(Batista) was missing with his cutter to the outer half (of the plate) and I thought that it was a good time to throw a fastball. He has so many good pitches and his ball has such life that we ended up getting the result we were looking for. |
Being able to put somebody away with two strikes, that has just been the killer, |
Even (Jay) Gibbons was saying as he came to the plate that he had never seen Tejada do that. |
Even though we know we're much better on paper, we still have to prove it to ourselves. |
He didn't have his command, that was pretty much the difference. It's not an easy role. |
He moves the ball around the plate a lot and he's very deceptive. He's got four pitches he can throw any place in the count. |
He started off pretty good and then the wheels just came off. I don't know. It may have been fatigue -- I don't know. We tried pretty much everything. |
He's been a good guy and steady performer all year, just giving us one good start after another. |
He's getting better every time and he's coming very quickly, ... Confidence is going to be a key thing for him down the road, but that will come as well. It's just a matter of time. |
His fastball command was a lot better than it was the other day. He was just really aggressive. It's an attitude I'd like to see more of. |
Holding a team like the Yankees to three runs, I'll take my chances any day. |
Home run, base hit, whatever. It's just nice to contribute. It was really a nice moment for me to put us ahead. More importantly, getting a win in a game like that was big for us. |
I don't know, ... I don't know if he'll make a good closer. I would say he has the stuff to make a good closer, but does he have the command? I don't know. That remains to be seen. The guy's been pitching for 10-plus years professionally and he always has a high walk total. I'm not sure that lends itself to the closer role. |
I don't know, and I don't ask. |
I don't think we're going to be satisfied with being a .500 ball club. Obviously we're not going to end up 20 or 30 games above, like a good team really would. There's still a chance that we could be in it right up to the end and there's a chance that if we're not, we could play spoiler. We all know we're better than a .500 club. |