	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

MLB WORLD SERIES: RANGERS v GIANTS

October 29, 2010

Bruce Bochy

ARLINGTON, TEXAS: Workout Day

Q. Have you decided on who's going to be DHing for you?
BRUCE BOCHY: I'll announce that right after the workout.

Q. Do you see that role staying the same for this game or could it fluctuate?
BRUCE BOCHY: It could change, yeah. We could change it every day. But I'll have that as soon as we're done with our workout.

Q. Just speaking in general about the DH, is the National League club at a disadvantage because you don't carry a DH type? You carry more like all-purpose guys on the bench.
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think it can be, but I think in our situation it's not really any disadvantage. We have a couple good options there and we have a couple guys who have experience DHing. So I don't see that being the case in this series.

Q. Having obviously seen the video of Game 6, have you determined whether Jonathan's problems were just being overamped or was there something tactical or technical about what he was doing that caused him to have so much trouble?
BRUCE BOCHY: I think a little bit of both. Sometimes they go hand in hand when a guy is overamped and he gets out of his delivery a little bit, and I think that certainly was the case with Johnny. But we all have our hiccups, and he's pitched some great games. Like I said earlier, he's got to put that behind him and go out there and be himself.

Q. I think we all noticed after last night's game your guys were very calm, nobody was talking about the Series even close to being in control. Were you telling them that? Is that something you expressed to them or are you glad that's the way it came out?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, that's the way it should come out. There's baseball left. What they've been through the first two series, they understand there's a lot of baseball. Two wins doesn't get you anything. That's the only way to approach it.
Tomorrow their focus will be on that game tomorrow night. It has to stay that way, and that's not going to change with these guys. I think they understand we're playing a very good team and we have baseball left and we've got to keep our focus.

Q. When you hear the word "genius" tossed around about a manager, do you just laugh at it knowing that you're probably no different a manager than you were two or three years ago when this ballclub was struggling?
BRUCE BOCHY: Sure. I mean, it's -- things sometimes work out, but no, I do laugh a little bit to be honest. It's always up to the players to go out there and execute, especially when you put them in a position. And they're doing that. And I'm grateful for it, but like I said, I'm happy for them when they go out there and get the job done.
But as far as me changing, I haven't changed anything.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Javier Lopez. What were your thoughts when you acquired him? And did you ever imagine him playing this kind of role in the bullpen in the playoffs?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, my thoughts when we first acquired him were that he was very much needed. We lost Affeldt and Runzler. We needed a left-hander to help bridge the gap to Wilson, and I thought that was a great move by Brian Sabean to get us some help in the bullpen from the left side, and what a great job he's done.
He's pitched in some tough parks, Colorado, Boston. He's got great experience and a great poise about him. That was a need for us, and we worked him pretty hard and he really saved us after those two injuries we had to our left-handers. And he's done an unbelievable job, not just during the season but in the playoffs. So I'm grateful we have him.

Q. How do you go ahead and explain all of the big hits in the big moments that Juan has found himself in over the last two or three weeks?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think you have to look at the last two years he's done that for us. He had a good year last year, and he found a way to get a big hit or a big home run. He did it this year. There's another guy that has been through this, has experience playing with the White Sox. You look at a couple defensive plays he made, too, especially the one to end the game in a one-run game. But he's a guy we like up there with the game on the line because we know he's not going to feel any pressure. He wants to be the guy up there.

Q. Hensley kind of joked after the game last night that he could see those two back-to-back big outputs offensively coming because you guys were due after so many games this year. Could you see that coming? And also, what has he meant with his tireless work with these hitters to you this year?
BRUCE BOCHY: Bam-Bam has done a great job. He's got a great way about them, keeping their confidence and staying behind them, along with having them prepared. He gets there early and always has a game plan for them, has meetings with them. I'm sure he was enjoying us scoring some runs because we're not a team that puts a lot of runs on the board, we know it. But really the second game we benefitted from some walks, we know it. I mean, that was a tight ballgame going into the eighth inning. Just things went our way there.
But for us it's important that we pitch and catch the ball and find a way to score enough runs. It's been nice to have the outburst we did, but we know who we are, and we're a team that has to do little things to score runs, and hopefully run into a ball or two.

Q. Managerially, who have you patterned yourself after? And what, in your opinion, makes a good manager?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think every manager you play for in some way will influence you. I think that's been the case with me. Even my first manager in rookie ball I thought the world of, Billy Smith. I loved how he handled all of us our first year in professional ball.
And then Bill Virdon was my first manager, and he was fair but firm and had a great way about him. I don't want to leave anybody out. Of course playing for Dick Williams, you learn how important fundamentals are and to be demanding on them. But all of them in some way do influence you, whether it's game strategy or just how they deal with players.
What makes a good manager? Good players. There's no getting around that. That's the adage, and I believe it, too. But hopefully you're doing something to help them, being prepared or being in the right frame of mind to got out there and have some success.

Q. If I remember correctly, Jonathan said after Game 6 that he knew something might be wrong when his velocity of his fastball was really 89, 90. He wasn't really getting it to 93, 94. What do you see when he see Jonathan? What are you looking at? Is it location? What are you looking for from him when he can tell whether he's got it or not?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, it starts with command, and not just his fastball but his secondary pitches, also his delivery. Sometimes he gets out of sync a little bit. But early in the game it's -- Johnny hitting his spots or being close to it, and that means that he's got a good rhythm out there, a good tempo, and when he does that, he usually has a nice game because he's getting all his pitches where he wants them.

Q. This was touched on a little bit earlier, but Sanchez struggled in the first game in Philly, sort of righted himself and then he couldn't do the same thing in that final game. Did that give you pause at all to pitching him on the road? Did you think about tweaking the rotation to let him pitch in the friendlier environment?
BRUCE BOCHY: No, not really. Johnny pitched a great game in Atlanta. I mean, he's got experience pitching on the road. Like you said, I thought that was impressive that first game in Philly when he struggled there early but he did find it. It shows some poise out there, which you want from your pitcher, a young pitcher, and he found a way to pitch a nice ballgame there.
But sometimes you get out of sync, and you see good pitchers sometimes they don't find it out there. It's not their day. Just like a hitter may go 0-for-4. He's not seeing the ball as well. That happens. What's important is how you deal with it, handle it, and you have to wash it off and put it behind you.

Q. There was a report that C.J. Wilson used super glue or something like that to close a wound on a finger on his pitching hand. I know you're a stickler for the rules. Do you have any comment on that?
BRUCE BOCHY: No, I really don't have any comment on that. I know pitchers have done it before, but I don't have any comment on it.

Q. What has Schierholtz meant coming off the bench for you? And if you put Pat as the DH, is he the leading candidate to start in the outfield?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, if we went that way, he would be. To be honest, I'm not going to go that way tomorrow. Nate has done a great job. It's not easy for a young player to have a limited role. They're not getting their consistent at-bats. But he, and I'll mention Ishikawa, both have done a nice job in the roles that they have had. Sometimes that's a role for a more experienced player, but those two have really, I think, come around and handled a tough role, and that's going in late in the game, pinch-hitting, double-switch, things like that, and go out there and play well.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297