Phil Garner Good Quotations

We are a different club and we are probably not as offensively as potent as we were last year. We certainly don't have the possibility to break a game open with the long balls like we did last year. We're a little bit younger in our offense, but somehow we found a way. Our pitching is more solid than it was last year from top to bottom. Our bullpen has been good on the balance of the year and having Andy Pettitte healthy has helped our rotation quite a bit. We are probably a little stronger in the pitching department and probably a little weaker in the offense department.

When we got a runner at third base and less than two outs, we didn't do a very good job of putting the ball in play.

We're just not getting guys on base, and we're certainly not driving them in when we do. Everybody's frustrated. We've gone two weeks now without really much of an offensive threat. The real problem is that we're not getting the bats in the zone very good right now.

We've struggled so much in getting the runner in from third with less than two outs, so it obviously felt good doing that. I think it took the pressure off everybody. Might have led to the three-run homer, too.

Last year shows really how good he is. I wouldn't say he was at his best physically, and he had a great year.

(Sheets) was good but we have to win these games. We just didn't drive in the runs when we needed them.

Obviously, when you have depth, it's good in one respect for the team, but it's difficult, because if everybody stays healthy, somebody doesn't get much playing time. We'll have to wait until we get to spring training to see how that plays out.

Munson had a nice spring training. If he continues to swing the bat like he's been doing in spring training and give us a threat, then that's a good thing.

Obviously my last memory was not a good one. We'd like to have a chance to switch that around.

Nobody would've projected him to be as good as he's been. It also leads you to believe that as smart as we are sometimes, maybe it's better sometimes to let players play just to see. Sometimes guys surprise you. Sometimes you misread a player, you just don't know how he's going to respond under pressure situations.

I'd like to put on a better show. It's embarrassing to play like this in front of our hometown. It was just not a good game for us tonight.

But the bottom line is they did a pretty good job of pitching against us.

I can't imagine a better game with as much on the line as this game and to have performances on both sides of the field that were as critical and as good as they were. It was unfortunate that somebody had to win or had to lose this game. I'm certainly glad we won.

From what we've heard, he sounds like he can make a full recovery. He's a good man. You just know it's going to be a tough process, what he's going to go through.

I don't think his strength is there. To expect him to hit home runs would be optimistic. He still has a good eye at the plate. He still has quickness.

I don't think he was as sharp as he's going to be, but for pitching against a team that hits the ball well, he battled through it. He did a good job of changing things.

I don't think it would be prudent on our part to wait to see what's going to happen. You try to make sure if we started tomorrow if Rocket wasn't here, you'd feel like you'd have a good team.

For us, it's the best one out of three right now. It doesn't get any easier. We're in good position in terms of our pitching, our players and everything. But the job's still got to get done.

I always like to get people in as quickly as you can. That's the good part of it.

He had a pretty nice fastball and he was locating it pretty good and they just stayed with it all night. It was kind of an unusually pitched game. You don't see a guy use primary fastballs but he was locating where he wanted and they stayed with it and he did a nice job.

He did a good job yesterday. He's got a clear picture of what he wants to do and he's executing.

He did a good job of making pitches when he needed to. We'd like to see him pitch ahead a bit more. He got behind a lot of hitters. But he did a pretty good job of making the pitches when he had to.

He did what he was supposed to do, I'd rather see two runs given up because he's making them hit the ball and put in play than walk guys. To me, that's a good outing.

He made a lot of real good pitches and only made a couple of mistakes, even though the home run to Delgado wasn't a mistake. He made a real good pitch. I thought he did a decent job, especially against a team that has some real good bats and is leading the league in hitting.

When he's well-rested and he's feeling good and the circumstances present themselves, I'll do that.

What worries me is that we've had three games that are stinkers. We didn't look good against Milwaukee and we didn't look good tonight. They pretty much took it to us tonight.

He's a good hitter and he's hot. You make a mistake and he's hitting it. We made a mistake, and he hit it.

When they're swinging the bats as good as they are, you hate to give them a day. You want to give them a day when they're not swinging the bat good. When you're swinging the bat good, you can't wait to get to the ballpark.

He's pitched very, very good for us. I'm surprised his control has been better than most guys in their first year after surgery.

He just didn't locate like we're accustomed to seeing him locate. But I think that will be forthcoming. It was good for Andy to bounce back after his last outing.

I wouldn't say he pitched poorly, I'd say that they did a good job of putting the ball in play. They are a good hitting team. They're going to get some hits on you.

It appeared to be long innings, and we appeared to be getting behind guys. But they were throwing the ball in pretty good location.

I thought Gallo did a good job, ... Casey's been real tough on us.

I thought Baggy looked better today than he has all spring. Each one little step is a good step but it's a process. It's not an event. Today is not going to determine whether he's good or bad.

I thought our pitchers were very good today. It's a tough day, always the last day is a tough day. Everybody's ready to go, and it is hard to keep your focus going.

