Those are young pitchers who made the adjustments, learned how important it is to get ahead in the count. There isn't much I can say positive about the first 3 2/3 innings of this game. Oliver had a decent first inning but after that there was no command to speak of. |
Those first five or six innings, you cannot make mistakes like that on this level and succeed. There's no way. You can't have it. |
Those hits in games like this are obviously huge. We did very little offensively for the majority of the night. |
Those three left-handers -- their mission on any given day, when they're going really, really good, will not be to strike out 12 or 13 guys. That's not the kind of pitchers they are. |
Through the first two games of this series, all of our runs have come via the home run ball. We were not able to, when we tried to get something going, sustain it offensively to put ourselves in a position where a base hit or a gapper could score a couple of runs for us. |
To expect to be able to score seven or eight [runs] is ridiculous. It hasn't happened in the history of the game. |
To look around here and see the number of guys wearing a glove on their right hand I've never seen this, honest to goodness. |
To me, he's one of the game's best pitching coaches in the National or American leagues. He has not only the ability to teach the physical aspects of the game, but also the ability to communicate with his pitchers. |
To see if there is any benefit to a four-man rotation, ... You'd consider it. |
To sit on Mike Gonzalez until the ninth inning might have put you in a position where you don't get an opportunity to use him. It just made all the sense in the world. |
To summarize for you, both guys passed (Saturday). It doesn't make any decision over the next few days any easier. But that's what you hope for. When you're in a position where you have to make choices like this, they're not easy. It's a great problem to have. |
Tonight was, in my opinion, dramatically better than what we saw in Florida. In Florida, he battled, but his fastball command was erratic. Tonight, it was crisp, it was good to both sides of the plate. It's a big step forward for him. |
Tonight's another case of what we've been dealing with the last few days. We pitched well enough to win, but didn't hit well enough to win. |
Two perfect pitches to bunt -- they are fouled off and we left our guys stranded. (Chicago) created a two-out situation and got a base hit that scored a run. It's huge. |
Very important. You're hopeful this win can jump-start you and head you in the direction you know this club is capable of going. |