I like to be in a position of helping people. I find it very humbling that, simply by playing baseball, I’m in position to help so many people. I never take that for granted.

I don’t like going to young players and forcing myself on them with advice because they get it all the time. But, if someone asked I’d help them anyway I could. When they approach you,...

I’ve had really good ones and a really bad one. I’ve been on both ends of it.

This is one of those games that’s tough to lose.

I wish he had hit it a little harder. Someone would have caught it.

I think it was important for us to finish strong,

It’s just the environment that we’re in right now. There’s a lot of people who still don’t want to believe that the program we have in place is a good program, and that it’s going...

The sooner you know, the more you can focus.

With all the guys in our lineup, you have to pitch to somebody.

With three balls, Willie told me to put him on. That took care of it for me. I was intent on trying to make pitches and get back. … Regardless of what his numbers say,...

Because I hadn’t pitched well against them and because they’re good, … I measured myself against them.

You’re looking at a game of more and more power pitchers, and quite honestly, you got to figure those guys are more susceptible to getting hurt. It’ll be interesting to see how many of those...

As an athlete, name recognition can carry a lot of weight. To me, it’s kind of a no-brainer, if you’re able to get behind a cause and people will get involved,

Today was good. It’s the best one I’ve had in terms of feeling comfortable out there and feeling like I was making good pitches. I made one bad pitch to [Matt] Diaz, but that was...

Roger is the pioneer that showed us that if you eat right and take care of yourself, you can pitch into your 40s.

I continue to evolve,

Not because of my personal relationship with them, but because they’re a good team. Anytime you get a complete game against anybody it’s nice, particularly against a first-place club that’s had success against you.

I’ll say this and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It’s interesting to me that for somebody who’s been so tight-lipped about everything that goes on in that organization, that I’m the only...

He’s got a chance to be pretty special. You hate putting a label on what he is or what he can be. So much depends on how healthy he stays, but no question, he has...

With me and him it’s more about him trying to get me to change my game plan. He made me understand how good some of the other things were that I could do, get me...

If you evaluate our team, we’ve certainly assembled the talent to win. Looking at some of the teams I was on in Atlanta, I can’t say those teams had more talent than this team overall....

Julio is old. … old and decrepit. But he can hit. And that’s why he’s here.

I wish he hit it a little harder. Victor would’ve caught it.

If we’re going to try and attract people this winter to come here and play, you certainly want to give them an indication that you’re moving in the right direction. And we’re certainly doing that.

You see guys fill in roles every year.

I guess the box line pretty much speaks for what it was: two terrible pitches and gave up two bombs and everything else was pretty good. It tells me when I’m executing my pitches, I’m...

He continues to show why so many people, teammates included, are excited about what he’s capable of doing. He’s a great player. Certainly he’s had chances the first week to come up in big spots,...

That’s the manager’s call. It’s always the manager’s call. You do what the manager tells you to do.

What’s going to happen when I try it against Atlanta?

He sees things and processes things that he uses in an instant in his game plan that a lot of guys, quite honestly, can’t do.

The Utley at-bat was bigger than the ground ball [by Burrell], … The sinkers were close, but that’s the game sometimes. In that first inning, I didn’t get the benefit of many calls.

He and I were pretty well in sync today, and I think he’s pretty comfortable with what I’m trying to do.

We’re off to a good start and we’re trying to take advantage of it. It’s important because they’re in our division, but it’s no more important than that.

His was more active and repetitive than mine,

I’m sure I’ll get a few phone calls before the day’s over,

The tempo on my changeup is a little off right now because I was gung-ho being out there and trying to make pitches. I needed to relax a little bit. When you’re facing a team...

It’s not do-or-die or anything, but we’ve certainly created more of an uphill battle for ourselves.

I think that’s still part of the excitement of being out there. If I get to the point where I don’t, then I don’t need to be playing anymore. So at least I know I...

That’s too far ahead to think about. I’m just thinking about this season. That’s all I can control.

A lot of people were getting ready to hand us the pennant. But give our guys credit — none of [them] bought into that.

I didn’t get the benefit of any calls in the first. Having been through this so many times in this park, you don’t worry about it.

He can issue all the apologies he wants. That’s the easy thing to do. But we’ll see if he means it by how he acts every day after that.

I think everything comes together. I think it’s me being more comfortable with what I am trying to do in terms of how I pitch, in using the curveball and stuff like that. It all...

I gave up two bombs. Everything else was pretty good. That tells me that when I execute my pitches, I’m getting the results I want. I guess the downside is the result of the two...

I think we like it more this way.

It hard to tell. In one game it’s hard to make an assessment, but he still has that same presence, still has that same effect on the game.

I remember sitting in the dugout, being confident and almost expecting it to happen,

We gave him grief about everything. We always got on him about his physique, which is less than intimidating. How he’d dress sometimes. All that stuff. He was fair game. He played the game, and...

I don’t feel the anxiety I felt in my first start for the Mets, … Obviously, that game wasn’t as important in the standings as [tonight’s] game.

It’s an honor, and it’s fun to be the guy who goes out there and starts Opening Day. But I think sometimes there’s too much made of it.