Cliff Politte
Cliff Politte
Cliff Anthony Politteis a right-handed Major League Baseball retired relief pitcher. He was selected in the 54th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals as the 1438th player selected. Politte came up to the parent club in 1998. He threw the first pitch at the new Roger Dean Stadium in spring training that year. From there, he went to the Philadelphia Phillies and then the Toronto Blue Jays, before signing with the Chicago White...
beat last supposed team tough
We're the team to beat and we're supposed to be the better team than we were last year. It's tough because we know we're a lot better than this.
anybody bigger ticked trouble watch
We all give him trouble about how big he is. But he's a lot bigger than anybody in this clubhouse. You got to watch what you say, you don't want to get him ticked off.
anyway fact game learn pressure realize save toronto until winning
When Toronto made me the closer, that was something I had to learn to do. The pressure was a factor. I didn't realize until after the fact that it was about winning the game and getting the save anyway you could.
amazed beat expect fastball hit left sure
Just a fastball in the middle. It was down. I didn't expect him to hit it out, especially to left field. I thought for sure if I was going to get beat, I was going to get beat in, it was away. I'm still amazed that it went out, really.
gonna guy kick messing tough
I think you kick a guy in the butt in a tough situation, it's only gonna make it worse. You shouldn't go out there and say, 'You (stink), it's still a strike.' It's messing with a kid's head.
fine help whatever yeah
If something were to come up, yeah I would be fine with it. I want to do whatever I can to help the club.
balls behind couple defense guys picked run strikes throwing wins
He's picked me up a couple times this year. I've got one or two wins because of him. Everything he does is 120 percent. He'll run into walls. He'll run through walls. He comes in on balls better than a lot of guys I know. When you have that kind of defense behind you, it makes throwing strikes easier.
allow blame certain everybody heat job realize says takes taking
He takes the heat for us, and that's what everybody says they like about Ozzie. To a certain degree, we have to realize it's us. We're not doing the job for him, and he's taking the blame. We can't allow him to take the blame for everything.
guess half share team telling
We've all been telling a lot of jokes. I guess we'll all get half a (playoff) share and half a ring. We won't be in the team picture.
pinpoint
You just can't pinpoint one person's fault. We have to regroup.
glad
He's the backbone. I'm glad he's on our side.
stuff system trophy
I don't think so. We got all that celebration stuff out of our system when we got the trophy at home. We just have to regroup. Fortunately, it's early.
amazed expect
I didn't expect it to go out. I'm still amazed it went out because this is a big ballpark.
goal help huge last mountain numbers point step team time trying ultimate win
I'm just trying to be consistent. Last year, the numbers showed that I was very consistent. I'm to the point right now where I know that I have a huge mountain to climb, but if I take it one step at a time ... I know that the ultimate goal is to help this team win games.