Tony Russa
Tony Russa
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.
care finish great line mostly october ready rotation soon start trying turns
We're mostly try to get to the finish line first, as soon as possible, then if we can do that, we're going to try to get to October as ready as we can. We're not trying to make a start for Anthony Reyes. We're trying to take care of those two priorities. If it turns out that we want to lengthen out the rotation for some reason, Anthony's a great guy.
guy hard players playing point step trying
When you're playing this game, at some point the players are going to look at you and say, 'Aren't you trying as hard as we are?' You're the guy who has to step up and say it,
approach battles classic good great hitter relentless takes trying
He is a classic high-average hitter because he takes a relentless approach every at-bat. Every at-bat he's the same way. He battles the great pitchers, he battles the real good ones, the good ones, the ones that are trying to make it.
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.
backwards gets hurt trying work
He's anxious, he's straining to get out there, and we think if he gets out there he's going to go backwards and hurt himself. We're just trying to give him a little more work and see how he responds.
decisions everybody faces forces free guys money prioritize return spend strong sudden tender three trying year
If you return a lot of the strong nucleus, year to year, for two or three years, I think that'd be an exception. There's too many free agents, there are times money forces you to make decisions to not tender (contracts to) guys who all of a sudden become too expensive. You're trying to prioritize how to spend your money, and everybody faces it.
attention players point prove
It would prove that point that the attention should be on the players and not the managers.
brought couple days expand three tie
Think about it, I brought him into a tie game, how much more do you want to expand the role? He pitched three innings, so it's going to be a couple of days before he's back out there.
academic days guys point resting week
The whole point about resting guys is all academic as of this week because we've got days off, and I don't have to rest anybody,
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.
chance clubs dangerous facing forward gives somebody win
(Opponents) still think he's a dangerous hitter, ... I don't think clubs look forward to facing him. If you think there's somebody who gives you a better chance to win than Larry, you put that person in there. I don't see him.
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.
answered believe cheap exactly guys luxury means question responsibility time walking
I've answered this question every time exactly how I believe it, and that is that we had the luxury of a crooked-number lead, and the responsibility of our relievers were No. 1: Get outs. But No. 2: Don't give them any cheap opportunities, which means walking guys because you're being too fine,