We had our chances to win that game, but it boils down, night after night, to the kind of game we had, and I say the same thing. We needed a situational at-bat to tie...

Back in May, when the Padres went something like 22-6, they had a chance to slam the door, throw the lock around the handle and close it off for everybody else. And it didn’t happen....

That was his best outing. He threw four pitches for strikes and he pounded the strike zone.

He (Perez) was throwing the ball better as the game went on. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t win. I don’t look at this as a bad beginning.

To sit on Mike Gonzalez until the ninth inning might have put you in a position where you don’t get an opportunity to use him. It just made all the sense in the world.

Now he’s starting to take the at-bats we saw him take in the first couple months of the season,

Do I advocate that you go up to the plate looking to walk? No,

When you come in and you sit down at your desk and try to structure the middle of your lineup, that’s a fairly daunting task.

Obviously, that’s the hot topic these days. I’ve done everything I possibly can to keep Freddy involved, and he has responded big-time. You have to get Freddy at-bats, but you also have to give those...

Obviously, it’s not something you want to see. That’s for sure. But I think you always have to be prepared for something like this to happen to one of your players.

We had opportunities. But you need that one extra hit, the one that puts you back in the game.

You get 27 outs, and every single one of them is precious. The point is to maximize the efficiency of each and every out. That’s vital.

It can start to happen as quickly as [the players] want it to because they’re going to hear it every day,

I’m glad we got out of it without anyone getting hurt.

I’ve never signed up for anything with the thought in mind that I wanted to be mediocre. I feel pretty good about it.

You’d be blind if you didn’t look at this guy and say there’s a lot of ability. And you know what? He’s an even better person.

We’re a much different club when we get results like that.

We’ve never quit. We just need to come back here tomorrow and try to turn this thing around.

It’s kind of unfortunate when you consider how the offense is playing, and you get pitched right out of the game.

Duckworth has kind of pitched his way into this picture, no question.

It was the best Snell has done. I’m beginning to see some progress from him. He threw enough breaking balls for strikes. He had much better command of his fastball tonight.

I was fairly impressed. We couldn’t do anything, and he was still out there in the sixth inning and still getting people out.

It will depend on how things go through the weekend, not only here but what also takes place in San Diego. Once we get beyond (next week’s series at Arizona), we’ll see what the landscape...

We’re to the point where you’d like to see some improvement. I don’t really think we’ll see any improvement from him sitting on the sideline.

There’s no closer in baseball that’s perfect, though we lost one (Gagne) who’s as close to being one as there is. Brazoban has done a great job.

If he does come back, there’s a zero percent change that he’ll be his full self, … No chance.

One of the (enterprise zone) incentives that would help us out is that there’s no sales tax on new construction materials,

I’ve seen Ray Sadler do nothing in the outfield except to do everything well.

Having been there myself a year ago, seeing some of these champagne parties is pretty painful, … To the point where I don’t want to watch.

It’s not about the velocity. What impressed me was the movement Oliver had with his fastball in the hitting zone. He pitched great. He pitched like the ace of a staff.

He’s been very impressive. He’s really shown himself well.

I learned that from Don. He had everything covered down to the nth degree. You also always knew where you stood because of his communication skills.

To me, he’s one of the game’s best pitching coaches in the National or American leagues. He has not only the ability to teach the physical aspects of the game, but also the ability to...

His record wasn’t all that impressive, but I’ve seen this guy do very well at times. And I think the opportunity to acquire somebody in the Rule 5 draft … it’s not all that often...

It’s unique. It also is something that other organizations would like to have.

There does come a point in time that reality sets in. The awareness factor, I think it really came to light [during] the series in San Francisco.

I’d like to know what that feels like.

This whole weekend shows how great a sports town Pittsburgh is. The people here really care about these teams.

This is a pretty significant addition. This is a very consistent, solid ballplayer, and I’m very happy to be getting him.

He’s a great athlete and a heck of a baseball player. You’ve got to like his future.

When you face a pitcher the caliber of Chris Carpenter, you only get one opportunity like that.

Of course, there is going to be some emotion on my part when I look over to the other dugout and see some people who I have great feeling for.

It’s great to get him back in camp with us. I saw a guy on TV who really liked the arena that he was in.

Both passed the test. That’s good. We don’t have to make a decision today and the decision we do make won’t be an easy one. That’s what you’re always hoping for, tough decisions.

I don’t need to say anything about it. I think both sides are moving forward. You don’t want things to create a rift between the two clubs.

He’ll get his at-bats. He doesn’t realize what a huge backer he has in me.

The disappointment for me is that what took place in-house went outside the house, … which makes the resolution (harder) to get to.

We’ve always had trouble with him.

You feel like you’ve done the best you can do. The effort they’ve given me every day is noteworthy.

With everything we had going on (Wednesday), I didn’t want to overdo it because I’m a firm believer that too much information too quickly can short-circuit people. We took it very slowly and made sure...