It’s been a while. It makes for a nice off day tomorrow.

Not one bit. Not the way we played. You play 162 games. They all hurt, but we’ll go out of here holding our head high. I’ll tell you that.

There’s no secret. When you’re in the division with these guys, you’ve got to slug it out. When you go head-to-head with them, very rarely is there going to be low-scoring games. … It’s tough...

A couple homers for him now. Even the outs he’s making, he’s hitting the ball on the nose. It’s got to help [having extra playing time]. He’s getting plenty of work out there in the...

It’s a win. Does it matter how it’s played? … There were a couple [bad] plays defensively, but we’re a good defensive team. That’s very rare. Very rare.

The longer you’re around, guys see you enough, you figure some guys out. They’ve got good arms, they’ve got the stuff to get guys out regardless. It’s all about locating and pitching ahead.

It was a little bit of a sloppy game tonight. We’ll bounce back tomorrow. Errors are part of the game.

Pete came in and held the fort down and did a great job.

You win a couple hundred games because you make pitches at certain times that stop damage. That’s just what he did.

Any time he goes out there, you know you can count on him, … If you look at the last couple of years, he’s always won for us but he’s been kind of the odd...

He’s going to have to get some innings in.

We’ll get Q (Quiroz) in but I wouldn’t want to attach a number to it,

Yeah, [Lilly] might have to. Hopefully he’ll pitch a good ball game. But there comes a time when you’ve got to eat some innings.

We want these guys to get into a rhythm.

He’s pitched great for us the last two years, so he ought to be able to throw with confidence. But it’s a tough business. He’s one of those guys that lives and dies with his...

What we want him to do is get up there and turn it lose, … He has a track record to prove he’s a productive big league hitter. It’s been a tough year for him....

I tell you, he is a heck of a player. We were hoping he was going to fling that ball into the stands in the ninth.

They were raving about him two months ago. I think he’s done a nice job for us. It’s magnified at the end because he’s struggled a little bit of late.

We’ll be ready to play. We’ve got a chance to influence the outcome of this thing. That’s enough incentive right there.

He’s getting there. He’s not full-speed. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe this weekend. We’ll see if he’s ready.

It was good to see him out there. He was erratic in his command. But he’s got such a good arm that he can pitch from behind in the count at times. It will be...

He settled in with that breaking ball (after the first inning) and we couldn’t do much with it.

I saw the replays and it looked like he got lucky.

He was in command. He was down in the zone all night.

Since he’s come back, I’ve liked everything we’ve gotten out of him, … Sometimes, he hasn’t gotten any run support — he’s lost some tight ballgames. His won-loss record, I think, is misleading.

He’s going to do a couple of things here today, move around a bit, but it won’t be until later next week that he’ll be taking ground balls. He’s still a few days away from...

It says something about the guy, how strong he is. Strong character guys and quality guys, the sun has the tendency to shine on guys like that in the long run.

You look at any good staff and you’ll find that. It can only help us.

His presence, that’s a big boy. He commands respect that way.

It will be good to get home. I think any team would’ve had problems with this trip. It’s tough to win on the road in any sport. You just get more opportunities in baseball.

That was a character builder. We’ve got winners on this team. That wasn’t easy. Beckett was rolling. We got some big clutch home runs. That was outstanding. That’s one where you come all the way...

That’s what we’re shooting for. He threw a side [session Sunday] and played some catch today. I think Wednesday, they want a simulated game.

He’s one of those guys that, when he’s on, he can shut you down. And the good ones, when they get in jams, they get out of them. A lot of times, that’s where games...

You watch Ortiz over the past few years and there is not a more clutch guy in the game.

We survived it, we move on. There’s more tough ones ahead of us.

But the top teams, in whatever sport, always bring out the best in you. That means you’re usually ready to play, not that you’ll win them all.

It was good to have him back out there. He wasn’t as sharp, but it’s been two weeks. He’s fine. He’s healthy. He feels good. Any time you pitch against this team, I don’t care...

The platoon is still on, he just hits Vazquez good.

It was working to our advantage. He couldn’t throw strikes. It’s a big lead to overcome, though. Brutal conditions, but it was working in our favor at the moment.

We just want to break it up for them a little bit. Get them out there facing some competition. It revs things up a little bit.

What are you going to do? The strong survive.

I think Cat has found his place out there in left.

He belongs here. He’s paid his dues. He deserves it.

I’ll give him a few games at third base, but Troy plays a lot. I think there’s a point just to keep him sharp out there because you never know what happens, somebody could go...

Baseball’s a gamble. We went for the top two guys out there. We’re banking on them. And they’re banking on us.

Everything looks like it’s going to be all right. Everyone is feeling good about things again.

He’s really stepped in and done a nice job for us. The guy can pitch and we knew that. Our pitching the entire game was outstanding.

He’s confident. He’s got as much confidence as anyone out there. He knows how to win. It comes down to that. He knows how to win, and we win when he’s pitching.

It was a bad read. You don’t know how things are going to play out after that but he was a little too aggressive.

If somebody takes the bull by the horns, it makes sense to keep the hot hand out there. We’ll see. It won’t be easy because guys all want a lot of playing time, but we...