We kept smoking the ball, just right at people.

You really can’t count on scoring five runs off of Roger Clemens, but tonight, luckily, we did. Any time you can beat him, you’ve done something.

It’s a great feeling, … A lot of timely hits. It’s a huge win for us.

I don’t know why people want to think it’s a curse. We’ve been waiting three years for this.

Dave Bush was really, really good. (He) had quick innings, kept his pitch count down, got us through seven. That was big.

He has done a nice job. He’s been impressive.

The hardest thing will be finding the clubhouse, because no one knows where they’re going. But I think we’ll manage that.

He needs an inning badly. It doesn’t help matters for any closer to go that long without pitching.

This is exactly why he’s here. He can fill that role. And the reason we don’t use him (more) is we’re just not going to throw him out there. We’re saving him for situations like...

I just remember the first time we went through it in Atlanta with a bunch of young guys, in 1991. John Smoltz would be warming up and it would be like he was going to...

That was a huge sigh of relief,

Ben (Sheets) threw well, Doug Davis, Chris Capuano, I was pleased with all of our starters. It was a good day.

You can’t really hit or miss on one outing.

Knowing he would be a little more geared up, he wanted to back off on his breaking ball. It’s something we all talked about. The second inning he had easy life on his fastball. You...

There really are no set plans. We’re aiming for him to make his next start and see where that goes.

We’re a little more settled this year. We have a better idea of when guys are going to pitch. We have a plan.

We’ve been swinging the bats OK, with the exception of (Wednesday night), … I think every team has those games where it seems like you can’t get anything done.

I look at it as a big-picture scenario,

I don’t think you’d see that in too many other cities.

I don’t think there is a guy I would more want to see up there in that situation than Carlos because he’s been swinging the bat so well.

Looks are deceiving at times. Sometimes, they’re not.

We were getting short out there. You can’t keep pushing it.

We have the ability to do special stuff, and we have to continue to be more consistent, and that’s team-wide. It’s not one single person or one single area. We do believe that we’ll get...

He works at it. That’s the key to his growth. His command has been as good as I’ve seen it over an extended period.

It’s not easy; it’s hard. You’ve got to get into good eating habits and good conditioning habits early. If you don’t, it can get away from you. This is real important for his career.

He was dead on. I told him after the game, ‘Let’s put two of these together,’ and he said, ‘2:14.’ I don’t think he quite understood me.

He’s smart. He knows when to pick his spots.

With an off day coming up Thursday, maybe.

When he pitched more aggressively out of the bullpen, something started clicking. Later in the year, he was strong and the more I saw him, the more I liked him. I think he has a...

All that stuff takes care of itself when you win,

(Capuano) just struggled all day. He could never get it going. We had too many walks all day. We ended up with nine. When a team has been struggling to score runs a little bit...

He never got settled in. He never found a groove, never got anything going. He was fighting all night long.

We knew he was going to struggle at the plate. That wasn’t a surprise.

It’s nothing serious but it got him right in the meat part of his hand. It’s just a little sore.

Ben would have made the team if he had been completely healthy. But it was in his best interest not to push it, so he’d be ready opening day.

John Smoltz is pretty good. He’s been pretty good for a long time.

They got a fine performance out of Bronson Arroyo, and that was the difference.

If everybody would just relax a little and let him do his thing, he’d be fine.

It nicked off his glove. With two strikes, we play in on Pierre on the opposite way anyway. About the last thing he will do is hit a ball the opposite way over an outfielder’s...

He’s a top-notch guy, an awesome guy.

I gave him my cell phone number and told him to keep me updated. When you get the manager’s cell, you’re getting close.

But that’s just a start, it’s not where we ultimately want to be. I’m tired of being labeled a loser for 12 years. If you lose one more game than you win, then that’s what...

The umpire (Gary Darling) got mad, … He said, ‘Shut up and pick up the bat.’

I’m glad we were able to score some runs so he could benefit from his great pitching.

It’s hard to do what Mac was trying to do,

He had pretty good stuff but he fell behind too much, … But he made big pitches when he needed to and really limited the damage outside of the four-run inning.

We needed it tonight, and he picked us up big-time.

Dave Bush was really, really good. He kept his pitch count down. He got us through seven innings, which was big. He was spotting his fastball really well.

He didn’t have his good stuff. I give him credit because he was out there competing, but he just wasn’t sharp.

We’re trying to do something different with the (other) uniform we’ve got.