Tony Russa
Tony Russa
beat bet four good hand hope regular saw throw win
Well, I bet if they had their hand on a bible, they'll tell you they don't think we're really good because they beat us four out of seven, so I hope we throw out the regular season. We saw them play well, and they play well enough to win a championship, and that's really what counts. They're in the tournament.
answer closing club eight goes great guys handle heck hitter produce screws starting tougher watches
Mentally, is closing tougher than a hitter going out there with 600 at-bats to produce ... tougher than a starting pitcher? For the great closer, it's as tough. He watches the club for eight innings. Then if he goes out there and screws it up, he's got 24 guys to answer to. It's a heck of a deal. Some guys can't handle it.
four guys handling job last lost overall played playing terrific three took year
If you look at last year, we had Scott playing and he had some really big hits, but overall he was really banged up, he wasn't the same the last two months, ... This year we lost four regulars, three of them are boppers, and the guys that took their place did a terrific job of handling the bat, so we played a little different game.
bats both guys handle job larry pitching push terrific took
Guys took their place and did a terrific job with the bats and we were pitching well. We don't have Scott back, but we have Larry and Reggie back. Both of those guys can handle a bat, so you don't push as much with them as you would with some of the other guys.
totally
It's something he should have. It's totally different from his cutter and his fastball,
almost category playing
Eckstein is playing so well, it's almost in the category of, what's new?
best change grind trying wins
The best way to keep yourself competitive is not to change anything. Right now we're trying to grind out wins and win the division.
albert ball balls gone hit track warning
The ball Albert hit would've gone out anywhere. There weren't balls that were hit to the warning track that did not go out that would have gone out in other ballparks. I think it's going to play like the other one.
al credit gets guys miss soon sounds speak step sure win
I want to make sure Al Reyes gets the credit he deserves, but you don't want to speak so much about that and pretty soon it sounds like we can't win without him, ... That's an important miss for us, but we have other guys who can step up.
hear needed ready team whatever
not what I wanted to hear. I would've wanted to hear him say he was ready to do whatever the team needed him to do in this situation.
neck sore
The neck where he had the whiplash, that's what's sore -- more sore.
ready team unhappy whatever
It's not about him; it's about the team, ... I told him, 'If you're going to be unhappy and pouting, then I can't put you out there to pitch.' He said he was unhappy, but he was ready to do whatever the team needs. I'm comfortable that's how he really feels.
closer days move protect risk smart
It's really a smart move on his part because once you're in that closer role, there are days you just got to go, you got to risk it. But here we can protect him better. For him and for us it makes a lot of sense.
advantage good pleased
I'm pleased he's here early. I think we have a real advantage with Jose (being) a very good infield instructor.