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MLB WORLD SERIES: TIGERS v GIANTSOctober 28, 2012Bruce BochyDETROIT, MICHIGAN: Game Four San Francisco Giants - 4 Q.  You come back here 28 years after losing the World Series in Detroit and you come here and you're celebrating winning. How does it feel to come full cycle and to have won two out of the last three years? BRUCE BOCHY: You know, in '84, that was so long ago. But it is amazing how things come back around. For us to play like we did against this great club, I couldn't be prouder of these guys. To be world champions in two out of the last three years, it's amazing. Believe me, I know how difficult it is to get here, and I couldn't be prouder of a group of guys that were not going to be denied. It's amazing what they accomplished. I think when you look at this club, the terms "team work", "team play", "play as a team", that's used loosely, but these guys truly did. They set aside their own agenda and asked what's best for the club. And we put guys in different roles, nobody ever said a word, complained or anything, and that's the only way it got done. It shows so much character in that clubhouse, how they kept fighting and said, hey, we're not going home. Q. Could you talk about the bottom of the 10th when Romo, a guy that has evolved as your closer, struck out the top of the order, and especially his pitching to Cabrera with a slider, slider, slider and then the fastball to strike him out? BRUCE BOCHY: Sergio, he's a guy you want out there. He's not afraid and commands the ball so well. Really, I know this is a play on words, he saved us all year. When we lost Wilson, Casilla, he got the lion's share of the saves, and then we went by committee, and then eventually Sergio took over. And that at‑bat, he just knew that Cabrera was probably looking for a slider, and he commands his fastball so well, and he located it, and just amazing the job that he has done for us in these situations we put him in. He's never wavered, and he enjoys being out there. So we had the right guy, and I couldn't be prouder of Sergio, how he's emerged as such a great closer. Q. Pitching and defense, everyone knows you need it to win. Other than the fact that it's half of a game, is it very important because offense comes and goes and is more susceptible to slumps, and you think that those traits, pitching and defense is more replicable? BRUCE BOCHY: Well, that's our strength, pitching and defense. Brian Sabean has done a tremendous job of building this club, bringing the pitching in here and of course the defense, getting Pagan, Blanco, Pence. Those guys cover so much ground in the outfield, and when pitching is your strength, you want a good defense. That shows up every day, and you're right, hitting sometimes, it comes and goes, but as long as you can stay in more games, the better chance you have of winning them, and that's how we play. Q. This is obviously an ultimate team victory, but do you stand a little bit in awe of what Buster Posey did this season coming off what happened to him last year, and to the very end, tonight, and what he did? BRUCE BOCHY: I really do. I mean, this guy is an incredible talent. His makeup is off the chart. He's, to me, the MVP, no question. We know how he carried us all year with the bat. But I think as important as at‑bat is what he did behind the plate in postseason and helped getting this pitching on track. He's the one putting the fingers down and calling those games back there, and this pitching did an unbelievable job against such a tough lineup. He's special, and for him to come back off that injury shows you how tough he is, but what a special talent this guy is. Q. Would you ever have imagined that Scutaro would get this many big hits for you when you picked him up in the trade there at the end of July? BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I knew he was a good player, but to get this many clutch hits, and it was fitting that he got the game‑winning hit, and actually Theriot scored the winning run because Theriot did a great job for us but because of Marco's play, he became a role player. Those two did a great job for us. Marco is a guy that you want up there. You know he's probably going to put the ball in play, and get the good part of the wood on it, and that's what he did there. But the job that he's done for us really was remarkable. I mean, on a consistent basis. I didn't realize how good he was until I saw him on a daily basis. Q. Could you talk a little bit about just winning, sweeping the Tigers team that had such a good starting staff and how were you guys able to work around that? BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think you have to look at our pitching. You start with that, the job they did, because Game 2, Game 3, they shut us down, we scored two runs, but to beat this club and only score two runs, that's pretty amazing. So it starts with that. I think our defense really saved us every game, the double plays, the plays that Blanco made, Crawford made, really anybody, and this is a great club and we knew we had to play our best ball, and we did that. These guys executed the fundamentals better than any team in this series like they did, and we got some timely hits, and tonight was a hard‑fought game, could have gone either way, and again, I couldn't be prouder of a group of guys that played the game so well. Q. Most teams don't have a seven‑game winning streak at all during the regular season, and you closed one out in the postseason with seven great wins. When do you anticipate that sinking in? BRUCE BOCHY: Probably in a couple days. I actually thought about that today, the winning streak, and when you look at the clubs that we played, and having our backs to the wall, it's pretty remarkable what these guys have done. Getting back to what I talked about, it's amazing what a club can do when they do play as a team, and they're unselfish and they do whatever they can to help a club win, and that's what these guys did. Q. Lasorda had two, Cox, Piniella, they have one each, you have two world championship rings now. How does that feel? I know you're pretty selfless when it comes to this stuff, but how does it feel to be among those people at that level? BRUCE BOCHY: You know, I count my blessings. I mean, I'm blessed to be in a situation where we can win. I'm thankful for Brian Sabean bringing players in to put us where we're at right now, ownership, of course our fans and these players. It's all them. And for me to be the manager, I know how lucky I am and how blessed I am. To even be mentioned with those guys, I revere all those managers you just talked about and the careers that they had. I'm numb, really, the fact that we've won two World Series in the last three years. This will sink in, but right now, I'm kind of speechless on that. Q. The last week, whether you talked to your players, Larry Baer, Brian Sabean, your coaches, they give you so much credit for being able to handle the adversity and put the players in a position this year to succeed. I want to know how you feel about that. BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I appreciate those comments, but again, I'm going to go back, you have to have the personnel, the players to be able to do that, and we did. I'm going to keep going back to how unselfish they were. I'll mention names: Ryan Theriot did a great job for us and he becomes a role player. He didn't say a word, didn't complain, kept himself ready, and ends up scoring the winning run tonight. Timmy, we put him in the bullpen, didn't waver on it. "Sure, I just want to help the club win." We did the bullpen by committee. They didn't care who closed the game there. They just wanted to help us win. That's the only way it gets done. Again, they played as a team, and I'm thankful for that and thankful for their attitude. They came out and played hard every day. Q. The decision to pitch to Cabrera with first base open in the third, could you talk about that? When he hit the home run? BRUCE BOCHY: Well, in that situation we're up a run. I don't feel like putting a lot of runners on for Fielder. I know how dangerous he is. We had been doing a pretty good job there. Matty just got that ball up a little bit. Didn't just quite get it where he wanted. I'll be honest, I thought it was a fly ball when he hit it. The wind was blowing and it seemed he got into a wind gust there and kept carrying. In fact, Pence said that. Early in the game, it's hard to start putting guys on base with the dangerous hitters that they have behind them. Q. With both pitchers pitching so well, can you talk about Pablo's explosion in the series. BRUCE BOCHY: Well, he got hot at the right time for us. I couldn't be happier, prouder for him. I know it was a tough time in 2010 when he got relegated to the bench there. He really wanted to, I think, shine on stage. He's a great talent and we got him hot at the right time, and we needed him. That's what makes this club so special. It was somebody different every series it seemed like. We know how Marco carried us, Pablo did this series, Buster did the whole year, Belt got a big hit, Crawford three huge hits in postseason, and I hate to leave anybody out, but it seemed like it was somebody different to contribute every series or every game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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