I love the challenge of the game. I love the work. My goal right now is to have a season next year that will make people forget about this one. I'll use things like this for motivation. I'm pumped. I'm hungry.
It's tougher when you're established. Before, I'd see 13, 14, 15 pitches that I could drive in a game. Now, I see one, two or three, so I have to be better.
I love being out on the field, ... I feel it's an important part of us winning games is being out on the field, being consistent and playing both sides of the ball.
I love being out on the field, but this isn't the time to be a hero, ... If you put a gun to my head, I'm sure that I could play. But we have very important games coming up in the next month, so we're taking the safest route.
I only look forward. I can't get all caught up in what I've done. I still have plenty to accomplish in the game. Hopefully, I'm just scratching the surface.
I believe a champion wins in his mind first, then plays the game, not the other way around.
Michael Jordan told me the way he kept the crown was by always outworking everyone else because he knew everyone was always coming after him. You can sneak up on people when you are 18, 19, 20. It's tougher when you're established. Before, I'd see 13, 14, 15 pitches that I could drive in a game. Now, I see one, two or three, so I have to be better.
I've done a lot of special things in this game, and for none of that to be considered clutch, it's an injustice.
Playing the game was the easy part. The real work was in the preparation.
You can have fun, respect the game and also play it hard. When you have that combination, you're going to put yourself in a position to be successful.
These are the games we need to win. Good pitching, good defense and a great bullpen from Farnsworth and Mo.
These are the games we need to win.
It was inevitable. You knew in spring training when you saw these three games it was going to come down to this.
It's obvious that he's going through a lot of things right now. The fact that he's out there tells you how important these games are for us and what kind of a person he is. In the state of mind he's in, for him to hit that ball the way he did, it was a great momentum changer for us.
I've had so much success there, it's the place I feel like I've done the most damage. You can't let a game or two over the course of 75 or 100 games determine how you feel.
It's very important. We want to win a lot of games like that this year.
I mean, we were 10 games back in late July.
I like to be out on the field every day, ... playing both sides. Games can be won on the defensive side as well as the offensive side. ... Defense was probably the deciding factor.
Games like this, you've got to be ready. It seems like we were not quite on our 'A' game.