You want them to get a taste for this. You're an organization. It's not just the big leagues and then the minor leagues. It's all one big process. |
You want to get into the bullpen. We're watching the pitch count go up, hits are at a premium and we're not even seeing too many balls up. We're trying to get him out of the game, and we do, and we had an opportunity right there. |
You'd think he was a 2-handicap golfer the way he keeps golfing those balls over the right-field fence, ... It certainly was a situation where we could use a big hit like that. We had some opportunities - probably more than they did - but it only takes one big hit. |
You're not going to win many games getting two hits. |
You're not going to win many games getting two hits. . . . I don't know what we could have done differently. We just didn't get a whole lot of good swings. |
You've got to try to put your best foot forward. Not that Nippert wouldn't have a chance against them, (but) you like to run most of your veterans out there against a team that's in first place and in contention to win the division. |
[Arizona | Troy Glaus hit his 33rd and 34th homers off sinkerball pitcher Aaron Cook.] He makes it hard on a lowball pitcher, because he is a good lowball hitter, ... He can lift the ball with the arc that he does and the strength he has can hit a home run. |
[Garcia's ear problems began in 2002, when he ruptured one eardrum by sneezing as the Mariners' plane was landing on a road trip to Texas. The other eardrum burst on the return flight. Garcia finished out the year and elected not to have off-season surgery. During his up-and-down performance last season, however, Garcia sometimes wore earplugs when he pitched to help with his equilibrium.] He'll say it didn't affect him, ... but I know there were times he was struggling with his ears. It only takes a small thing to make the difference between winning and losing at this level, and I don't think there's any question that some of Freddy's problems were physical. |
[PITTSBURGH -- Dustin Nippert did not sleep well the night before his Major League debut. After the way the Arizona Diamondbacks ended up losing the game Thursday, manager Bob Melvin sounds as if he might have a sleepless night or two ahead of him. ] We've got to find a way to win that game, ... We had a lot of opportunities and let them slip by. |