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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 3, 2002
NEW YORK -- Angels manager Mike Scioscia opened his pregame media session Wednesday with a question.
"Before we get started, who would have brought (closer Troy) Percival in last night?" he said. "Give me a show of hands. Everybody's hands (have) got to go up."
Scioscia was second-guessed (and repeatedly grilled) for not bringing in Percival during the Yankees' winning eighth-inning rally Tuesday. Scioscia's explanation at the time was that he didn't want to limit Percival's availability for later in the series by extending him beyond his normal one inning, which may turn out to be farsighted thinking as the Angels had a chance to win a road playoff game.
But Scioscia said Wednesday he still felt he made the right decision to stick with Ben Weber, Scott Schoeneweis and Brendan Donnelly.
"Eight hours tossing and turning and I finally came to the conclusion that I would have done the same thing," Scioscia said. "We're not a one-man bullpen. We're a bullpen that definitely has roles. I felt very comfortable about where we were in the game and who we had in the game. It didn't work."
WHITE OUT: Yankees outfielder Rondell White probably will be limited to pinch-hitting for the rest of the series after straining his left hamstring in Tuesday's game. OFF AND RUNNING: Yankees third-base coach Willie Randolph did the first of what could be several managerial interviews Wednesday, spending three hours with Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski and other team officials.
"We'll wait and see what happens," said Randolph, who has interviewed for a half-dozen manager's jobs. "It was a very productive day."
PASSING THROUGH: Donnelly, who made it to the majors this season after 10 in the minors, had a brief stint with the Rays in 1999, spending three months at Triple-A Durham. Donnelly went 5-5 with a 3.05 ERA in 37 games but asked for his release when the Rays asked him to go to Double A so they could look at some prospects.
"I figured if they weren't going to take a look at me then, they never would," he said. "It was just a little blip along the way. We just went through there (Tampa Bay) and I promise you I'd rather have been sitting in our dugout than in their dugout."
SAENZ INJURY: A's reserve infielder Olmedo Saenz had surgery to repair his ruptured right Achilles' tendon. The 31-year-old Saenz will wear a cast for six weeks and follow with physical therapy.