[Barrett is] a little older, calmer. I don't know if mature is the right word or not. Experienced is probably a better word. He understands himself as a catcher more, and at the same time, understands who's pitching, whether it's me or one of the other 10 guys. |
Age is just a number. I heard Julio Franco say it a million times. I used to laugh at him, but now I know what he means. |
Anytime you see a pitcher screw up, you're like, 'Oh, I did that. You know how you've screwed up in the past. I try to give him and all the guys a heads-up. Experience is screwing up and not screwing up the same way again. That's all experience is. |
As far as I'm concerned, I've had my chances and I still have a chance, too, ... I mean you got to play the game the right way. I just want to get ready and pitch in five days and do what I can to throw a good game. |
As far as I'm concerned, I've had my chances, ... I still have a chance. You've got to play the game right. |
As for (15 wins), I'm probably not as concerned about it as everybody else is. For me it's always about pitching and trying to find out how good you are. If I do that this this year, I'll be glad to do it. |
But having been in the National League for 20 years, it's just kind of tradition. |
Chicago probably plays a little better defense than Houston. But, you know, it's baseball, |
Facing McGwire was definitely something that comes to mind, |
Facing McGwire was definitely something that comes to mind. Facing the Cardinal teams back when they had all the speed: Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee and all those guys. |
He bought a house right across the corner from me (in New Jersey). He was just a great man. He's the one that drafted me. He gave me an opportunity. And after he sold the team, we became even better friends. It's a tough day. |
He got me. It wasn't too bad of a pitch, maybe (it) caught a lot of the plate though. It was down, and I was trying to get a double-play ball. You have to tip your hat, he got me. |
He pitched better than his pitching line. It's easy to look at a guy's line score and say he looked bad or good. You see life on his fastball, pretty good location and he changes speeds. |
He was trying to change it up a little bit, give me a breather. |
He's just a good guy. Easy to get along with, very likable, and he played hard and played the game right. It was easy to respect what he did on the field and very easy to like him in the clubhouse. Not many guys can combine the two. He was one of the best at it. |