Clint Hurdle
Clint Hurdle
Clinton Merrick Hurdleis an American former professional baseball outfielder and current manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball. Hurdle played in MLB for the Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, and St. Louis Cardinals, and has also managed for the Colorado Rockies...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth30 July 1957
CityBig Rapids, MI
barometer believe breaking chair good happened kept nobody perform pitcher point possible simple taken tight time tried wound
Nobody here has taken him and put him in a chair and tried to get him wound up so tight that he can't perform by breaking down his mechanics, ... We've kept things as simple as possible for a young left-handed pitcher to go out there and perform. I really believe that, at this point and time in the season, this is one of the more challenging things that's happened to him in his career. This'll be a good barometer of who and what he is.
defense happened kept needed pitching played victory
Not a lot happened offensively, but we just kept grinding, kept pitching well, played defense when we needed to. But we pitched our way to that victory today.
early explosive good guys hanging house involved kept lead needed ninth obviously
This is a big pick-me-up. Some guys showed up big-time. We just kept hanging around after an early lead got away. Obviously it was a pretty explosive ninth inning, and some guys that needed to get involved got involved. It's a good confidence-builder all around the house for us.
ballgame couple early gone innings kept passion saw south
I think you saw the passion he has for competition. The way he kept after it and kept us in the ballgame - a couple early innings could have gone south on him. He didn't let it happen.
admire asset attention brought energy fed focal gone guys handled help hot kept learned lessons months others paying players point seeing standpoint team time tough transition tremendous trying valuable waste younger
He's had to have two very very big months to get him where he is right now, but he can get hot like nobody's business. He's probably learned some very valuable lessons through this year. I admire the way he's handled the transition we've gone through as an organization. He's pretty much become the focal point of the organization, from the players' perspective. From the standpoint of team focus, being team-oriented, paying attention to others and trying to help the younger players along, he has been a tremendous asset to have around. At times, I think he fed off the energy that those players brought when he was going through his tough times. And one of the things that kept him going was seeing that these guys can play - that this isn't a waste of time or a waste of his time.
against ball breaking command game kept missing plate san
His breaking ball was on the plate today. The game against San Diego, he kept missing with it. His command was much better today.
create game moved tried
We tried to create some game situations, and he moved around pretty well.
angry asked coming complain maybe might mound realized ring seemed series surprised turned warming watch
What surprised me was when he went out to the mound with a watch on and was, like, surprised when we asked him to take it off. I thought maybe he got a World Series ring and a World Series watch, so that's why he seemed to be angry about that. There was a little glare coming off of it. We don't complain about much here, but at times when he turned his wrist, you could see a glare warming up. Obviously, it wasn't very expensive, the way he flung it into the dugout. Then I realized it might not have been a World Series watch.
acquire baggage carrying growing last players share
What's unfortunate is the baggage the new players are carrying around. Of course, we acquire our share of it last year, but we'd like to think we are growing from that.
handle maybe might next players rookies year
We might not have any rookies next year, or maybe one or two. We've had the young players we wanted to look at this year show us they can handle the challenge.
maybe might next rookies
We might not have any rookies next year, or maybe one or two,
beauty chance everybody finally took
We tweaked the lineup a little and everybody who got a chance jumped in and took advantage. We finally got out of that hitters' graveyard, Coors Field. That's the beauty of this game. You don't know what to expect.
couple found guys hang hung plate run tying
We hung around, we had the tying run at the plate a couple of times, we just couldn't get it done. We do hang around. It's something these guys have found a way to do this year.
hearts purple regular save
We don't want them going out and working uphill. We'll save the purple hearts for the regular season.