Ted Lilly Year Quotations

I think I realize how necessary it is to prepare for a long season. I thought last year I would be able to catch up and get myself ready to go to start the season. But I was just never as prepared as I needed to be.

No question, it was a trying year. Mentally, it was the toughest year of my career. I always felt like I could find a way to pitch myself out of a hole, and last year, I don't feel like I ever did that.

It's nice to try to figure some things out right now, especially coming off the year I had last year. I needed to have a full spring training to come out here and kind of get tuned in and to try and get back to where I was in 2004.

I don't think ... I know it's a big year for both the club and myself. But it seems like every year that I've had in my career is a big year, whether it be the first one when you're trying to break in and prove yourself or the second one to prove the first one was no fluke, whatever the reasons.

Every year, they're going to have a pretty potent lineup. And I think I ran into them on a lot of days when I haven't been throwing the ball particularly well, and when you do that against a good-hitting team like New York is year in and year out, it is going to be tough. Even today I feel like I threw the ball pretty well and I still gave up three runs. I mean it's just a tough club to really go out there and control.