Joe Blanton
Joe Blanton
Joseph Matthew Blantonis an American professional pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. He has previously played for the Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Kansas City Royals, and Pittsburgh Pirates...
ball baseball fix helpful middle missing quick reminding trying
I was trying to get the ball in, and he was reminding me of that. In games, I have been missing over the plate. It was helpful to have him out there for a quick fix right in the middle of things.
ball baseball drives goes hit line maybe next seattle series
That's the way it goes sometimes. Maybe in the Seattle series the ball was going right to the infielders. Maybe in the next series they'll hit line drives right at people. That's the way baseball works.
barry games gave great kept leagues lose pushing remained six
We were 15 games under .500, and Barry always remained positive. We started bad, and he never gave up. He kept pushing us. He's 27 now, with six years in the big leagues and a Cy Young Award. We didn't want to lose a great teammate.
april ball close either games inch instead
We had a lot of close games that could have went either way (during April and May). It was one of those where instead of the ball going an inch foul, it went an inch fair.
balls bat catch good inches job pitches speeds three
Three inches here or there and a lot of those balls are caught. Sometimes you catch a break, sometimes you don't. Sometimes the (artificial) turf speeds balls up. I thought I made some pretty good pitches they did a good job of getting the bat on.
bunch gets huge
It was huge in a bunch of ways. That could've been a huge momentum-turner if he gets that out.
coming good last late leave outing spring start time
It's real nice, especially coming this late in the spring. You always want to have that one good outing right before you leave Spring Training, and this is my last start down here, so it was a good time for it.
closer definitely step
I'm definitely a big step closer to being ready.
along barry clubhouse few guys help last looked rooting sure
I'm sure everyone in the clubhouse was rooting for Barry to be back. We had some young guys last year, and a few of us looked to Barry to help us along the way.
anyone bit hit quite regular
It was laid-back, but you don't want to give up a run, and you don't want anyone to get a hit off you. You still want to have that bit of intensity, but not quite as much as a regular game.
games last oh quality seven start
Oh ... it's just another game. We still have another (16 games) left. That's when the real important games will be, those last seven of the year. That's when you really need a quality start for your team.
game head simple slow time
It's tough. But you just have to slow everything down when you are out there. You take a little more time between pitches. You just try to slow the game down in your head and don't make it too quick. Make it as simple as possible.
faced game great guy keeping worry
I try not to worry about it. Keeping us in the game is my job. I faced a young guy with great stuff, but there's nothing I can do about it.
deeper feels good innings pitches six stamina three throwing
Throwing 85 pitches in three innings and throwing 85 pitches in six innings feels completely different. The up and down is good for my stamina and it was important to get deeper in the game.