Tony Russa
Tony Russa
baseball chance dedicate key moment money point recognize special terrific
You have to recognize that you have a chance to have a special place in baseball history, so you're going about it for more than just the moment or the money or the stats or the attention. I think that will be the key for some of these really terrific young pitchers. You have to be really good, and at some point you have to dedicate yourself to your place in baseball history.
ahead guys key knowing miss pull stretch
If you could look ahead knowing those key guys would miss so much time, you'd really stretch to think you could pull it off.
against ahead almost ball break caught clubs eighth either fooled good key location matt missed pitch ray three throw trying twice
In the eighth inning, we missed our location three times, twice when we were ahead in the count. We almost caught a break -- Cabrera's ball was tagged, but it fooled Walker. That would have been an important break to catch. Matt got the ball up with a 1-2 count, and the pitch that Delgado tripled on wasn't where Ray was trying to throw it. Against good clubs in key situations, either you do or you don't, and if you don't, you get penalized most of the time.
gets help hitting hope key middle whatever wherever
We've got to get him going. He's one of our key guys, so whatever it takes. If hitting in the middle gets him going, then we'll do something else at second. I hope he gets it going, because he can help us wherever he hits.
against face key last mentally pitching rough starts understand virtually
I think if you look at virtually every starter, we've had some rough starts here in the last two weeks, ... The big key is to get back on it mentally and understand that if we don't pitch, we don't win. Against the pitching we're going to face in postseason, we're not going to outscore people.
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.