Chris Carpenter
Chris Carpenter
Christopher John "Chris" Carpenteris an American retired professional baseball starting pitcher. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseballfor the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals from 1997 to 2012. A Cy Young Award winner and two-time World Series champion, he was also a three-time All-Star selection. In addition, he was twice named the Sporting News National League Pitcher of the Year, and voted for a number of Comeback Player of the Year awards for surmounting injury...
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth27 April 1975
CityExeter, NH
I thought I kept the ball down in the strike zone,
I got my work in and I'm ready to go. I kept the ball down.
I felt like I kept the ball down in the strike zone, and that's why I was getting those ground balls,
I located my fastball good, and my breaking ball was good. I made some quality pitches and kept the ball down. The fun thing about early on is getting the feel back and competing.
I had command of my sinker, command of my cutter, command of my breaking ball, and I was able to throw it where I wanted to throw it, ... I kept them off balance all night. We got some nice defensive plays, a couple nice defensive plays. It was a well-played game all around.
We had that last year, we have that this year.
The sheer number of claims and inquiries can be overwhelming -- tremendous energy is required just to get your arms around the problem.
I've been in this situation, blowing a 2-0 lead.
They are a lot like our club. They take quality at-bats. They are patient and they have an idea about what they are doing and the pitcher they are facing. They've got speed. They've got some guys who can hit the ball out of the park. They have got quality guys from top to bottom, and you've definitely got to be on your game and make quality pitches to get these guys out.
There's not a lot of people that come from this area or this state that play in the big leagues, never mind win the Cy Young, ... To be part of that is unbelievable and to be part of this situation is unbelievable. I can't believe I won.
That's the way it works. You go out and try to do the best you can to give your team a chance to win. Unfortunately, we didn't win tonight. But tomorrow, we can come back and do a better job.
I was in command of it all night,
It feels fine. I was a little stiff.
It feels nice to get zeros and get a win. You go out there to execute pitches and give your team a chance to win and I was able to do it all day.