The veteran's manager Bruce Bochy made a very uncharacteristic move. He has decided to bench outfielder Pat Burrell who has been struggling. Aubrey Huff will DH, Travis Ishikawa will play first, and Nate Schierholtz will be put in RF.
Giants
CF Andres Torres
2B Freddy Sanchez
1B Aubrey Huff
C Buster Posey
LF Cody Ross
3B Juan Uribe
1B Travis Ishikawa
SS Edgar Renteria
RF Nate Schierholtz
Pitcher: Madison Bumgarner
Rangers
SS Elvis Andrus
3B Michael Young
CF Josh Hamilton
DH Vladimir Guerrero
LF Nelson Cruz
2B Ian Kinsler
RF Jeff Francoeur
C Bengie Molina
1B Mitch Moreland
Pitcher: Tommy Hunter
***
Yesterday Madison Bumgarner sat down with the media before the game. Not much of substance--just talked about starting the World Series and his year this far. Transcript is after the jump.
Q. What have the last about five months been like for you?
MADISON BUMGARNER: Oh, it's been amazing. It's been a fun ride. When the year started, I didn't -- you always -- this is where you want to be, but it definitely has exceeded my expectations.
Q. You haven't been on the Major League scene too long so I don't think a lot of people know a lot about you. Could you tell us a little bit about which team you rooted for as a child and which pitchers you looked at as guys that you formed yourself after.
MADISON BUMGARNER: Well, when I was really little, I grew up a Braves fan. That's the closest team. But once I started getting a little older, didn't really have a favorite team. I liked to watch good players, good pitchers mostly, and I liked Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz. A lot of those are Braves guys. But anybody that -- any good pitcher. CC, Cliff Lee even. Just anybody that's good I like to watch those, Andy Pettitte, and kind of see what they do.
Q. Each of your starts has gone up a tick here, and as you go to the playoffs, but how do you feel going into a World Series start?
MADISON BUMGARNER: Well it's amazing. But right now I'm just going to try to treat it like any other game, and then after it's over with look back and be like, wow, you just pitched in the World Series. For now I'm just going to try to treat it like any other game.
Q. Is that easier to do once you've thrown that first pitch? I mean, I imagine the anticipation the night before and all that, you're thinking about so much.
MADISON BUMGARNER: It can be pretty rough. I keep trying to tell myself that and keep trying to relax and just not even try to think about it, really. I'm obviously going to watch the hitters and see what they're doing, but the night before I'm going to be trying to do stuff to keep my mind off of it. That way I can rest easier and not have so much anxiety leading up to the game.
Q. When you were sent out this spring, did Bruce Bochy talk to you and tell you what the club wanted you to work on while in the minors that would allow you to get to the bigs, and if so, what did you do to get back up?
MADISON BUMGARNER: Well, he knew that something wasn't right. I mean, everybody did. He wanted me to go back down there and get comfortable and just pitch again and not worry about trying to make a team, just worry about pitching and getting back to where I needed to be. We made some mechanical adjustments and kind of got a little bit off over the season last year, and finally got back to where I needed to be.
Q. When you prepare for this game tomorrow and you visualize going through their lineup, does it slip into your mind that you may be pitching for a World Series title? Do you let yourself go to that place in your head?
MADISON BUMGARNER: I try not to. The only time I've really thought about it is when I've been asked about it. Any other time I try to just forget about it because we've got to take it one game at a time. I know it's kind of cliché, but you've got to do it.
Even if it comes down to that, I'm still going to try to go out there with the same attitude, just try to -- not going to let that get in my head. I'm just going to try to go out there and make pitches.
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