I know sitting in the dugout, we all thought it was over his head. |
I know when I was in Oakland, things always kind of happened for us to not win a series, |
I know why I'm here, I'm here to win ballgames, ... Whether it's the playoffs, the regular season, whenever. You go out and get the job done. |
I like using my defense, you know. I'm not going to get mad about giving up a hit because you make one good pitch, the next pitch you get a double play. |
I like using my defense; that's why when you give up a hit I'm not going to be that mad, ... The next pitch you can get a double play. That's part of my game in a way. |
I loved playing in Oakland. But losing those [top free agents] year after year after year ... it was frustrating. And so much of it was dependent on the three of us, how we pitched, |
I made pitches when I had to, when I had those guys on first or second. It's a big part of me. |
I missed my last start, so it took me a little while to find that comfort zone. I had a pretty good sinker tonight. |
I really, really felt good tonight, and the one mistake, pretty much the only ball I left up in the zone, he hits for a homer. What are you going to do? I just tried to get over it and let's throw up some more zeroes, especially with the lead we had. |
I rely on our defense. They made the plays today and that's huge for me because I need those guys to be successful. Guys are going to put it in play off me and I need those guys to make plays. |
I remember Huddy saying last year that if it wasn't done by camp, that's it. And they got it done before spring. That's the only example I know about. But that's not me. I don't think I'll approach it that way. Plus, workouts start (today). |
I say that and I wasn't exactly happy with it. There were a bunch of games where I thought I could have pitched better. It's just when I look back at say five or six games where I had ... a 4-0 lead and, boom, it was 4-3. I'm sitting there, now I've got a one-run lead. When I got a lead earlier in my career, I ran with that. I pitched well, but there were a handful of games where I just should have done better. |
I struck out two of the guys on two sinkers in, looking, and the other was on a splitter. I didn't make any pitches like that last year. It's just one start. I understand that. |
I think every pitcher, if you don't go out there expecting to win, expecting to do well, then you shouldn't be going out there, ... You've got to be ready for these situations and you've got to thrive on it. You want to go out there for the big game. |
I think I'm where I want to be, especially physically. I wasn't tired at all in the fourth inning. I didn't feel as good today as I did my first two starts, but I had a great curve ball today, throwing it for strikes. |