(Being) .500 is a nice thing, but it's still being mediocre. We've got to get beyond that. |
(Then) boom. He's the man. |
[Jackson] really did up some people. We know what we thought, but we think that even more now. That was a tremendous performance on his part, but his day is coming. It's getting closer. |
[The Rays situation] is really interesting, ... From the front office people to the players themselves, there's a lot to be excited about [in Tampa Bay]. |
A bad night. It was a bad night. We just did not get the starting pitching we needed against their starting pitcher and that made it a little bit more difficult. It was not a good night. |
A lot of these guys made great impressions. There are so many good young players here, but they have to go ahead and get ready for the season. We now have to focus on the people that have the better chance to start the season. |
Absolutely love it. This place rocks. The Pit (his nickname for the Trop) rocks. We got to get it to rock when it's not the Yankees, not the Red Sox. Let's get it to rock when the Rangers are in town on a Monday and Tuesday and when everybody else is in town. |
Actually one of the kids' mothers went to school when I was there, so I had to be careful with that. And I knew her. How about that? |
Again, the biggest thing I'm looking for is strike-throwing right now. See what their command looks like, getting ahead of hitters, putting hitters away, those kinds of things. It's really hard to be overly critical at this point. It's early and I want them to get their feet on the ground. And the practice game and the workouts are one thing, but getting out there against live competition, as we all know, is different. |
And [Ryan] Franklin, (who beat the Angels on Tuesday), he has our number historically. This fellow just pitches well against us for whatever reason, and he did it again tonight. |
And I said that's not right. I should be over there playing baseball, ... So I retired from football. |
Any time somebody throws a bat at an umpire, that surprises me. That's not acceptable at any level. That's just not the right thing to do. It's a surprise and it's very unfortunate. |
Apparently, he made the right call. I went out there because Tomas was arguing as vehemently as he was, so I went out. But I guess replays indicate that he was right. |
As far as the playing field, I really like the group that was there last year. |
At this point, [feeling well] seems to be the main criteria. You can assume that at this point. |