, that's what we've seen. I mean, it's definitely been pitching. That's what's dictated the game.

Q. You said it's getting late to be making changes, but at the same time do you ever just make changes just to make it look different, just for changes sake?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Just to make one just to see if it's any different? Yeah, sometimes.

Q. Can you talk about Hamels in that fourth inning, three perfect innings and the fourth inning when the Giants scored the runs what happened with him, first inning he had to pitch out of the stretch?
CHARLIE MANUEL: I thought Burrell, when he walked Burrell, I thought that was big. But at the same time Cody Ross has been hot, and I don't know where the pitch -- looked like Cody -- looked to me like it was a pitch down. It looked like it was down and might have been in a little bit, and he smoked it into left field. He's been hot.
And then in the same inning there, if you notice Huff did some really good hitting. The ball was out away from him a cutter or fastball and he hooked the hole over there and that's exactly how he's supposed to hit.
He did a good piece of hitting there. But Hamels, he definitely -- he could have got out of the inning. But Ross, he's been hot and he got a big hit off of him.

Q. Do you see anything going on with Chase's swing right now?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Yeah. You know what, we talk about the pitching. The pitching might have something to do with their swing. Our guys are trying. I mean, it's just like, really, it's not like -- they might be trying too hard.
Look, when you don't score no runs, you don't get no hits, it's hard to win the game. But I don't know what we're going to do about it. I can sit here and talk about it. I can go in and talk to them about it, but when the game starts tomorrow is when we can do something about it.
You know, when the game starts, that's when you're supposed to hit. Now, if you don't hit, that's kind of -- you're kind of on your own when you leave a dugout.

Q. Following up on that, do you kind of maybe going into tomorrow think about being more aggressive, trying to do hit and run or get out in the base pass?
CHARLIE MANUEL: Yeah, we want to run, like I said, before the game. But actually today we didn't even get -- we didn't have any chances to run. Yeah, we had some guys on base, but as far as like the opportunities to run and everything, no we did not have that today.
That's kind of how you stop a running game. When you pitch good and you can get everybody out, it's pretty hard to run, especially where the situations are at and who is on base.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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