Aaron Cook Quotations

When I face a left-handed lineup, it narrows down what I have to accomplish in that game. It simplifies my game plan.

My last two games before this one were a little rough. I might have had a little dead arm. I'm not sure. I really had all four pitches working. It was nice to get that going heading into the season. Hopefully it carries over.

I got that one pitch up to Howard. I didn't get in enough. I know I could blow him up if I get the ball in, but I didn't.

I got one pitch up to him. I didn't get the fastball in enough.

I didn't make good pitches with two outs. They came up with some clutch hits.

I get stronger as the game goes on. I get more confident as the game goes on. I felt I was able to mix up my pitches and keep them off balance somewhat. After that first inning, I felt better on the mound.

He has instilled this, 'This is who you are, stick with it, be stubborn with it' approach. The sinker was working great. As long as I don't try to do too much with it, it is always there.

He's aggressive with his fastball. He doesn't pitch to the park, kind of the same mentality I take out. When you're at Coors Field, you can't just say, 'I'm going to do something different.' You can't change the type of pitcher you are, you just have to go out there, be aggressive, and make your pitches. He made some great pitches today.

I went after them with my sinker and mixed in some sliders and changeups. I kept them off balance.

(Wells) doesn't have the same thing I had, but it was still good talking to him. He seemed pretty comfortable with his situation.

We needed to pick it up. We needed to come together as a team and find some team chemistry, not just be individual players.

We've got 25 guys who aren't worried about history, just playing hard. We've got 25 guys who have learned some lessons the hard way.

Today, my best wasn't enough to win the game. At the end of the day, you're not saying, 'I went out there and battled and only gave up one run.' I'm mad at myself that I gave up the home run.

We got the chemistry thing going. Now, we're on a roll.

Both of the errors hit on the exact same spot on my glove, right on my thumb. We work on that every day in spring training and we get balls hit a lot harder than those two were. The only way I can explain it is that maybe I took my eye off it at the last second, because those plays should be made 100 percent of the time.

I've been in games where I had seven, eight runs to work with and blew that. This is a team effort.

That's just a situation where you're looking to take advantage of their aggressiveness. One time in a hundred it may work and today it saved us a run right there. It may not work again the rest of the season but it did today.

It's just one of those days. The offense didn't produce today, but I've gone out there those days where I've had seven, eight runs to work with and blown that. It's definitely a team effort. We've got to pick ourselves up and come back to the park (today).

It wasn't my best. You take the bad with the good. Sometimes the bad is good enough.

It's not like anyone in this division is overpowering. If teams take us for granted, we're going to beat them.

It's been aggravating for me at times going through struggles and seeing other guys go through struggles. I know that's got to be tough on him. I think sometimes he looks at us as a father sometimes will look at a son. When we don't succeed, sometimes it hurts him more than it hurts us.

That's something people like to talk about a lot, and I know it would be a great honor to get the ball on Opening Day. If I get it, I'd treat it that way, but after Opening Day I want to get 30-some starts, stay healthy and do the job.

Everybody's finding their roles. It's like the pieces of the puzzle are coming together for us.

Once the doctors told me I was healthy, I knew it was just a matter of time before I was able to get back out there and compete for nine innings. I knew I would be back.

I kinda made it tough on them, pitching only five innings. I tip my hat to them, they had to do a lot of work tonight.

I learned how to pitch better and how to compete better. I had a little slower velocity and learned how to throw my change-up for strikes when I needed to. That was a big help. It was something that I needed to go through.

I made a couple of bad pitches, got the ball up and cost us a couple of key runs, but overall I felt pretty good, felt strong. Hopefully, I can take this, build off of it and take this to the next game.

I made a couple bad pitches, but I'll take this and build off it.

I made some pitches I shouldn't make, but I got out of some situations. The key thing is winning. I'd rather have an ugly win than a well-pitched loss.

I'm able to use this spring training to really prepare for the season, where normally I'd have to come in and fight for a spot. I can use the spring to get ready the way I need to, not feeling like I have just make my way onto the team.

I know the situation and would be happy to talk with him, but I'm not going to call him out of the blue. If he has questions, I'd be happy to answer them.

These guys are all better hitters than we're going to face in the season, so it helps me work on a few things. You see these guys on TV and you really want to get them out, but they're a little bit better than me.