Sidney Ponson Quotations

With the offense this team has and the defense behind me, I don't worry about too much. I just have to pitch the way I'm capable of, and everything will work out well.

One at a time. The next one after one is two. It's not 10.

I am going to get some help and get my life straightened out.

I feel much better when I throw eight innings on 80 pitches than eight innings on 120. I think I'm a more mature pitcher.

I was all right until the seventh. It went downhill from there. I was pretty ticked off. I almost blew the whole thing right there. I left the ball right down the middle for Schneider and he did what he was supposed to do. He hit a double, but I'm glad he didn't hit a homer.

I was all right until the seventh and then I went downhill from there. I almost blew the whole thing.

I was all over the place. My shoulder was flying open. I couldn't throw the ball where I wanted. But when I needed to do what I needed to do, somehow I did it.

I will be happy if I can pitch seven complete innings instead of 6 1-3 and 6 2-3. In the American League I had a lot of pride in going deep into the game, seven or eight innings.

I went to rehab for health reasons. I'm happy. I'm the same guy as back in the day, but I stopped drinking. I still go out with friends and have fun. But instead of drinking beer I'm drinking water.

I'm in a different situation here. Look at the guys already here. Over there, everybody looked at me. It was hard to try to talk to young guys who didn't want to listen to you.

I was missing down in the zone. When I brought it up, they hit me.

Without a doubt, I would have been (upset) going into the season with this.

You look at it like you're losing 1-0 or winning 1-0. I've had a tendency in the past when I'm up 8-0 to lose focus on a couple pitches. Before you know it, it's 8-5. If you think about you're winning or losing 1-0, it makes things so much better. You get people out.

I used to rear back and throw 99 and 'Here you go, I'm going to strike you out. And it didn't work that well.

After my last problem, I sought help and didn't wait for anybody to push me. I just did it on my own. Since the last time I had trouble, I've been clean.

Defense is going to bail me out a lot this year. I'll have to take some time to take those guys to dinner.

That's why I was in the American League for eight years. It was interesting. They'll probably have me out one day early here to run the bases.

This is a second chance for me, and I'm going to take full advantage of it.

They told Barry straight up they wanted to sit down and talk to him. It's understandable with all the problems I've had in the past. No one is going to open the door right away. They had the concern. I think they still have the concern about the other stuff. I have to do my part to be trusted again. I'm going to work hard and be ready to pitch when they give me the ball.

It was good until the end. ... To give up that two-run-scoring double, I wasn't too happy about it. It's not how you start, it's how you finish, and I didn't finish good today.

I'm not saying anything bad about Camden Yards, but this is really nice. Those guys told me to let them know how the mound is, and I like it. I think everybody on this pitching staff is going to like it.

I'm going to find somebody, I told Tony when we had a meeting. It's an ongoing battle and it's not easy, but you have to want it to do it, and I want to do it.

I'm happy about the way I threw the ball today. My goal is to get as many ground balls as I can. I don't like to strike people out. I pitch to contact.

I'm gonna try to lose a little bit, because I'm gonna be running the bases more here, need a little more flexibility and quickness. I have to learn how to do it anyway. I never did it in my life. It's a part of the game and I have to know it.

I know what the situation is anytime I mess up. Hopefully it will never happen. But if I do something bad they have the option of sending me to the bullpen or releasing me. I know what the situation is. It's not set in stone yet. But they gave me a second chance to work hard and show these guys I'm capable of pitching in the big leagues.

I knew why I was there. I could've tried to do it by myself and suck it up. But why do that if I could go get more help from capable people and see different ways to handle it? If anybody wants to talk about it, I'll talk about it. If you want to do it, you do it. If not, you won't do it. Some people sit there 30 days, walk out the door and start drinking again. It's all about what you really want. Do you want to change? I did.

I'm looking forward to this. I'm looking forward very much to pitching.

I'm pretty happy with the way I threw. In Baltimore, I pushed the envelope a little more because I was a veteran. Over here, I'm fighting for a spot.

I just missed off the plate. I'd rather that than miss over the plate and them hit it over the wall.

I just leave the ball down the middle for Schneider and he did what he was supposed to do. I'm glad he didn't hit a home run.

He told me from the get-go to win a job as a starter I was going to have to come in and work hard. The only thing I can do when they give me the chance is to throw strikes and get people out. In the end they'll choose who's best suited for that spot and we'll see what happens.

If I can do that during the season without giving up the home runs and stuff, I'm happy. I look for one- or two-pitch outs. I don't like to strike people out.

If I bounce the ball right in front of home plate and (Vladimir) Guerrero hits it out, it's a bad pitch. So, it's not a good pitch.

If I had to go (into the season) with that, I would be (ticked). Going into the season with this start - you know - not that happy about it.

The main thing is I worked on keeping the ball down in the zone, and 75 percent of the time I did keep it down, instead of 50-50.