I don't think a lot of decisions rested on just Theo's shoulders. I think a lot of people were involved in having a roundtable discussion and having different ideas, so I don't think it will change all that much. Obviously it's going to hurt some because of the relationship he had with the players. |
I enjoyed having him around. I think he brought a lot of honesty to the table as a GM and also, he's kind of closer to our age group, so it was easy to communicate with him. The door was always open. People always say that, but it's hard, a lot of times, when you have a big gap in age. A lot of times people aren't as friendly in front offices, it can be more like a principal-student thing. With Theo, you always felt like you were on the same level as him. |
I felt like I was floating a tennis ball out there. |
I gave up four runs, but it was on two home runs, two mistake pitches. Really, other than that, they didn?t hit the ball that hard. I just tried to stay focused. It?s been like that for us for a while. The starting pitching hasn?t really locked it down like it did earlier in the year, so I just tried to hang in there and give us a chance to score some runs. |
I got lucky again. I couldn't believe where the pitch was. |
I got lucky again. I'll just keep hacking. I really just couldn't believe where the pitch was. It was almost identical to last time. I thought he was going to throw me away and it was still kind of middle-in a little bit. |
I got lucky again. Just keep hacking. |
I got some easy outs in some quick innings with some changeups to the lefties, ... Coming back and taking the lead, giving us momentum after the fifth inning, I just started feeling strong and stronger. I felt like my fastball was livelier. The wind stopped pushing so much at my back, which I think made my breaking ball a little bit better because early on I didn't think it was good. |
I guess I was missing the location. I was taking it as serious, as a real game. I just didn't get it done. |
I haven't spent that much time with him, but he seems maybe a little more hands on, maybe a little more vocal than Wally, but he realizes the situation he's in is probably going to be temporary. |
I immediately looked at Dale Sveum and forgot that he was my third base coach. He might have tipped him off or he might have just been aggressive. I don't know, but I thought it was funny nobody swung at that pitch all year. |
I just felt like it was October, man. I could feel the excitement in the crowd, ... The two double play balls that I got tonight were huge for me. |
I just tried to stay focused, thinking about (Tim) Wakefield last night being able to come back from a five-run deficit and get a win, |
I knew [we could win] if we could only get some pitching. |
I signed at a pretty good discount. They felt going year-to-year would be more beneficial for me financially. ... They felt like I was leaving close to $4 million on the table. But I could be in a car wreck tomorrow. So, at this point in my career, it's obviously benefiting me with a little bit of security. |