Dave Duncan Pitch Quotations

We're not afraid to use Hancock. As long as he's pitching the way we think he should pitch, which is aggressive and keeping the ball in the bottom of the strike zone for the most part, he can pitch in any part of the game.

Mulder got out there and I didn't think he was able to finish his pitches. I didn't think it was smart to have him pitch at less than 100 percent if it meant he was going to have a problem with his delivery.

Reyes needs to pitch innings. He needs to show us he can go out there consistently. Hopefully, he'll get 180 innings.

He hasn't needed it. But he's going to need something like that at the major league level. It's hard to pitch at the top of the strike zone.

He needs to show he can pitch an entire season without being injured. Pitching 180 innings in the minor leagues is a steppingstone to pitching 200 in the major leagues.

It could be a good pitch for him if he can gain control of it to the point where he doesn't make mistakes that are hit. If his mistakes are down, OK. If he makes mistakes up ... I don't think he wants to walk off the field after getting beat on a changeup. But he can find places to use it.

I think he's more conscious of trying to pitch to the weakness of the hitter rather than just going after everybody the same way. That's pretty much what he did when he first came over.

I thought he threw the ball well. Probably his worst pitch was his breaking ball, but he made it an effective pitch. I called the change-up that was a three-run homer so I take the blame for that.

I'm sure by the time the playoffs get here, Ray King will be fine. Because we're going to give him as many opportunities as we can to pitch in those situations, and he's good enough to get the job done.

We thought Marquis would be very valuable to us in the bullpen. He can be used in a lot of different situations, and often. I would be surprised if he doesn't pitch quite a bit yet in this series.

We'll keep them ready to pitch and look for opportunities to get them experience. I'd rather see them come out of the bullpen than not pitch at all.

Delgado was very aggressive and swung at balls that weren't strikes. There was no need in that situation to throw him a strike. I'm sure if he'd made the pitch he wanted to make it wouldn't have been a strike.

He's shown that he has the ability to pitch at the major league level. Opportunities come in different ways. When you get them you have to take advantage of them. If he makes our ball club he'll probably appear in the middle of the game as a situational type left-hander.