Ned Yost Ball Quotations

He looked outstanding. One ball was smoked and he made it look like a slow roller.

Vargas was on his game today. We had some good swings and hit some balls on the nose, but we just hit them straight up.

It nicked off his glove. With two strikes, we play in on Pierre on the opposite way anyway. About the last thing he will do is hit a ball the opposite way over an outfielder's head.

Before he came to Spring Training, he strained it a little bit. He slightly re-injured it in the World Baseball Classic. He came back and was feeling all right, but he slid into first the other day and kind of tweaked it again.

Dave Bush was really, really good. He kept his pitch count down. He got us through seven innings, which was big. He was spotting his fastball really well.

Corey gave it everything he's got. He might have dove just a hair early, which jarred him when the ball did hit his glove. We had trouble catching fly balls tonight. . . . It was one of those nights.

Corey came in, got off the plane, got dressed, took batting practice and smoked the ball two or three times. He finally got a hold of one.

Rickie got a curve ball up in the fourth and hammered it. That was a big part of the ballgame.

That's something that we talk about every day: You pitch to contact with your good stuff. That's what you look for. You want guys to have good, quick, clean innings. You want to go out there, let them hit the ball early in the count to one of your defenders, get the out and move on.

He's really struggling to command the baseball right now. He's struggling to command his fastball and his breaking ball. It's just a little mechanical issue that we'll continue to work on. But he got a little better as the game went on.

He threw the ball OK, but he got a few pitches up in the strike zone. The wind blowing out didn't help him.

He threw the ball good. Our plan now is to have him play catch (today) and then see how he feels. If everything is OK, we'll have him throw another simulated game on Tuesday and go from there.

When we traded Richie, the whole complexion of the team changed. We always seemed to be sitting back and trying to hit the home run. Now we've got guys in the lineup who work the counts, get on base and manufacture runs. That's the kind of baseball we want to play here.

He's hitting a lot of balls on the nose.

He just struggled. They didn't hit the ball hard, but they found holes. They put five runs on the board on him quick.

He just struggled all night long. They weren't smashing balls all over the place. They hit some balls off the end of the bat and they found some holes.

He just never really got it going tonight. He felt good, he felt all right. At times he popped it at 93 and most parts he got it around 90. He had a lot of balls up (and) his location just wasn't very good.

Tomo was very crisp today. He was sharp, he was throwing his fastball as hard as he has all year.

It's a matter of commanding his fastball and being consistent. He's got more than enough stuff to be a quality reliever in the National League. It sets everything else up when he's throwing his fastball. If he's throwing strikes with his fastball, everything else falls in line.

(Davis) tried to overthrow a breaking ball (to Burke) and he hung it.

Danny has had good downhill action. His ball is sinking good. He's going to be fine.

Any time you get the tying run to the plate (late) in a ball game you've done a pretty good job. But the score really doesn't reflect that.

He's done a good job keeping the ball in the zone. He has had short, quick innings. He throws that knuckleball, and then he throws an 83-mph fastball and jams good hitters. He's got some weapons.

We played solid and consistent baseball all day long. We didn't make any glaring mistakes. That's our goal, to try to be as consistent as we can be, day in and day out.

The bullpen just struggled. They hit the ball hard and they found the holes.

That was a tough play but it was within (Weeks') reach. It's a play, if you're going to win the ball game, that's got to be made.

That is the class of the National League for the last 14 years. It's pretty big. We've never even won a series at home against them, much less a sweep. We played good, consistent baseball to do it -- with pitching, good timely hitting. It was a nice series.

We just let too many opportunities get early. We got his pitch count way up and had opportunities to score and couldn't put the ball in play. That always finds a way to come back and haunt you.

We just let too many opportunities get by early. We got his pitch count up and three times we had runners in scoring position and fewer than two out. We just couldn't put the ball in play. That has a way of catching up with you.

We just let too many opportunities get by early. That always comes back to haunt you. We preach to put the ball in play. Nothing good happens with a strikeout.

The last thing he's normally going to do is hit the ball over an outfielder's head going the opposite way.

We figured that would be a good chance to gamble and take a shot. Davies was throwing the ball very well at that point. The odds of trying to get a two-out hit probably weren't in our favor. We thought we'd go ahead and gamble, and it worked.

There's a reason why guys win 300 games. They can field their position, they can swing the bat and they can throw strikes. That's a big part of his game. There's not a lot of pitchers that catch that ball. That ball was smashed. That was a big play.

Boy, the infield is like concrete out there. Ground balls get by you in a hurry. We can use the good weather to get our work in but you'd like to see a little rain at night to soften up the fields a bit.

It was just one of those days. He just wasn't sharp tonight. I was hoping he could go two innings but his fast ball was up and he wasn't locating his pitches.

I thought it was beautiful. It thought it played real nice. I think it's a real classy ballpark -- a clean ballpark.

Rolen's the perfect baseball player. It's his tenacity, his preparation, the way he plays. He tries to do everything fundamentally sound. And he puts the team team first-there's no fanfare with him.

It was a ... bullet, and at times the ball skips in this outfield. To Conine's credit, he's charging that ball to make a play at the plate.

You'd like him to get as many balls as he can, to get used to playing the position. He looked good out there. He's going to be fine. He's got the athletic ability to be a good outfielder.

It's been a lot different. In years past, we focused on playing baseball games. From Day 1 (this year), we've gotten ready to win baseball games. We've focused more on little things, fundamental things.