Jim Tracy Run Quotations

That extra run is big, ... because we still can pitch.

We got the three runs in the third, but we did nothing else. That's all we did.

We got the three runs in that inning and we didn't do anything else. That's our offensive game tonight.

He was adamant about doing everything to get back quickly. He's not 100 percent healthy. The running aspect, he might not be able to fully extend himself that way. Defensively, it isn't a problem.

Only the one run wasn't going to be good enough, and we gave them two others.

Both plays were close. It was a run we didn't get and a run they did get. But you don't point fingers.

I thought he did well. I particularly liked how he gave up a run in the first inning but made an adjustment and pitched really well in the next inning.

I would certainly hope so. At the major-league level, there has to be a lot of nights where five runs are plenty to win.

Each time we creep back into the game, it's followed up by additional runs from the other side of the field. When you're trying to get back into a game three or four times a day, that's tough to do.

We're talking about a catcher. Squatting, up and down out of the crouch, runners going, boom, the impact of landing. ... It doesn't make any sense to push it.

That second run was the result of 100-percent effort that he's given each time he's on the field. It's a very noteworthy play and the difference in the game. You can't teach that, but winners do things like that. You have to want to do it. I'm impressed with this player. If his bat reaches its potential, he's an every-day Major League player, in my opinion.

We took great at-bats tonight. We hit four home runs. And the beautiful part of it was the run that we scored to go ahead was something that we worked at very hard in Spring Training.

Each and every time we creep back into the game, it's followed up by additional runs by the other side of the field. And when you're trying to play catch up, and it continues to go further and further away from you, you're trying to get back in the game three or four times a game that's tough to do.

Moving a runner 90 feet makes quite a difference in a game. It changes decision-making and depth of infielders. The big thing is the introduction of it to everyone. They've really taken to it.

I told him that the worst case-scenario, if he goes the other way with the ball, was for him to get one run in and advance the other runner. He understood me perfectly. I'll take his approach to that at-bat.

You can nitpick all you want, but one run isn't going to get it done. We played hard. There was no lack of effort. We needed a timely hit. We weren't able to get it done.

They got a home run in the first inning from a very special player. But beyond that, we matched them pitch for pitch and play for play.

He had two perfect pitches to bunt. That's the guy you want up there to get the bunt down. You get the bunt down, it makes them have to make decisions. And we had a guy coming up who's a contact hitter who can drive the ball to the outfield to drive the run in.

He may not have seen live pitching, but he's the type of guy who wouldn't take long to resurrect his hand-eye coordination. I don't think he hit 700-and-something home runs by accident. I think you would have to be aware of him.

Aggression is no reason to be foolish. The double play is one thing. Running into stupid outs? That's even worse, in my opinion.

Coming out of Spring Training, I thought we'd score some runs. We've scored 20 runs in the last three days and haven't won a game.

Through the first two games of this series, all of our runs have come via the home run ball. We were not able to, when we tried to get something going, sustain it offensively to put ourselves in a position where a base hit or a gapper could score a couple of runs for us.

As small an aspect of the game as bunting might appear to be to a lot of people, it's really important to me. The complexion of a game can change because you have the ability to advance a runner 90 feet. It's huge.

Giving up four or five runs through five innings with your starter ... that's a lot of runs to give up and expect to win.