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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: CARDINALS v GIANTSOctober 18, 2012Bruce BochyST. LOUIS, MISSOURI: Game Four Q. Last night you said you'd be talking about some possible changes. Can you talk about through moving Hector into the 5 spot and flopping the 3, 4 with Posey and Sandoval, what the thinking was with that? BRUCE BOCHY: We tweaked the lineup a little bit. It's a game of adjustments. I think with how we have it set up now, I like where Pablo is at, how he's swinging the bat. And Posey has a good eye at the base. I think it's fair to say Hunter is not quite seeing the ball as well. So I put him in the 6 hole. And Sanchez has done a good job for us and swings the bat well. We just decided to drop Buster or move him up one and put Pablo behind him. Buster hit third once earlier in the year, and Pablo has hit cleanup before. It's not a big adjustment. But it's a little tweak that I thought was necessary. Q. Tim hasn't started a game in two and a half weeks. Barry tomorrow started just the one game. What are your realistic expectations for both? BRUCE BOCHY: Well, with Timmy ‑‑ look, we all know it's been an up and down year for Timmy. I don't know too many great athletes who haven't had some up and down year at some point. But we also know that when Timmy is on he's as good as anybody. I feel good where he's at. I think he really looked forward to the challenge of pitching out of the bullpen. I think that helped him. It allowed him to work on some things. And he's been throwing the ball well. I like where he's at. As far as Barry, he's had a good year for us. He's won some big games. His command, his overall stuff has been really good, I think, and consistent this year. So I am very comfortable with both of them and I know they're both excited about starting. So they're all set to go. Q. What did the idea of having Timmy work only out of the stretch come from and why do you think it's been a good move for him? BRUCE BOCHY: Well, that came from Timmy. Again, it's a game of adjustments. At times during the course of the year he was battling his delivery and would get out of sync occasionally. So just to keep it simple he just went from the stretch, and he liked it. He felt comfortable. It's not the first time he's done it. He's done it in the past, even when ‑‑ in his CyYoung years. There have been times when he adjusted and went right from the stretch. I can't tell if he's going to start the game like that. Only Timmy can answer that. Q. Just wondering how close you looked at Nady in the starting lineup and maybe Arias, were those close considerations for you? BRUCE BOCHY: To be honest, no. It's a tough game when you leave guys on base. But we did what we wanted to create those chances. So, no, I didn't think about sitting Crawford or Blanco or Pence. To be honest, I knew I'd go pretty much with our regular guys with the exception of Sanchez catching. Q. Lincecum, how stretched out is he, what sort of pitch count or considerations do you have to give in that regard? BRUCE BOCHY: Well, it hasn't been too long since he started. So I don't have him on the pitch count. We'll keep a watchful eye on him. But with him coming out of the bullpen, he's gotten consistent work. He went four and a third in Cincinnati and then two innings, he's had three days rest. So I don't have any concern with his stamina right now, to be honest. Q. Are you learned anything different about Tim, with him coming out of the bullpen in terms of his willingness to accept that challenge or not ‑‑ being taken out of the starting rotation, could be a blow to some guys? BRUCE BOCHY: I can't say I learned anything. I really thought that Timmy would handle it the way he did, and that's very well and be all in on it. I wasn't surprised. When I told him, when Dave Righetti, my pitching coach, and I, told him about our plan, he was all in. He said, Hey, I just want to help this team move forward, if you need me in the bullpen, let's go, let's do it. And I think that says a lot about him. Really, if you look at the year, it has been an up and down year, but he's handled it very well. And this game can be very humbling at times. But he's been a stand‑up guy through all this. And he's kept his same routine, his work ethic, he hasn't backed off. So I really think it shows how good a teammate he is and what great makeup he has. Q. Our commentator back in Japan was a former starting pitcher, and he thought for a starter to go to the bullpen and now to pitch in this big game as a starter again must be a formidable adjustment in that baseball players are creatures of routine. What do you see as the challenges as Tim Lincecum as he starts next? BRUCE BOCHY: I agree. I think with some pitchers it is a pretty good adjustment. And that was one reason why we wanted Timmy to help us out in the bullpen. We thought out of the starters, he was the best guy to help us out there. And again, he was all in on making this change. And so I think going back to starting is not going to be a big adjustment for him. I think he's excited about this start and he's not going to do anything different. And there's been other clubs that have done this in postseason. And they've done something similar with Lynn over here, going from the pen to starting. And some guys are able to adjust better than others. I think Timmy is a perfect example of this. Q. You haven't had Pence for a lot of years, but you described his emotion before games and getting guys fired up. When he gets into a slump enter his at‑bats and his approach, because he's wired that way? BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I don't want him to think he's got to do more than what he normally does, and that's try to carry us, try to do too much. I talked to him today and he was pretty hard on himself after the game. I just said, We don't do this here. We all could have done something maybe to help in that ballgame. I looked at it myself and thought of things I could have done different to help us win. But he took the full responsibility, which he shouldn't, because a lot of us had chances to do something that might have changed that game. He's got the ability to handle it. And his toughness is off the charts. I don't have any concerns with him. I told him about what the plan was today and he's good to go. Q. You mentioned that Timmy was the starter you thought could be best out of the pen. Where does Bumgarner fall in the fact he's kind of brought up himself that he might be tired, not tired, but he's cutting back on some of the stuff he did before. Is he a guy you can pull for a couple of innings or you have to watch him on relief appearances? BRUCE BOCHY: No, I think he's excited about helping the club out, coming out of the bullpen, I do. Now, we used him before in the postseason, back in Philly. And I think he understands why we're going that route and he's all in, too, on this, helping us out in the bullpen. He came up to me yesterday and said, If you need me to bullpen, I'm good to go today. I want to give him one more day's rest, but he is available today and tomorrow. And part of it is the player accepting what you're asking. And he has, so he's all set to go. Q. Just piggybacking off that, if you go to 6 and 7 is it Vogelsong and Cain in 6 and 7, is that pretty much the tentative? BRUCE BOCHY: I think you could say that, yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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