I don’t think he was feeling 100 percent, but with Andy Pettitte, he’s got the mental wherewithal to overcome any type of tenderness and soreness with brainpower,

The main thing is being able to throw.

He’s 43, not 18, … He’s old.

It’s a combination of things. When you have a record like that, it’s got to be some luck. But he’s also one of the best pitchers in the league and certainly that’s a big part...

I probably was the only guy not jumping around in the dugout.

He is the most likely of all the young players on the team to become a team leader. Other players will want to look to him as his career progresses.

They’re either (A) ridiculous, or (B) American League fans,

A lot of guys get upset in that situation, … but he was able to shrug it off. With a good hitter in a 3-2 count, do you throw a fastball he knows is coming...

It definitely is now.

The most important thing is that he can use his right arm again. I know he’s going to get this surgery to remove the bone spurs. You never know what can happen. You hope after...

He’s the face of baseball in the city of Houston.

The last two weeks, … is like water torture. You play, and you look at the scoreboard and try to figure out where it all falls. Time just seems to crawl.

He was battling with his stuff.

This was a much more important game for us than for the Cardinals. We’re fighting for our lives at this point. We’re the ones in a pennant race. They’re umpteen games up with a month...

We have to go out and win with what we have. We know Roy and Andy are 1-2 around here, and that’s the way it was before Roger got here. We need people to step...

He is the strongest-minded pitcher I’ve ever played with. He has the ability to put pain and discomfort behind him and focus on nothing but the catcher’s mitt. He’s amazing.

To come out and lose again and to lose like this is draining.

We’re different. We have a healthy Andy Pettitte, which certainly helps. We also don’t have Jeff Kent, Carlos Beltran and a healthy Jeff Bagwell. Now our reputation starts and ends with our pitching, whereas last...

Emotionally it’s probably a little tougher to swallow (because of the suddenness). We’ve lost games before in the ninth inning. We’ll have it well behind us when we get to St. Louis for Game 6.

He was the one guy that anyone could and would come to if they had a question. And also the one guy that if he said something in front of a group everyone would listen....

Both pitching staffs, for the most part, did a nice job. And Brunt came up with the big hit to top it all off.

With the shortened arm path, the ball seems to jump a little better,

They have to deal with the fact that if you have a bad game, you lose.

I gave [Chris] Burke a hard time. I told him I played more second than he did.

He’s certainly one of the best pitchers in the game,

Once we start the game, my focus is on baseball,

To lose like this is draining,

He sustained his velocity for the duration of his outing. Adrenaline may have had a little bit to do with that.

Certainly, you would rather win it [at home] and get it out of the way,

Do it. You don’t let the facts get in the way of one of your columns anyway.

It’s a different team in two ways. One, we don’t have Carlos Beltran , Jeff Kent and Jeff Bagwell . On the flip side, we didn’t have a healthy Andy Pettitte (last year). … I’d...

It stinks for me, because he’s the guy that I could really bounce things off of. He’s the guy who I would have a beer with after the game and talk about the game with....

The next 24 hours should tell us a lot.

You’ve got to deal with it. You can’t sit around and bury your face in your hands. We were just two runs down with seven innings to go.

It’s good to get your feet wet in a little bit of a sloppier situation rather than a one-run game or a tie game. We had a five-run lead, so we had to attack the...

It’s a great deal of concern for us, a very powerful storm.

a huge black eye for the city of Chicago. If I was from there, I’d be embarrassed by the way our families were treated. My wife didn’t get hit or anything, but people flipped her...

I’ve seen him pitch better, but he’s always got good stuff. Even when he’s off, he’s got good stuff.

We need these guys to contribute offensively in order for us to win because we don’t have the offensive lineup that we had a year ago.

With Roy, even on an off day is very tough on any lineup.

Everyone looks at the records and talks about how this team plays so many sub-.500 teams and this team plays so many teams above .500, and it’s all a load of crap. You’ve got to...

We’ve got to deal with it. We certainly can’t sit around and bury our faces in our hands. We were two runs down with seven innings to go. That certainly wasn’t insurmountable.

Roger, as we know, is a classic leg-driving power pitcher. Sometimes when you have a leg problem, you compensate with your arm for a couple of innings. But then you notice it and it can...

I am a little tired and my legs are heavy.

There were a number of times I said to myself, this is unbelievable, an instant classic, … I’ll get a copy on tape.

I think it’s ridiculous Major League Baseball would stick its nose into this business now that we’re down 2-0 in the World Series. I’m sure it has something to do with television.

It’s nice for those guys that I played with to see me now, to see how I’ve evolved,

We don’t know too much about the White Sox, but we will be ready. We know they have good pitching, but then we have good pitching, too.

I’m past being surprised by him.

When he took himself out of the second game (Tuesday) I became a little concerned about him. He’ll make that decision, and he’ll be honest with himself and the organization.