Phil Garner Last 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.

What hurt was, we struck out for five of the last six outs, ... We didn't put the ball in play, and we had a guy on third base. And that's what hurt us.

We're going to have to take a personal inventory as a team. This is September, and this is no time to fool around. We need to pick it up a little bit. It is fortunate to lose two ballgames the last couple of days after having a nice streak and not lose any ground to the leaders.

We're a team in a little bit of a transition. But I still expect us to contend. And I didn't even expect us to contend for the pennant last year.

We have to play that last out, and we couldn't get the last out. It's one of the things that makes our game great. As Yogi (Berra) would say, 'It's not over till it's over' and it certainly wasn't over.

Let's see how he feels tomorrow. That's about kind of what I expected based on (the fact) he's been throwing off and on every other day basically for the last week.

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

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

But when a guy can throw 97 miles an hour like he was last year and he's throwing it right to the corners, and he's got a power slider, that's going to hurt you. You can't hit that guy. That's why he was lights out last year. His control has not been there this year.

Burke was able to play today, ... But he took a turn for the worse severely last night. And he's on life support.

I felt like Raul has a little more experience with our pitching staff, ... He was in the playoffs last year, and I felt like it was important to go with that experience right now. I do think that Humberto is a big part of our future. This is not a reflection on what he's doing right now. He's doing well; we're very pleased with his progress.

I don't think he's much changed from last year. He's a very confident player. I just think he's more determined now because he wants more playing time.

When he swings the bat like we've seen the last couple of days, he very well could be that guy.

He's dominated a few people the last couple of years. When he throws strikes, he's not going to get beat around too much.

He was masterful again today. He wasn't quite as sharp as he would have been had he pitched his last start and been healthy, but nonetheless when he needed to do it, he did it, and that's what he's been doing all year.

He's played well and ironically he looks great this spring. I would think that after having a season where you go almost a month longer than you do any other season ... he would have come to spring training and be a little bit slow. But he's actually looked better this spring than he did last spring.

He certainly didn't hurt his chances. His last two outings, he showed an air of confidence.

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 thought they were going to be hard-pressed to duplicate what they did last year.

I thought the Cardinals were going to be hard-pressed to duplicate what they did last year and they did duplicate it. We are a different club and we are probably not offensively as potent as we were last year. ... We are probably a little stronger in the pitching department and probably a little weaker in the offense department. I don't know how that's going to work out.

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 was a little concerned about him. I didn't think the last couple of batters he threw the ball like he had been throwing.

Last year, he was incredibly good, and this year he struggled a little bit early. But when it came to crunch time, he started coming on.

Roger is fine. He's fine. He's ready and able to go. . . . You saw him in the last game in the Division Series and he had his spikes on somewhere in the fifth inning. And if it had taken 10 innings or 20, he would have pitched 10 or 20. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

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 he is back, but he is not quite to the point we have seen him pitch before. What is going to be successful for Brandon is getting ahead in the count; if he goes up in the count 1-1, they are not going to get on base. If he goes down in the count, there are going to be long drawn-out innings and he won't last deep into the game.

I think Mike Gallo did a wonderful when he came back from Triple-A last year and carried us down the stretch as the only lefthander. It would be my preference to have two lefties, but that's not set in stone.

That's unbelievable. That's what St. Louis has done so well the last couple of years. They seem to have played real well in our division.

When I thought we were going to take off, we didn't. When I thought we were going to crater, we didn't. We came down to the last game, and we did what we had to do.

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're planning on him being able to play. If he needs to stay in Houston, that will be his last off day.

You don't want to dig yourself a hole we can't get out of. It looked like we'd done that last year, and it turned out we played our best ball the last part of May through the rest of the year.

You don't want everyone hot all at the same time unless it's the last week of the season. You need to be able to win ball games without everyone being hot.

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 was a lot of fun and we had a lot of talk about it last winter, but it's over with. We had fond memories, but they have nothing to do with this year. We're going to take our ground balls and do our fundamental just like we always do.

It's one ballgame. This is a best out of seven. Last year we took it to the limit, but clearly we'll have our work cut out for us. This club bounces back and we'll bounce back.

It's one ballgame. This is a best out of seven, ... Last year we took it to the limit, but clearly we'll have our work cut out for us. This club bounces back and we'll bounce back.

It's almost like we've been playing the last game we're ever going to play since mid-May,

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.

Their pitching is much improved over last year,

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.

He started doing it last year -- it was something that Jim worked with him last year. His whole demeanor and he's working with a better tempo. He's done that. Along with that, he's throwing strikes, too.

He's still very good, ... He's still better than good. But in comparison to last year, that's what I've seen since the end of last season.

If he hits a ball hard, you can get him out. If he hits it soft, he'll beat it out every time. He has an incredible burst the last 15 feet or so. There have been six or seven times this season when an umpire will anticipate a little bit and call him out and then realize that he was safe. I got thrown out of a game or two because I got tired of seeing that. I don't know if he's going to win the rookie of the year or not, but there is no doubt he's an exciting player.

I don't think these are guys that you walk in and say, 'Hey, you need to start doing this now.' He needed to be somewhat laid back. He did a good job in the learning process last year.

He pitched well, of course, the year before. And last year I saw some major improvement in him. I thought he calmed down. I thought he came into the game with a real good game plan. I thought he executed his game plans. To me, he matured a lot last year. He seemed more confident on the mound. He pitched in some big situations and he got some outs in some big situations.