I think we want to take it down to the wire. That's the way we've been playing it, so that's what we're going to do. We've just got to buckle down and play good ball now. We're still in control of our destiny.

I think it's sort of a neat story that 'Rocket' is going to be the guy to take the ball in the first game. Not only does he deserve it, but I think it's a good story, too.

I said it's going to take a couple of breaks and someone's going to have to bust one long. That was the Hudson that I had seen in previous years in the American League with a good sinking fastball. He was keeping the ball down in the zone and just didn't give us much. And sure enough, we got something going. And Lance (Berkman) comes up with a big boom. Then of course Ausmus with a big boom, too.

I think Chris is a very confident player. I wouldn't say he's more confident (than last year), but he's more determined than ever that he wants more playing time. We certainly saw good results today.

I think Mike can hit good pitchers, and he's shown us for a year-and-a-half he can come through big in clutch situations.

I think Lamb is a very good hitter, ... I've let Lamb hit in that situation many times.

I thought his at-bat was a very good at-bat. His bat head was in the hitting zone on the ball he fouled back, and that's a good sign. The guy was throwing pretty good, was varying his speeds. Baggy was able to get the bat head out there.

I might not have done it had he been really swinging the bat well, but sometimes you need a mental break when you're having a tough stretch. Most of his days off will come on day games, but he will play on long stretches when he will be rolling good and won't get as many days off.

We need them in the worst way, and we need to win them in a pretty good fashion, too. These guys have come in here. They've come up with the big hits when they need them. They look like they're comfortable, and we need to put something in their heads, make them think about us a little bit.

Well, as everybody can see, he's got an electric fastball. He's got a good slider. He has a very good curveball, and his location tonight was excellent.

Well, as everybody can see, he's got an electric fastball, ... He's got a good slider. He has a very good curveball, and his location tonight was excellent.

Well, I think Chris is swinging the bat pretty good right now and he has through these playoff games, ... Going with a little bit of a hot hand. This is only a move to do today. I haven't even thought about tomorrow.

We're certainly not in a good spot, ... As badly as we played, we had a chance to win this ballgame. That would have been a feel-good experience. We just have to go home and regroup. We'll bounce back. We'll make a series out of this.

Well, we're not in a good spot. We had a chance to win this ballgame. We have to go home and regroup. We'll make a series out of this.

Well, we're not in a good spot, ... We had a chance to win this ballgame. We have to go home and regroup. We'll make a series out of this.

Well, we're not in a good spot. They can't do anything wrong.

Wagner's tough. We all know how good he is. We just buckled down.

Wheeler will get the eighth inning on Friday if it's called for, ... He's been good for us.

When you're running Roy out there, ... you've got to feel pretty good about your chances.

Wandy did a super job today and that was huge for us. Our pitching has done a marvelous job the last six games. You have to feel good any time they pitch, but I'd like to see our offense come around a little. The guys are grinding and by me saying this, it'll probably put more pressure on them.

We had a couple of chances. We couldn't get a run across the plate, but we got back in the ballgame. We did a good job fighting to get back into the ballgame. It looked like we were going to turn it and win it.

To this point it's probably a good thing he hasn't had to do that. To what extent he could do it if he had to throw, I don't know.

We have to break out. We have to score some runs. Our pitchers have been giving us good enough games. We have to buckle down.

We've got to buckle down and play some good ball. We're still in control of our own desitny. If we can't win it, we can't win it. It's simple as that.

The good point is that we got the tying run, and then we go right ahead with the next one,

We've had problems with the Cardinals, no question. We've just got to buckle down now and play some good ball. We're still in control of our destiny.

This will be good for Brandon. He had a good amount of time off. I'm hoping he's healthy, and I think he will be. He needs to go out to pitch like it's the first game of the World Series.

We just had a lot of Dontrelle Willis tonight, more than I'd care to see, ... Brandon (Backe) threw the ball well. He had a lot of good pitches and only a few mistakes. That was a decent job against a team that is really swinging the bat well.

We missed some pitches that we should have hit, and we expanded the (strike) zone sometimes when we probably shouldn't have. But the bottom line is they did a pretty good job of pitching against us.

We had the lead. When we get it, normally we keep it. We will. We're good at it. We've been doing it all year.

We are going to evaluate him. He may be back a day or two after that as a pinch-hitter. He still gives you good at-bats.

Brad had a fantastic year. He was just outstanding. When you don't notice the catcher, that's when he's having a good year. He didn't let anything get by him.

Biggio made his mind up. He knew what he wanted to do. Most guys get thrown out if people make good throws, and they made two.

Astacio did a good job today. A real good job today. Astacio kept them down and he kept us in the ballgame, and then we broke it open. ... We've been saying it all along, if we take care of business, we don't have to worry about the other teams.

