The Cardinals are a tremendous model,

This is about the time he should get started. You’re not looking for this guy to be out there for two- and three-inning stints. It’s completely unnecessary to do that with him.

This isn’t going to be a good place to be anymore if you think that mediocrity is okay. It won’t work.

He is not swinging completely pain-free, … He does have some soreness and stiffness.

You have to be prepared for something like this to take place with one of your players. As I said many times during Spring Training, always be asking yourself the what-if question. Craig Wilson looms...

A base hit there could have helped you along.

He gets himself in trouble if his arm doesn’t get up where it’s supposed to be, and he ends up leading himself to home plate with his elbow. You may throw from a slope downhill...

I think that is a prerequisite in considering a guy (to pitch) late in the game. Also, the ability to be able to bounce back after you’ve had a tough day, and realize you can’t...

I think he has a chance be a terrific offensive player. But part of becoming a great offensive player is having a full understanding of the strike zone and understand what pitchers try to do...

Pitch the ball, catch it and put it into play, you’re going to have to show me that it doesn’t work, because I’ve seen it work. We have the components in this clubhouse to make...

I didn’t see a dead arm. I saw some pitches with a lot of life and a lot of movement. The problem was that Oliver didn’t do that consistently. Until he gets a consistent arm...

He’s progressing as you would like to see a young catcher progress. He’s making some very nice strides.

We made the most of three first-inning runs. The reason: Derek Lowe. For the fourth game in a row, he’s been phenomenal. Not good, not great, but phenomenal. I can not say enough good things...

Only the one run wasn’t going to be good enough, and we gave them two others.

In the first inning we had great at-bats against Roy Oswalt. Command wise he was not sharp.

The language in there, I think, is fairly telling as far as his opinion of what occurred there, and how it occurred, and what action we should or should not have taken,

I don’t know whether my mind will be made up later in the evening [tonight] or [tomorrow]. I can’t tell you what time my mind will be made up.

Their guy throws less than 100 pitches and completes the game. [Jeff] gives up two runs on five hits and gets beat. It’s unfortunate.

Our guys don’t have to be ashamed about the way they are performing because they are staying after it. In each game, we’ve been in a position in the latter part of the game with...

I was glad to see him standing and no facial swelling.

I do feel that way. And that’s because I’ve seen some of the guys in this rotation be very good, even though I was looking at that from afar. What’s more, I know that they...

I’ve seen him take some very darn good at-bats against left-handed pitching.

We got the three runs in that inning and we didn’t do anything else. That’s our offensive game tonight.

I’m certainly not the least bit shy or afraid of having young people out there competing,

It wasn’t a ploy, it was heartfelt and something I felt that from a continuity standpoint, I have strong ideas on what is necessary. Familiarity and continuity are certainly two intangibles that are absolute musts...

His makeup is off the charts. He gives 100% effort on every single pitch. He’s one of the real up-and-comers in our game. There’s nothing not to like about him.

I felt like we had a very good meeting. I think that the foundation is there from an understanding of what it is that we’re trying to accomplish. If you were in there and you...

We’re just going to gradually walk into this situation. We’re not going to race into it. We’re very well aware of what has taken place as far as his medical history over the last year....

We were where you want to be.

We did everything we could do to get ourselves back in it. Once again, we were a base hit from tying it and a ball in the gap from going ahead.

It helps convince (him) that he belongs playing in the major leagues. He’s a winning player. He understands situational baseball, he can steal, he knows how to read pitchers.

Because I want to see how versatile a player he is.

He threw a lot of strikes and worked very few deep counts. I didn’t see impatient swings on our part. He just pounded the strike zone all night long.

The main thing that I wanted to get across to both of them is to not feel compelled to force things, because the important thing for both of them to realize is that we have...

Once again, Elmer Dessens was great. He has been terrific. We stretched him pretty much to the limit today, and he got us to Duaner Sanchez.

Derek Lowe was obvious the show today. One chopped, two-strike swing from a no-hitter. That’s basically what it boiled down to today.

Tonight was, in my opinion, dramatically better than what we saw in Florida. In Florida, he battled, but his fastball command was erratic. Tonight, it was crisp, it was good to both sides of the...

The important thing is that the starting pitcher [goes out] there and keeps us in the game, and [doesn’t] force us to climb out of a big hole like we tried to do last night....

His numbers didn’t look good but I liked how he threw strikes and attacked hitters. Those are things we want to see.

It’s frustrating from the standpoint that we have a very competent offense that has proven if you keep this group hanging around, some good things will happen. A loss like this is unfortunate, considering the...

Will we get to that in the last two weeks of the season? We’ll get to it.

He’s a real good player. He’s a real good player. Can he make the club? The answer’s yes. He has a chance to make the club.

We’re playing real well. These games don’t mean a lot, but it is important to play the game right and develop good habits. I told our guys to remember how it feels to play the...

He’s part of that organizational depth chart and you like to see a younger guy like that go out and perform well against major-league competition. His outing was very encouraging and it was obvious he...

His stuff is Major League caliber. Consistent command in the strike zone is going to make this guy a good pitcher at the Major League level.

I told him that the worst case-scenario, if he goes the other way with the ball, was for him to get one run in and advance the other runner. He understood me perfectly. I’ll take...

There is strength in numbers, and we’ve got those. And you’re not going to hear me say that, just because we’re young, we can’t go out and pitch well or play the game at the...

I wanted the challenge,

I think it will help the whole Middle Tennessee area.

This says so much about the City of Pittsburgh and their support of their sports teams. You have a group of people who absolutely love this team.