His command is there. That is a big thing of his and he has it early.

His curve ball was missing, … but he still pitched well.

We have been swinging it well. I like the way our offense is built.

We want to get him some playing time. He’s caught Bush very well. I plan on getting [Ken] Huckaby in there, too.

The focus is always on this division. We can disrupt some things.

I think (sending McGowan to Triple-A) would do him good because of the way the bullpen is stacked up right now. We’re not coming down here with him eliminated (from the picture). But if we...

He has got a second wind I guess. He takes good care of himself and he’s a strong guy. When it gets late in the game and he starts chalking up pitches, he doesn’t really...

We were due to get some hits. We were overdue. That’s the way we usually do it — when we’re going good. It was a good game for us. … We’re like any team. We...

The thing about Crawford is he’s got some big-time power, too. He can beat you in so many ways. They’re pretty much the same guy once they get on, you know they’re going to get...

They can make an impression and help us along the way. You never know what’s going to happen.

I think there’s a dramatic difference in their styles — especially on the same day,

We don’t need one leader. We just need everyone to come together. Vernon and Zaun and I’m sure the new guys will do their part, too.

He’s had our number all year. Three times we haven’t been able to do anything with him.

He just can’t run on it right now. I mean, he can, but it’s bothering him. He’s doing everything but running. … We don’t want to push it too far, too fast. But he’s ready...

It’s a huge loss,

We expected to have a better team than we’ve had here in a while. The key is to play to good against the teams you’re going to compete with all year because there’s been optimism...

To be honest, I would’ve hoped that he’d win 10 games. I’ve got to believe he’ll get a couple more.

Last year, we went to Cincinnati and played St. Xavier,

We want to hang in there and see what develops. We want to finish well and say we had a good year. You play until you’re eliminated.

We don’t like to see him. We don’t like to see the guy behind him either,

We’ll see how he feels tomorrow, … He may be ready to go.

There were at least two [starts] — maybe even three — that he left with the lead late and the game got away from us. You throw that in the can. He hasn’t been blown...

We’re not eliminated yet. I’m proud of the way the guys have played this year, they get after it. We’re only going to get better.

It’s kind of a natural progression. The guy’s got the stuff. He’s starting to believe in himself, too. The first time up — rookie year or whatever — until you establish yourself, you’re never sure...

It’s nice to be able to bring in your closer and sit back and relax.

It’s just good to have him out there. He’ll get better the more he’s out there.

It was a little nerve-wracking there at the end.

It looks better, but I told these young guys certain games that I’m going to get them into, so I’m going to do that, … I think it’s important. … I think it’s fair to...

Look, if the guy is going to keep hitting a home run a day it would be tough to keep him out of there.

He does all the things successful lefties do,

Thursday night started fast — and ended fast.

What a difference offence makes. That didn’t start out too well, down 4-0. If we didn’t have offence, we don’t come back in that game.

That knocked something out, didn’t it? I ain’t fixing it.

He kept them off-balance, that was the key for him. He competes, man, he competes. He wants to prove something.

But there’s not a lot of time left (in the season), so I don’t know yet what it means.

It was a slugfest type game. We swung the bats good. They had that one big inning.

Towers and McClung pitched great. (Towers) has been on a roll and (McClung) can overpower you with his fastball and when he gets his curveball over he’s tough. He has a great arm.

How many guys would love to do that? Very few do it. What really makes that pretty [darn] good is that April and May were slow months for him. To go on and do that...

We kind of had him, coming out of Spring Training, ahead of the group that’s starting [at Triple-A now]. Experience-wise, they’re all pretty similar. We know he’s going to come up and throw strikes. You...

Cabrera, when he’s throwing strikes, he’s as tough as anybody. When he figures it out, watch out.

That’s just one of those things your gut tells you. But if you have a lead, you’ve got to go with defense.

They looked great. They both were swinging it good. I like the way it gives us speed up top. I just like them up there. And Alex I think is going to drive in some...

They’ve got a left-hander going and he’s caught Bush very well, they’ve worked together very well the last couple of times out,

Very few guys come along like that, once every 20, 30 years, guys who take the game by storm right out of the gates. Hernandez is just way ahead of most 19 year olds, that’s...

That just tells you something about Dave Bush, because he threw 100 pitches the other day.

He’s erratic. That’s not him. He’s trying to find it right now, and he will. That’s why you have Spring Training.

They’ll all play again [on Tuesday], because we have that split squad — so they have to play. It’s starting to take shape a little bit. But they’re still not ready to go nine [innings].

We knew when we lost those two there was going to be some games like this and it was going to take its toll on our bullpen. That’s just the situation we’re in.

He was just trying to run the fastball inside.

He’s still young enough. He can finish this year and go down to play some winter ball,