He got off to a tough start. And having that big contract, pitching at home, can sometimes weigh on you. I don't think he'd admit that, but you really want to start things right, especially being back home, with a new team. And that didn't happen for him. |
He had a great year at Triple-A, came in here, and from day one, here he's been impressive. |
He handles the bat very well, hits the ball to all fields. I've already hit and run with him a couple of times this spring, and he's done a nice job. |
He has the actions of a guy who's been around the big leagues for a while. He's a clear thinker out there and nothing that we've thrown at him has he not been able to handle. |
He hits the ball to all fields. And the numbers show that if you stack your best hitters, that's how you score the most runs in bunches. He's certainly not a prototypical [No.] 2 hitter. |
He is similar to Tony [Clark], who has learned this [reserve] role. Being a bench player isn't easy to do, and the quicker they accept it and fine a routine that works for them, these are the guys that are the most successful. |
He just had a good sinker. He was keeping the ball down, challenging the guys, making them put it in play. |
He just lost it in a hurry, |
He just lost it in a hurry. I thought he was throwing the ball as well as he had all year, working both sides of the plate. The first few innings were great, and then he just lost it in a hurry. |
He just seems like a different guy. You can see that he's got a lot more confidence in himself. . . . We're going to take the best arms, the best guys we see fit. |
He loves Tacoma. There were times last year, I think, where he would have rather been playing there than sitting up here, ... And for a World Series MVP to be that way ... that says something. I wish we had a 26-man roster, 'cause he'd be on it for sure. |
He made two nice picks. I was surprised to see how comfortable he was. They were moving him around and keeping an eye on him. You could tell. |
He never complained about it last year, but that's a difficult thing to do. To move around not only once, but twice, from the infield and the outfield, and not let it affect his hitting shows you a little bit about his tenacity and focus. |
He passed a lot of guys by. [I tried] to impress upon him that he's got to feel good about that. Having said that, you are where you are, you feel like you've made it and then you have that conversation, I'm sure it's a disappointment. |
He played against [Colorado starter Jeff] Francis last night, and he's got pretty good numbers off of Rodriguez, so we'll see where we are against Pettitte. |