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,

Both were dealing. Bush has pitched so good lately and got nothing to show for it.

I don’t even know if we’re looking for that. I just know my guys. They’ve got a lot of heart. They just get after it.

We make sure we’re not pushing guys too fast, too early. And then, as we get about a week or 10 days away (from the regular season), we’ll push it a little bit harder.

You can’t fight Mother Nature. We had so much optimism just 10 days ago but, if the body’s not ready …

We kind of had (Janssen) ahead coming out of spring training. Experience-wise they’re all pretty similar. You know (Janssen) is going to come up and throw strikes, you expect him too anyway. It’s his opportunity.

Everything’s working [for Tampa Bay],

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...

It could be his forearm, and it could be his elbow. We don’t know. He has had that elbow reconstructed in the past, so he knows his body.

He couldn’t really get anything going but he’ll bounce back.

I really can’t complain about not having this or that, now.

He’s got to be able to move laterally.

He went to see team doctors in Toronto (on Wednesday). He wasn’t obligated to go out there (at camp) the last few days.

Sometimes there’s personality conflicts. He was frustrated. Things were said he probably regrets.

You saw it all tonight — by design.

He’s human, though. Sometimes you might not think so, but he is.

Sometimes the harder you try the tougher it gets. (Towers) will be there in the end. He’s just going through a tough stretch right now. He’s always won for us and we expect him to...

A lot of the Latin players — the guys who do Winter Ball — are geared for that. They get some time off and then they pitch. Those guys pitch year-round, doing something, … He’s...

You’re never satisfied of course. But I look at the big picture, some of the things that have happened, things that might have happened, have a chance to happen and I feel good.