Casey Blake Quotations

Last year was last year. We're going to be a better team for that experience.

No one in here is going to panic. No one in here is discouraged. We've got a month and a half left.

Nobody is hanging their head. You like to win every game, expect to win every game, but taking two of three against a great team is a good thing.

I was guarding against the ball in front of me instead of over my head. The way it hit my glove, I thought I caught it, but it hit the top of my glove or the front or something.

I wouldn't say we're a better team than last year at this time. But mentally, we're in a better place. Having gone through what we did at the end of last season, I think we're better off for it.

I have confidence in my corner right now. I'm relaxed and comfortable in my approach. I'm just trying to have good at-bats. If you do that, the hits should come.

I don't know. We just lost some momentum somewhere. It's a helpless feeling when you can't get anything going.

I think it?s strict, I think it?s fair. Now it would be nice to put everything behind us and move on.

Maybe it'll give us some comfort knowing we played with the best team, beat the best team and we're just as capable as they are.

That was nice. It's nice to hear fans cheering for us. That was cool.

That was our strategy against him, to play over and in. I was trying to guard against a hit in front of me, too. I didn't think he could hit it over my head.

I was proud of the way we came back. We could have just said, 'Well, this one's over.' But the way this team has been playing lately and the confidence we have, we refuse to give in.

We need to remember the adversity that we overcame this year. Hopefully, that will help us the next five games.

We just didn't have it. The end of the year came, we were asking guys for something, and we just didn't have it.

When you're on a good offensive team, someone has to bat ninth,

We started to play up to our capabilities and our expectations, and it started to come together, ... I just thought we'd be tough when we put our pitching and our offense together. When you have those pistons firing all together, it produces wins.

Expectations don't bother us, because we expect to win ourselves. Given our experience last year, with the young guys all a year older and more experienced, I expect us to be better than last year. It wouldn't be a good situation if nobody expected you to be able to win. But our fans and the city expect us to win, and so do we.

We expected to win today. We expected to win the whole last week. When we really needed the runs, they were hard to come by.

didn't think (Redmond) could get one over my head.

It was uncalled for. I've got a few things in my mind I'd like to say to him -- but I won't.

I've never felt something like this before. But it's not as bad as I first thought.

I wanted to be patient my first at-bat and see how he was going to pitch me.

Apparently, we've got to do something different. Everybody is playing hard. Everybody wants to win in the worst way. It's frustrating when you're in the position we were in and you don't get the job done.

Anything is doable, ... It's pretty amazing that the lead has diminished like that.

This is how we expect to play. We expect to win every night.

They kind of gave it to us. Obviously, they cut their own throats. You won't see that too often, big leaguers dropping a ball, let alone two in one inning.

It's just new stuff every night, ... I'll just have to react to it, and hopefully my instincts will take over.

It was definitely one of the most frustrating years of my career. It weighed on my mind a bit. But I was satisfied with the way I rebounded from it. I was able to overcome a lot of adversity.

It was a weird set of circumstances. We expected to win today, we expected to win the whole last week.

It was a tight game all around. (Arvada West was) the pick to win league, and we battled. We just made some bigger plays (Friday).

It was a terrible play. I wanted to see what kind of throw they would make, but was too aggressive. I didn't realize I was that far off the bag.

It makes it tough because I know that we played well. We beat them. We played well against them last year.

It's been a rough week ? we just lost our momentum somewhere,

Not scoring in an inning like that can sometimes be a big momentum swinger. But when a guy is locked in like Scotty (Elarton) was, it doesn't matter.

It just seems like so many times the runs came so easily for us. When you really need 'em, you know, (they were) tough to come by.

It's hard not to look at the standings, but you know what's going on, ... We expect to win every game, but we can't afford to start looking at other teams.

It was pretty dicey. If it had been colder, it would have been pretty miserable.

It's very psychological when you begin the season. It seems like guys are too impatient and don't realize how long the season is. You fret when you don't have to. You start to doubt yourself. I've been in that position one too many times. But so far I've been fortunate enough to have good at-bats.

I'm getting good pitches to hit, ... It's been a down year for me, but there is still time in the season. I feel like I still have a chance to be a factor in the playoff race.

I'm just trying to hit the ball hard, ... Sometimes it goes out.

I just wanted to be aggressive and put a good swing on it. I just feel like I am more comfortable in the box and have a more solid approach than last year. Baseball is a tough game and you have to play with confidence. You have to be your own best friend and believe in your own abilities, and right now, I just feel good up there now. It is a hard game, and if you don't have confidence, you will get your butt kicked.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to get off to a good start. I got off to a bad start and it snowballed on me, and I just got deeper and deeper into the hole. I was proud,, though, that I didn't go all the way into the tank. I came back to salvage the season a little bit.

I don't know if I want to stoop to his level and fire back. I took it personally. There's no room for bashing other players.

I don't think, as players, we can sit here and worry about that drought. You just have to keep getting better and more consistent every day and not worry. Obviously, making the playoffs and winning the world championship is everyone's goal. But you can't play with that anxiety of not winning it for a while.