Wayne Graham Quotations

We blew a couple of scoring opportunities in the second half but the main thing is that we got the job done in the end. The boys have taken a lot of confidence from that although there is another tough one ahead this week.

We're going to have to find some more pitching somewhere. I think the guys can do it if they just focus on making good pitches.

We know what we are up against but our guys are looking forward to it. It's a great opportunity to measure ourselves up against the best.

We're playing on a really good field over there and against a good team. It's a good opportunity to get ahead of the game. We need to win the series over there bad.

We've still got a bracket with Craig and Adam. Craig's improved significantly but we need to be sure he's fine,

Fullerton is just like us, in that their first area of concentration is pitching and defense. I think they are an Omaha team. I don't think there is any question about it.

He's a good athlete. Even though he's made some acrobatic catches that should have been easy, he's made them all.

He just happened to get a pitch up and the guy (Russell) happened to catch it.

Joe feels that he can function better in his dual role as a Sunday starter. He's obviously a bat that we have to have.

Josh is a quality hitter, and against Long Beach it showed that we can not afford to have his bat out of the lineup. So until his arm is well, against quality opponents we're going to have to have Josh either play left field with a long relay man or play first base. His bat has got to be in the lineup.

That can happen, although it perhaps had as much to do with the quality of the opposition as anything,

We've got a lot of weapons. We've got speed, and we've got a lot of guys with superior talent. In good ball clubs, people pick each other up, and that's what's happening.

We are happy enough with how things have gone, but Bay of Plenty were semi-finalists last year and they will give us a stern work out, ... None of us have forgotten what happened last year. They gave us a real hiding and we know we are going to have to be at our best to beat them.

We've worked harder this fall than we ever have because we started earlier, ... We started right when we could and started doing the individual work because we anticipate that we have a lot of talent and that there is some talent that we need to develop to fill in with the existing talent. It does look good.

We can't really take any comfort from that (the history). Everything starts again from Friday night, and they'll be smarting after getting beaten at home in the last round.

We didn't play behind him. I thought he was behind in the count a lot, and when he was ahead in the count he didn't make the pitches that he usually makes.

The whole thing about playing him at third base is that he doesn't have to make a relay throw and he can rehab his arm. He's got a great arm action so he doesn't have to stress it.

This could turn Houston into the baseball capital of the world. Seeing Major League Baseball every day really opened it up. It enhanced the dream.

They are the form team of the competition and unquestionably New Zealand's number one team,

This is the sort of game where those guys lead the way and the younger players will be looking to feed off their direction.

It seems like our close game victories are tied to our relief pitching. Anytime you can come from behind and win, it's a morale builder because the more you do it, the more you believe you can.

It's as much about good communication and trust as anything, but we're pleased with how it's come along and you saw the value of it last weekend when we were able to keep a pretty useful Canterbury side at bay.

It's been pretty tough on him with it hanging over his head. On Monday, I think, he had something like 26 interviews to do. But now with the book launch over he's been able to relax a bit. He had a good sleep last night and went flying yesterday (Wednesday). He's pretty focused now.

They've shown flashes of what they are about so far, so have we. So the team that best puts its imprint on the game will probably get the points!

You can't grieve too much ? you're down two infielders right now. You just have to try and work your way through it, that's all.

There is nothing wrong with [pitching by committee] in mid-week [games]. It creates unique problems for hitters. I think it creates more problems for good-hitting teams than it does for the other teams.

It's a matter of how the bullpen looks as to whether Bell goes in there or Crow goes in there. Bell won't be ready for a start for another 10 days.

Everybody can have a bad game, and we did. These guys have all proven that they can handle adversity. We're in the midst of a little adversity.