Tony Russa
Tony Russa
bad innings last nine pushing time
Every time we play him in the last two-three innings of a game, we're pushing him. It wouldn't be a bad idea for him not to play nine too often.
champion feeling gets great last magic number taught zero
We went through this last year. ... We're not going to get into wild-card formulas. The magic number has got to be zero to celebrate. It is one. ... It's a great feeling to know we're going to play in October, but we've always been taught you're a champion when it gets to zero.
last rough starts virtually
I think if you look at virtually every starter, we've had some rough starts in the last two weeks,
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.
enjoys good imagine last motivated player since
Since he's been a Cardinal, he has been outstanding to great. And last year, he was just good. I imagine he enjoys outstanding to great. But he was a good player for us last year. And if he's motivated to be better than good, that's good for us.
barely baseball club deserves good great last quality run season squeeze week win
What's different about this club, when you have this many setbacks, it's usually part of why you don't win or you barely squeeze by in the last week of the season with a good but not great record. To have this kind of run and play this quality of baseball for this long is why this club deserves a very different kind of credit.
last player plenty position sure three weeks
We know him and technically a position player can get here the last two or three weeks and that's plenty of camp. I'm sure he's been working.
compliment compliments gave hoping last
When I gave that compliment last year, ... I was hoping that he was going to retire.
against last lose lost pitching score staff
You can't lose them the way we lost them. When you score one or two against a pitching staff that's last in the league. It's a mystery.
again celebrate discussed gets last magic number october officially seem understand watching year
I think we understand we're officially in October baseball. But we discussed it last year and again this year. It just doesn't seem right to celebrate it when the magic number is one. You're watching the number go 10, 9, 8 ... and it gets to one so you celebrate? When it gets to zero, you celebrate. That's what we're going to do.
games helped helping last win year
I always say you don't just win with homers. You need a bunt, you need a hit-and-run, you need a steal. Those are the little things that helped us out to win 105 games last year and those are the things that are helping us out this year to win some games.
good intensity last location lost pressure stuff
He's pitched with so much intensity and so much pressure for so long that when the pressure's not there, he lost a little edge, ... He had good stuff his last two starts, but his location was off.
consistent exactly last
I'll say exactly what I said last year: It's one; it's not zero. I think we'll take the consistent approach.
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.