Frank Robinson Itch Quotations

It was a very well-played game. It all started with pitching and it all started with defense.

It was a very well-played game, but it all started with pitching and defense. Again, we didn't tear the cover off the ball. We scored one run. This is what we have to do to compete. Hopefully, we can put it together. This is probably the third or fourth sharp game that we have played, but this the best that we played.

I think you have to ... take an MRI on every pitcher that you acquire in a trade or free agency - the elbows, knees and shoulders. That's the only way you're going to be able to look at the elbow and shoulder and knees, and get a pretty good idea of what's in there.

If he wins the job, we will be better off in that respect, because he can create a little havoc at the top of the lineup and put some pressure on the defense and pitching if they are worried about him stealing second or going from first to third.

It was important for him to go seven tonight. He didn't have a high pitch count, so he should be OK on Sunday. We got our cake and ate it, too, tonight.

We've just been very fortunate we had good success against him and made good pitches on him, ... You have to contain him. You don't just totally shut him down.

A pitcher can be the leader among the pitchers and be there for anyone who wants to approach him. But he is not that one guy who will go to a hitter and get in his face. Sometimes you need a leader and arms of that leader on the pitching staff, bullpen and the reserves. A position player can cross the line and doesn't mind going over to talk to the pitchers. But pitchers are kind of hesitant to go over to the offensive side of it.

It was unbelievable the way he pitched. His record should have been better. It took some growing up on the mound, understanding the situation, the pitches and the sequences of attacking the hitter. He is kind of strong-willed. We had to kind of fight through that wall of his to see it our way.

We didn't make good pitches in this series, especially tonight.

I don't like the overall results. To say the effort is not there would be a little harsh, but we're not doing the things that we are capable of doing to get the results we need. We are not making plays, we are making errors, we are not making pitches like we should and we are not hitting in situations.

We struggled tonight and it never comes easy. The pitching did a good job for us tonight.

I wasn't going to sit there and wait until he threw the game away in the first inning. You're going to pitch for me, you've got to throw strikes.

He is just out there throwing. He's just not pitching. He thinks throwing harder is better. It's not. He has to get back to pitching and locating his pitches. You just can't just stand out there throw fastballs by people.

You're told by the umpire that you're allowed to pitch inside. What does that do? You're allowed to pitch inside until we feel like in our minds that you're throwing at someone intentionally. How do you know when that is?

You can't ask for anything more. He should have been out of the first inning with 16 pitches and a zero up on the board.

He threw strikes, ... He hit the ball around the strike zone. He used all of his pitches today, and he was ahead of the hitters. He made them swing the bat and made pitches to get them out.

He was around the plate, which I liked. He hung a couple of pitches but I don't mind that. I liked what I saw.

We don't seem to be able to handle pitchers we don't know. First-time guys, we seem to struggle with them. We're just not swinging the bats very well right now.

We don't seem to be able to handle any pitchers we don't know well. He mixed up his pitches pretty good. He moved it around. Still, we weren't very selective or very patient at the plate against him.

Usually in a game like this you're hopeful for one good shot at a pitcher like Pedro. And we got that in the sixth inning. We couldn't ask for any better chance than we had there, with the people we had coming to the plate. We got nothing out of it.

Usually in a game like this you hope for one good shot at a pitcher like Pedro. It wasn't whether they had good at-bats, they just weren't productive even if they hit the ball hard. We had the people you wanted at the plate in the order you wanted and expected to be productive, but we didn't get it.

He can throw it at any time and throw it for strikes. It's a very effective pitch for him. I want to learn how he throws it, keep it in mind, maybe teach it to someone else.

I just can't figure this team out. I really can't. The more a pitcher struggles, or the higher the ERA is, the worse we do.

I didn't think he was going after the hitters. He was walking himself into trouble. He was one base hit away from the game blowing in our faces. I don't like pitchers throwing balls. You can't defense ball four.

He wasn't real sharp today. When he got ahead of hitters, he couldn't finish them off. There were a lot of pitches in the strike zone.

The thing about the pitching staff right now is it's taxed. It's overtaxed. It's tired.

I'm not going to jump on the wagon now and say, yes indeed, here we are. Certainly, it has been a nice mixture of good pitching and the offense has come to life.

What's deceptive about a good changeup as far as a hitter's concerned is the arm motion. If he delivers it with the same arm motion and same arm speed that he does the fastball, it will be a very effective pitch for him.

I'm very proud of Brian the way he has progressed over the years, especially since he's been the everyday catcher. He's improved in his offensive part of the game, he's improved in his defensive part of the game and he's improved in his overall play -- pitch-calling. There's no reason why, and I expect him to continue to make that type of progress and continue to improve overall. Not just in his offense. I still think Brian has room to improve defensively and calling of games and handling the pitching staff in situations.

We're not going to have the kind of club that's going to just outscore teams. We're going to need good pitching along with timely hits. That's what worked for 90 games last season.

We had our emotions in control. We just made a couple of a bad pitches, really. We didn't make good pitches in this series, and they hit them, especially tonight.

The chance is very good that he doesn't pitch again this year. I'd be surprised if he does. But if he does, it's because he says his arm is good. ... He still feels like his arm is not right and as long as he feels that way, I wouldn't even think about sending him out there to the mound.

This young man is special. He was learning about catching with no hesitation on his part. He's really come a long way in a short period of time. And then to have to tell him this, it was very difficult. But we need pitching more than anything else right now.

I'm not a doctor, ... I can't tell you how long it takes to recover from what he had. But it's kind of a little sorry to accept that somebody would say on Friday or Saturday -- four days in advance -- that, 'I can't pitch on Tuesday, but I can pitch on Friday.'

He's pitching himself into a position where he may not have the chance unless it's in New Orleans. That's what he's doing.

He could go out and pitch the same way this year and have a tremendous year because things go his way. This may be his year to get run support.

He pitched very well. You couldn't ask for anything more. He should have got out of the first inning with 16 pitches with a zero up on the board. After that, he went about his job. He did pitch. He didn't throw.

It was probably the best game he's pitched in the last five or six ball games. His knee is getting better each start, and he is getting back to where he normally would be: that is hitting the corners with his pitches and changing speeds.

I know he could go four innings, ... And with his pitch count down, possibly he could go five.

He's not making some plays we expect him to make, he's made in the past and will make in the future. I'll tell you one thing: Pitchers go in slumps, hitters go in slumps, fielders go in slumps. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. He's in a slump in the field. He has 48 hours to come out of it.