There's no question that there's some sentimentality involved, ... There's a lot of other reasons to have him be the DH, but I think the overriding reason is he's a good player and if the game's on the line, I'd just as soon have Jeff Bagwell up.

They actually threw some pitches that were pretty good pitches. We just didn't get 'em.

So that felt good when he did that, obviously. I think that took a little bit of pressure off everybody. It made Morgan feel a little better. Of course, it might have led to the three-run homer. Who knows?

The misfortunes created by some situations can turn out to be pretty good for you, and in this case Craig leading off is a good situation. I don't mind having to do that at all.

There was some conversation about maybe taking the rest of the year off and rehabbing his shoulder and getting it strong over the winter. It was Jeff that decided he wanted to do everything he could to get ready to go this year just in case something good happened.

There were a whole lot of things last year that made me nervous. Starting off last season, I did not think we had a good enough team to get to the playoffs, and the truth of the matter is the kids all stepped up and grew up in a hurry and we ended up playing great ball.

It's just something that's been a trait of ours all year, but we managed to win. It's like some of our typical games and somehow we managed to get through it. We didn't eke one out this time and that's unfortunate because we had been doing a pretty good job of coming up with runs somehow.

It was a surprise. He's very good in close games about not getting hurt with the long ball.

It's good to be out here again. We have pretty much the same team as last year, and we just want to get started.

That's pretty good. He can start another five-year run if he wants to, and that would be fine with me. That's a nice streak. It's pretty incredible. I don't know how to explain those kinds of things, but that's a pretty good streak.

That's the biggest difference in their team this year. They don't look like they're going to strike out as much as in the past. When you put the ball in play, good things are going to happen.

That's a good baseball play right there. Biggio was running hard out of the box going to second, so it creates a little diversion there, and Willy was coming hard the whole way.

It's certainly unusual. But how do you figure something like that? He pitched a good game. He located the ball very well at the bottom of the zone and when you do that, you're going to have success.

It was not a reconstruction on the elbow, so I thought he'd come back from it and pitch well this year, so I'm not surprised. What surprises me is that his control had been is as good as it has been. Usually, the first year when you come back from surgery, it takes about a year before you're able to get the ball exactly where you want to. But he's done a pretty good job of locating pitches.

They were swinging the bats pretty good and it didn't look like things were going to happen with a big night offensively. So Roy had to pitch well, and he did. So did Brad.

They'll let Jimmy control the clubhouse, and he'll get the backing from the front office because of his good relationship with Dombrowski from their time together with the Marlins.

After that first at-bat, and then the second at-bat was a good at-bat. He looked very good, very solid at the plate tonight. We are pleased to see his approach at the plate.

I'm going to take a good look at him on that. He receives the ball nicely. He's gives a nice target. He's down, he's not jumpy behind the plate. He does a good job as far as just letting the ball come to him.

I never feel comfortable until the game is over no matter what the score is, but you certainly feel good with Roy on the mound when you have a good lead and you have a fresh bullpen. You feel a lot of things are in your favor but we couldn't get that third strike.

I like him. I think he's going to be a real good pitcher. He's pitched two real good games against us.

I'm seeing younger and better arms coming into the league in the last five or six years. Washington has good pitching. Same for San Diego.

I just feel if we go to 15 over we'll be in pretty good position. We're playing confidently now. At least we're pitching confidently. I don't know if we're hitting as confidently as I'd like.

Can't go there. Good question, but I can't get suckered in. I don't know what's going to happen.

Chavez has done a good job in the past and so has Quintero. He came down with a couple of strains, and he came down with appendicitis, which was a terrible thing to go through, but he's healthy now and having a good spring. Hector didn't play winter ball, but he's looked fundamentally sound.

Cheo, he's managed in winter ball, and I think he'd like to have some consideration. And both guys are good guys and all that. Hopefully Cheo and Cecil will be in consideration. I think Cecil will make a good manager.

He struggled with his command a little bit. He looked good on some pitches, real good on some pitches. Then he struggled a little bit.

He threw the ball well. I was very pleased. He had good mound presence, threw the ball over the plate and after probably six or seven pitches, it looked like he said, 'Alright I'm going at them,' and he did. He just settled right in. He didn't go deep in the count a lot of times. He went right after them and made them do something.

He threw the ball well. He was experimenting with different things, and I think that's a good thing.

He threw the ball down, threw some good breaking balls and went after the hitters pretty good. He had a little mental lapse there. He got behind on a guy and gave up a home run. If we keep him focused and throw like that he'll be fine.

Gallo's been lights out, he's been good. We fought hard in the game. We seemed to have some other opportunities. ... We just couldn't break through until Orlando came up with the big hit for us. Normally, when we got to that point of the game, it's pretty solid. I felt pretty good at that point.

I debated about playing him today because he had two days off. He'll hit, but it's a good time to have a day. He'll get going with the bat here soon, and I'll want to play him every day.