It always comes down to the pitching. |
It is with mixed emotions that I am announcing my retirement. Thank you to all of my teammates, coaches, managers and fans for making the ride so much fun. |
It was a borderline pitch. I thought it could go either way. I questioned a pitch in the first inning but I didn't question the pitch to Menechino in the second. |
It was a look that I've gotten a few times. And it doesn't make you feel comfortable. |
It was looking like a tailor-made double play. The throw wasn't quite where we wanted it. |
It's a story about friendship and making new friends. |
It's not a deterrent. There's nothing like playing here, like having the last at-bat. But we feel good about ourselves, home or on the road. |
Mariano tried to go in on him, which is the book: try and tie him up inside. But he got us again. |
Mo did a great job with both Manny and Ortiz. He made his pitches, and if they were going to beat him, they were going to beat him on his pitches. He walked both of them, but he kind of dictated the at-bats. |
Obviously, he didn't have a knuckleball like Wake has. This is the best that we've seen in this era and it's one of those things that you really can't prepare for. You try to talk to as many people who have caught him and see if they've done anything that has helped them. |
Obviously, the stuff is better. I think the aggressiveness out on the mound is a little bit different. And I think, in terms of game day, you can see the intensity in his eyes. He really understands where he's at with these games down the stretch. |
Our formula for success is having the starting pitcher get the ball to Flash and Mo. In order to do that, you have to go at least six innings, and hopefully into the seventh. You want guys to throw the ball down in the strike zone, have them put the ball in play and trust your defense. It's challenging. |
Schilling, ... looked like the old Schilling. |
The ball was jumping out of his hand. His velocity jumped up with it, his slider was tighter and he had a dominating performance. |
The first half of the year, we didn't know who we were. We were struggling and we didn't know how it would end up. |