Kevin said that in a way, he was glad. It would make it easier to focus on getting ready for the season in Seattle. |
Last year I mostly only pitched bullpens and batting practice. I went into the season without pitching in a big league game. But I was feeling great. So we're trying to keep the same routine here. |
Last year, I was so worried about my knee and my shoulder. I was kind of timid throwing the ball. This year, I just came in and the ball flew right out of my hand. I feel real good. |
Look at him. He's no bigger than he's always been. |
Now, that's what I try to teach these guys in here. |
One bad pitch, it's frustrating. But I felt great, like I did in Boston, and look what happened. I cost the team, I almost cost the game. But my teammates pulled it out, and you know what? I'm not worried. I'll be fine. |
That's part of baseball. You're going to have those days. The name of the game is picking each other up. |
That's what my job is. To help this team win and save some games. But when they come, they come in bunches. When they don't come, they don't come for a while. You sit back and wait. We'll see what happens. I'll be ready. |
The ball was just lifted. He got it up, got underneath it and took it. The thing about falling behind on Loretta, you fall behind 2-0, with a guy on first, I've got to get at least a strike there. He went swinging and we paid for it. |
The last two years have been tough. We all share in that. We haven't done our job. But I look around the division now, and we match up pretty well. I think we can do some damage. |
The thing that's really surprising everybody is his composure on the mound. The way he handles himself on the field, you wouldn't think he's 19 years old. |
There are a lot of pitchers who need to throw 100 pitches. But that's not me. I just need to throw some fastballs, a couple of sliders, a couple of splitters and I'm ready to go. |
They were ugly shoes, man. They were the ugliest shoes I've ever seen. |
They've got a great team, I really like them. They're a young team, and they've done what the Twins did in that division a few years ago. This is what happens when you get a core group of guys and let them play with each other for three, four years. You get a special bunch. They're having fun; you can see it. |
Vlad reminds me a lot of Kirby [Puckett], but with more pop. Kirby was a free swinger, but [Guerrero] is in a league of his own. I don't think he even has a plan when he goes up there. |