I think there's a lot of guys on our team ready for a half-night off. The grind has been incredible. |
I think they are just coming right after him. This is what good pitchers do with people like David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez, and Vladimir Guerrero. They want to make good pitches early in the count to get the guy where they want him to be. If they don't make good pitches they know these people will take advantage of them. |
I think we accomplished what we wanted to by getting guys rested and getting home field. Everything had to fall in place perfectly, and it looks like it did. |
I think we need to exhale a little bit. As far as his health, he says he's fine and he wouldn't be throwing the ball as well as he is if he was hurt. |
I think we were all surprised at the level he came into camp at compared to where he was when we saw him in October. There was a tremendous amount of work that was needed, and he did it. He's in the shape he needs to be in. |
I think with Frankie or any player who has done well early in their career, the challenge is to maintain it. Our confidence is built over time, but in this game ... you have to go out and keep re-establishing yourself. He has the perspective to do that. |
I think you can characterize it as a mild surprise that we are here. |
I thought Jeff did what we expected. He got off to a little of a rocky start. Once he got on a roll he really changed speeds well and hit his spots. Outside of the first inning, I thought he did a great job. He kept us in the ball game and unfortunately his stats will not show how well he pitched. |
I thought Jeff Weaver did a terrific job. He gave us innings and got us to the bullpen, which is what we needed. You saw a guy that went after hitters and hit his spots. Other than the balls to Blalock, he pitched well. |
I thought Washburn pitched some very good baseball at home, ... He's in the top 10 in the league in ERA; he must be doing something right. |
I worked very closely with Paul. You could see at a very early age what kind of hitter he was going to be. You could also see what kind of catcher he was not going to be. |
I wouldn't say we're concerned, but ... his command was off and sometimes that's a sign of weariness, ... He's in uncharted waters. |
I'd be surprised if Jon missed 12 pitches all night. His first-strike ratio was incredible. Those guys are horses. We have to do a better job of getting to them early. |
I'm sure they're not out there trying to miss calls. But we haven't gotten any plays along those lines. |
I've never seen four horses like that that come out of the gate. |