But really, there's no way to prepare for it. It's the only pitch I ever went to swing at and was never sure I was going to make contact. |
But that 12th pitcher is a real safety blanket for a manager to have. |
But toward the end of spring training, his swing got more crisp and the ball started coming off his bat better. With good hitters, you see that happening. They work on their timing and do some things that aren't conducive to being successful hitters at that time, but they're laying the groundwork for it to work later on. We're certainly seeing his swing turn around. |
but we want to do what's right for him beyond the next five days. |
Carl will primarily be the DH, but will also play some in our outfield. Having him in my lineup gives us some of the left-handed sock and run production we were looking for. |
certainly solidified the defense. In the time he's been here, he's made us much better up the middle, as has Jose Lopez at second. |
Dave threw the ball well and kept it down. That's the way to pitch best, throwing the ball nice and easy. |
Did he have no-hit stuff? Yeah, I think so. I was sitting there in the sixth wondering how many pitches to let him go for a no-hitter. He's young and big and strong, and he had only 83 going into the seventh. ... I'd have let him go 130 pitches. I'd like to have had that decision to make. |
Different clubs have different dynamics. If I felt that Ichiro hitting in the three spot would be advantageous to us scoring runs, I'll talk to him about it. At this point, I don't see the need for that. For us right now, Ichiro fits very well in the No. 1 spot. |
Don't swing. Just take every pitch. |
Early the ballgame you probably want the runner going to stay out of the double play. Late in the ballgame, that was the winning run and there are a lot of ways he can score other than a base hit. Ask 10 different people and you'll get 10 different opinions on what to do. Whatever works is right that night. |
Eddie Guardado is a very good pitcher. He is our closer and will remain our closer. Things will turn around for him. I have absolute confidence in him in those situations. He's done it too may times in the past to start questioning him. |
Eddie is still our closer. |
Eddie saved 36 games last year and came within one pitch of closing out two games he didn't. This will happen. He's a closer. He's our closer. |
Eddie threw more pitches in that inning than he did all spring training. |