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XX Sports Radio: Kevin Towers Interview (MP3) by Darren Smith

• Kevin Towers is going to ask if Darren Smith can sit in Draft Room on Draft Day a week from today
• Towers has lined up the first 10 picks. "We really don't know what Seattle is going to do in front of us, we have a pretty good idea what Washington is probably going to do - drafting Strasburg".  KT is hoping the GM in Seattle will give him a heads up on what they are planning on doing with their 2nd pick.
• It gets very lively in the room when they are setting up their picks.  "Very rarely do you get consensus in the room".  Stephen Strasburg was the only player that got the consensus.
• It would absolutely worry Towers that a college pitcher threw 160 pitches on top of his regular season work load.
• Scott Hairston is getting an MRI right now.  More than likely they will place him on the DL for two weeks.  Venable will be called up.
• Chase Headley's confidence level is down.  He's put added pressure on himself.  Buddy Black is putting a line up that gives the Padres the best chance to win. Black is trying to pick the best match ups for Headley.  The strike outs are concerning Towers.  He's had his difficulties from both sides of the plate.  "We still believe in him. We haven't lost confidence in him.  He's going to have to find his way out of it."  Making adjustments is what separates hitters.
• The Phillies have a lot of talent.  "There is not a soft part of that line up".  The only way to get the Phillies out is to have a dominate left handed pitcher in your rotation.
• Kevin Towers hasn't seen a hitter as locked in as Adrian Gonzalez since Ken Caminiti in the mid-90's.  "He's one of the best hitters in the game right now."
• It's a tough call if you should let Jake Peavy pitch when he's sick. Towers saw him 20 minutes before the game:  "He looked absolutely terrible, his eyes were puffy, his skin looked ghost white, he did not look good."  Towers saw him like that last year where he pitched a complete game.  "That's who Jake is, he's a competitor."  Peavy's ankle felt fine.
• Towers' game plan was to talk a lot about the draft so that he didn't have to talk about possible Peavy trades.