It's not an easy role. He's going to find it but your closer, you either have to have pinpoint command and not let anybody get on base or you have that out pitch where you can go to where you get a swing and miss. |
It's uncanny, isn't it. It does seem to be, especially in this ball park. Most of the close calls go to the home side. Based on his (Rodriguez) reaction to that pitch, and also I'm looking around on the field at the base runners, I think everybody in the ball park thought it was Strike 3 except the umpire. |
Ortiz has pulled quite a few home runs this year, and Manny wasn't having good passes at balls away all series. I just figured I'd stay out there, and they threw the ball pretty much where I wanted. |
said Clement (13-5, 4.33 ERA). ''I had him. |
That's tough. We would've liked to have kept the score where it was. Unfortunately, we don't have the benefit of instant replay while we're out there on the field. I felt like we made the third out before the run was recorded, but, obviously, Mr. Runge didn't feel that way. |
The first inning was just the other team hitting well-located pitches. Ortiz hadn't gone the other way, really, the whole series. He was trying to pull everything. [Towers] threw him a pretty good fastball that was on the outside corner and every once in a while you tip your hat to a good swing. |
The situational hitting was the key. We moved runners really well tonight. We're becoming a little more aware of our shortcomings and identifying the situations where we can drive in runs without getting hits. Those are the ones you have to capitalize on. |
There was no reason to roll the dice. I felt great, I've been running hard, I'm ready to go. |
They're all clutch performers. You're not going to hold guys like that down forever, |
This is a first for me. I never expected to hit 10 home runs in a year. Two tears I ago I would have never thought I would have gotten that many at-bats. All I want to do is contribute. A single or a home run - everybody likes to hit. But I know in the end my job is to focus on defense. |
Those fans in Boston, they're very passionate about their Red Sox and they were fighting for a playoff spot. Here, we had two teams that are going home on Sunday, just trying to honor the game and finish out the season. You want to play the game hard and professionally, finish out your contract and do what you're paid to do. Other than personal pride, there's really nothing on the line here. |
To me, your closer needs to be able to throw the ball over the plate regardless of what he is throwing, ... If you don't have pinpoint command you need to have an out pitch, a swing and miss pitch. |
We didn't swing the bats well today, but I think that had more to do with Mike than anything else. He pitched a heck of a game. Sometimes you run into a guy like that, that has a great day and you tip your hat to him. |
We get another great opportunity to win that ballgame with my at-bat, and it's just unforgivable to not put a ball in play. You don't even need to get a hit. A lazy fly to the outfield wins that ballgame. |
We had a real young team and the young guys made a lot of progress. I don't anybody expected us to be a pennant winner, but I think we got better as an organization this year. |