He was moving his pitches in and out. He had a good split.

He seems like a very quiet, confident veteran. It’s hard coming to a new clubhouse. He knows exactly what he’s trying to do and is setting out to do it.

Jeff Cirillo is a solid player. He’s been a great addition to the team. He does everything well. I’m not afraid to put him at second base.

He didn’t pull anything. It just felt strange to him. It was not a knifelike pain, just a dull ache. He has some scar tissue back there, and it could be he popped some of...

We did that in Atlanta,

We’re a player short for a day or two because of Branyan. We thought it was more important to have an extra player on the bench. It’s only for, what, five games because we’re off...

The main thing we’ve been focusing on is our team defense and I thought our team defense was very, very good today on a very hard and fast infield. So I was pleased with that.

We were happy with the home stand, but when you win the first five you surely want to win the last game.

Danny has had good downhill action. His ball is sinking good. He’s going to be fine.

They got a great performance out of Arroyo. He was very sharp and stayed on the attack. Ben was good tonight but Arroyo matched him pitch for pitch.

That’s the class of the league over there. It’s been the class of the league or in the top class of the league the last 14 years. We’ve never even won a series at home...

He’s doing much better today than yesterday. We were going to be nervous if he wasn’t. (Friday), every time he moved, it would spasm up. It’s not doing that. That’s a good sign.

I may move him up or down, but I’m not taking him out of the lineup no matter what happens. He’ll get his occasional day off just like everybody will get, but he doesn’t have...

We feel good about sending Doug out. Doug has always pitched very well against Pittsburgh. He’s a guy that you like to have on the mound.

He pitched very, very well. He was very determined, had good stuff and was on the attack and pitched a great game.

He had very good stuff. He had an outstanding (split-finger fastball). He’s working one expanding (his strike zone) a little bit.

He`s not throwing strikes, … He`s throwing from behind. With his stuff, pitching ahead is the key.

They opened my eyes, offensively, to the fact that they were capable of being big league players, and they opened eyes, defensively, and showed us that they weren’t ready to be big league players.

Pitch counts have gotten into everybody’s brain. Guys make so much money now. You want to protect your investment. You don’t want to abuse your pitchers.

We’re going for the win, and Prince has a better chance of hitting a home run. That’s the hardest thing to do in baseball. You have to have a special frame of mind going up...

J.J. is going to hit some home runs. He’s not a Punch-and-Judy hitter. Both of the home runs he has hit (this week) have been big for us.

He’s a very mature young man who has a chance to be a real offensive force. He’s a pure hitter. He grew up in this game, and he’s ready for his chance at stardom.

We’ll have a better idea Wednesday.

You don’t really sit there and count them down. There was some confusion on the bench if there were four or five home runs.

It’s been bothering him every game since (Aug. 18), … It’s something he probably could play through, but that doesn’t make any sense at this point. We need him to be what he can be.

He’s as tough as they come. He doesn’t make mistakes.

He’s a good pitcher having a bad year. And the good pitcher in him came out tonight.

That was the plan all along. We were going to get him out of it, get him comfortable and put him back in the five.

I’m not going to sit here and say we’re going to fight for the wild-card next year. As good as St. Louis is, that’s something we want. We want to fight for the division championship.

It’s tough when you start the season with the workload that he had.

I think he feels like he’s got a better supporting cast around him this year, and he doesn’t have to carry the team on his back.

We said all along that he would probably struggle in the first half and take off in the second half. That’s what’s happened.

His ability to handle people,

I think we all were (impressed). There’s some reason why he has jumped three levels in a year and a half. You could see why today.

That cost us a run. We had a couple things that didn’t go right tonight, but we won.

He won a game for us there. Leave him there.

There’s no doubt that Billy has the credentials to be a Major League pitching coach. [Castro and Maddux] work together, and you have to work together for this to work. It’s a huge advantage for...

Tommy was vintage. He was as good as I’ve seen him in a long time.

You can’t use it very often.

It was a big win right there. Prince takes care of business like that. It worked out just great.

I knew it was something we had to do,

The room is my friend, not my enemy. I don’t get cabin fever.

One run there is a huge run, … You give up five, but you still have 27 cracks at a young kid.

That’s one thing about the Cardinals, they’re not going to lay down and die. Even after we scored seven runs I wasn’t comfortable. They can put runs on the board in a hurry.

With Doug’s extension, it sends a good signal to the team that we’re going to be here. We’ve got a good start on this and we want to keep building to a championship team.

He was really hyped up. He never got in a groove. He was overthrowing and he couldn’t make the adjustment. It’s the first day and it’s tough on the young kids.

I think there will be a lot of excitement in spring training next year.

(Cappy) had pretty good stuff but he fell back behind and you can’t do that against St.Louis. We’re glad we could get the win for him.

You get the adrenaline going. The first time out, it happens.

They’re one of the elite teams in the league. Any time that you play the measuring stick, you want to beat them.