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. |
Eddie threw more pitches in that inning than he did all spring. He needed work and that's what happens sometimes when you send a competitor out just to get some work. |
especially in a no-no. |
Even when he gave up the homers, he got right back on the mound and threw the ball. He's the same all the time. |
Every time he walks out and you look at his face, you realize you expect too much out of him. He's only 19 years old. But even today, he showed an ability to adjust and get back onto his game. The first two innings, he was not on his game at all. To adjust the way he did and to keep Baltimore where they were as long as he did, says a lot about his maturity and his knowledge of himself as a pitcher. |
Everyone is doing what they're supposed to do. Guys around our big guys are getting on base and into scoring position, and our big guys are putting the ball in play and coming through. Everybody is doing their jobs offensively. |