San Diego manager Bruce Bochy waited until after Game 3 to announce that Kevin Brown will be his Game 4 starter Wednesday.
Bochy said he was waiting to see if Brown had recovered from his head cold, and now will have to count on Brown being healthy if the Padres are to avoid a sweep.
“He just said, `Hey, I’m fine to go,’ ” Bochy said of Brown. “I still don’t think he’s 100 percent, and we’ll keep a close eye on him.”
When discussing the possibility of Kerry Wood coming back from his elbow injury to pitch down the stretch, Cubs pitcher Terry Mulholland said he would “lie, cheat and kill” to get the ball.
Brown didn’t bother telling Bochy he was ill before taking the mound Game 1 and said his condition hurt him that night. Bochy said he was undecided before Game 3 as to whether Brown would be ready to pitch Game 4 on Wednesday. Bochy was asked if he could trust that Brown was truly healthy, since he apparently hid his illness prior to Game 1.
“Well, I’m confident he’s going to be honest with me, knowing the kind of guy Kevin is,” Bochy said. “He’s going to do what he thinks is best for the ballclub, for us, and you’d like him to be honest.”
One to go: David Cone warned celebrating New Yorkers that it isn’t over until it’s over and gave them a reason why to keep the lid on for now.
“Two words,” Cone said. “Kevin Brown. We’re not by any means overconfident at this point. Obviously we’re ecstatic to be up 3-0, but Kevin Brown obviously has some other thoughts tonight.”
A lot on his mind: The competitor in Andy Pettitte wanted to pitch in either Game 1 or Game 2 at Yankee Stadium. The realist in him knew it was smarter to wait until Game 4.
“If I had had to throw in New York,” Pettitte said, “it would have been real difficult.”
Pettitte’s mind has been occupied by much more than fastballs and sliders lately. His father, Tom, underwent double-bypass heart surgery on Thursday and Pettitte didn’t rejoin his team until Saturday. He’ll take the mound Wednesday in Game 4.
“Baseball wasn’t really on my mind those first couple of days (back),” Pettitte said. “I was just out of it a little. But I feel much better.”
Pettitte said his father received a blood transfusion Tuesday and now feels “100 percent better.”
Despite the good report, Yankees manager Joe Torre won’t be surprised if Pettitte has difficulty concentrating. Torre remembers how difficult it was for him two years ago when his brother, Frank, awaited a heart transplant.
“(The situations) are very, very similar,” he said. “You have someone you love, they’re going through a tough time and it’s harder to focus.”
End of an era?: After 50 years in the game, Yankees coach Don Zimmer is thinking of retiring after this season because he’s tired of all the travel.
“Coming in on a plane at 5 o’clock in the morning . . .” Zimmer said. “When you’re 25 or 26, you don’t even go to bed then and you don’t even care. But I’m 68 now, not 25.”
Zimmer “retired” midway through the 1995 season, citing differences with then-Colorado Rockies manager Don Baylor. Torre persuaded him to join the Yankees the following season.
Sour grapes: San Diego owner John Moores has no use for Yankee Stadium after having a bad experience there over the weekend and said he wouldn’t mind steering the wrecking ball to tear down the House that Ruth Built.
“That’s such a sub-par facility it’s ridiculous,” Moores said. “Besides the place being old, the aisles are just tiny. There’s great tradition, but it’s not a great place to see a baseball game. Tons of bad seats–almost all of the seats are bad. There are just a handful of great seats there.
“If I were (George) Steinbrenner, there’s no way I’d stay. I’d be hard-pressed to stay in the Bronx. But I know it would be totally unacceptable for me to stay there. That’s as bad a facility for seeing baseball as I’ve ever seen, anywhere. I’d rather see a game in the Astrodome.”
Steinbrenner wasn’t too happy about Qualcomm Stadium either, saying that the field looked like “Iwo Jima” after being used for the Chargers-Eagles game Sunday.
Star search: Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said he heard that Cuba Gooding Jr. of “Jerry Maguire” fame might play Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez in a movie about the Cuban refugee’s life.
You can’t go home again: San Diego native David Wells returned to his old neighborhood Monday, but he wasn’t exactly flooded with attention. “Nobody wants to hang with me anymore,” he said.
But they did want something from him: Wells got 15 tickets for his friends and family for Game 3.
I-ra-boo: The normally docile Qualcomm Stadium crowd showed their dislike for Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu by showering him with boos during his pregame introduction.
Irabu refused to play for the Padres, so three months after acquiring his rights from Chiba Lotte of the Japanese Pacific League, the Padres shipped Irabu to New York for two prospects and $3 million.
