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,

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.

He’s made great progress as far as him starting fresh in the big leagues. If it continues, this is a guy who becomes a weapon that I’m not shy about using in significant situations.

About mid-thigh, right down the middle. They’re going to hit pitches like that — Cody or anybody else.

Sounds like the season for him.

He deserved a much better fate.

The number of one-run games since 2001, and the won-lost record in those games is pretty impressive. Mr. [Eric] Gagne obviously has a little something to do with that, too. Because I feel like that...

That’s the plan right now. But until we see how the leg responds in game-type situations, there is nothing that is completely certain. But there has to be a plan. And for the time being,...

He looked a lot like the Zach Duke we saw last year, and that’s a very good sign. You saw a guy who is spearheading himself in the direction he wants to go in.

I know that Jeff Kent is a very private person. He does not have a lot to say in the clubhouse. Is that a bad thing? I don’t think so.

That was hit in the perfect spot and found it’s way through the middle of the field.

It wasn’t pitched well and it wasn’t defended very well either. When you do that … that’s how you get a six-run inning.

I don’t think it’s any more daunting than some of the challenges we have faced up to this point. We have seen some awfully good pitching.

It’s a good thing to see. You want to be cautious about where they are, not push too hard, let them work at their own pace, but you like to see them out there throwing...

He is having one tremendous spring.

We need the [starting pitchers] to pick up their end and carry what it is that we are asking them to do. Nothing more than that. There are no unexpected expectations at all. Pitch ahead...

He was fine. He was up in the zone early and pitched from behind more than I’d like, but he had good stuff.

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.

I loved those kids. I loved Andrew . . . I loved him. Smartest player I had in that program. He lived for it. Absolutely lived for basketball at St. Martha’s.

All Scott Strickland has done is throw strikes.

You don’t succeed very often when you’re behind in the count.

Obviously, it’s kind of special.

He’s a clubhouse leader, great for young players to be around, knows how to play the game, accepts his role willingly and does it as well as any of the other top flight guys that...

I know him very well. From that standpoint, when you have a sense of awareness about a guy, you have a better understanding of him than a guy you’re seeing for the first time.

Personally, I don’t know how he caught it.

I certainly don’t want have to use Mike Gonzalez in that situation.

Offensively, with the exception of the couple of [home runs], we hit a single here and a single there. Mulder wiped us out with four double plays. That’s been a huge Achilles heel for us....

From the first-base side, when he throws his sinker and misses with it, it becomes more of an unhittable pitch,

We have two more days and we have to look at it as though tomorrow and Sunday are games that we have to win.

You can’t win a ballgame when you have only two base hits from the same guy.

If you look at all the offense we’re getting, five or six runs a game, that’s got to be good enough. But to expect seven or eight a day? Ridiculous. It’s not going to happen....

When Jim `Who?’ was hired, people wondered if I’d even make it to the All-Star Break,

No, I was not fired.

I felt like he had a few more 3-ball counts than I would like to see, which puts him in a vulnerable position because he creates opportunities for the opposition to take some free swings...

The challenge is something I like very much, … I take a lot of pride in people saying this is a situation where you don’t have a chance to succeed. I’m really challenged by that.