He doesn’t realize what a huge backer he has sitting here. I respect him to the nth degree for the way he’s handled himself.

He really understands that he needs command and the ability to throw strikes when he pitches in the latter innings of games. I’m very pleased with the progress he has made in that area this...

You’ve got to do better than that. If you are going to change the fortunes of your ball club, you’ve got to be able to beat these guys.

You didn’t know when they were going to start, but they began today.

With the little bit of conversation I heard that took place between Sean and (head trainer) Brad Henderson, you knew it was something more than a guy getting the wind knocked out of him. Each...

And we haven’t lost any of those games.

He pitched inside very effectively.

Just another complete performance by Jeff Weaver. He’s the workhorse of this staff.

We’ll just have to see where he is at as he goes along. If he is fine physically, obviously the opportunity to play some, I think, would be fairly important.

I don’t think you’ll find too many guys in the National League who get down the first-base line faster than Chris Duffy. Maybe (Chicago Cubs center fielder) Juan Pierre but that’s about it. Duffy has...

He made a very good pitch to Linden. In other circumstances, it’s a bat that’s broken in half and a soft single to right field, but as a result of the sacrifice bunt that followed...

Another night where we took a ballclub to the limit and fortunately things worked out for us. I don’t really know where we’d be without Kent.

There are things emotionally that Milton has to get a real firm grasp on.

We know what kind of defensive center fielder Chris Duffy is. To get him going offensively, it’s not going to do us a lot of good, eight games in, to keep going back and forth.

I don’t want Jason Bay to do anything other than be the player he’s been here for the last two years.

Lefties are hitting .308 against him and righties are hitting .122 [entering Saturday], … [Derek Lowe], the last three starts, has been brilliant. You need to provide him good defense.

We talked about the things that are necessary in order to dramatically improve this club. That was the gist of what I was trying to get across. There are intangible things that are necessary. There...

That second run was the result of 100-percent effort that he’s given each time he’s on the field. It’s a very noteworthy play and the difference in the game. You can’t teach that, but winners...

Right now, … it’s safe to say that the seventh pitcher [in addition to five starters] is much more valuable to us than a sixth position player on the bench.

He’s on a mission to pitch himself into the starting rotation and right now he’s succeeding.

One of the things that young players have to not only learn but gain an admiration for is the respect factor of the game and the people who have participated in previous years, and an...

Ian threw the ball extremely well.

Very well deserved. What else would you ask Craig Wilson to do?

Each time we creep back into the game, it’s followed up by additional runs from the other side of the field. When you’re trying to get back into a game three or four times a...

You’ve got to be able to pitch and you’ve got to be able to catch the ball. If you can’t, you probably won’t be very good.

You better believe he’s having a terrific spring. He has a chance to be a real player at the major-league level.

As the players get older, the problems become a little bit larger that you have to periodically deal with.

I don’t expect perfection. Just keep us in the game, keep us around. You can’t use the bullpen at that rampant of a pace.

We still have some games to play in 2005. The landscape could obviously change one day to the next over the course of the winter. I really don’t feel like sitting here and expounding on...

There were periods like that a couple years ago where people might have thought the same thing, and he bounces back,

Wilson has got a lot on his mind, and he’s trying to sort through a lot of difficult things. He’s got to mentally take some time and sort some things out.

Stranger things have happened in this game. But obviously we have to win a number of our remaining games and obviously we need some help. San Diego has to lose some games in a row...

I firmly believe that we’re going to catch the ball and we’re going to make some special plays periodically.

I can sit here and know wholeheartedly that I’ve given it everything I could possibly give. I’ve put my heart and soul into this.

It’s great to have starting pitching. We have the other things, and you saw that again, but we need good starts. Tonight, we got a great one.

We would like to break ground this fall, but of course we need to get this zone extended to Brown County first. We’ve got to get approval from Brown County, Mount Sterling, Quincy, Adams County...

We’re obviously still very much alive. We’re fractured, yet we continue to play competitive baseball.

His (left) elbow is lower than it should be and he’s not pitching like he’s coming off a slope. At times, his arm was where it was supposed to be … but his inconsistency with...

In the top half of the [eighth] inning, we got first and second [and] nobody out. We got two perfect pitches to bunt — they’re fouled off. And we left our guys stranded out there....

A base hit there changes the complexion of the game.

We’re looking for 35 or 38 or 39, and this is an opportunity to find out who are those guys beyond the 25.

Everyone has their own philosophy,

We had opportunities for this game to be different than it was. We let it get away from us and that happened in the top of the first inning.

It’s important for Duffy to find a way to reach first base without getting a hit every time he’s up.

The best way to approach a player with his type of ability and talent is to feel like you’ve developed a type of environment to allow his development to continue on its natural course. With...

He’s doing everything you could ask, with the type of approach we want him to take as a top-of-the-order guy.

Obviously, we’re being tested early. You know, we were in a position to win all three games. We didn’t get any of them, but the effort is there. It’s part of the challenge of the...

There are a lot of very special people who are still there. You build relationships with people in this game, and some you build lifelong relationships with. There are a few over there I have...

Obviously, he helped make us a good baseball team two years ago.

Those three left-handers — their mission on any given day, when they’re going really, really good, will not be to strike out 12 or 13 guys. That’s not the kind of pitchers they are.