Clint Hurdle Men Quotations

There's no doubt in my mind that he's gong to get better, and that's what I told Matt earlier in the season when we had a sit-down. I said, 'You're not just hitting fourth anymore. You're our cleanup hitter.' Two months later, I told him, 'What you are doing now is providing protection in the lineup.' That's a big statement for a second-year player.

I think there is improvement. More optimism maybe today than there was yesterday.

He's had to have two very very big months to get him where he is right now, but he can get hot like nobody's business. He's probably learned some very valuable lessons through this year. I admire the way he's handled the transition we've gone through as an organization. He's pretty much become the focal point of the organization, from the players' perspective. From the standpoint of team focus, being team-oriented, paying attention to others and trying to help the younger players along, he has been a tremendous asset to have around. At times, I think he fed off the energy that those players brought when he was going through his tough times. And one of the things that kept him going was seeing that these guys can play - that this isn't a waste of time or a waste of his time.

I don't know -- that'll all go into the final evaluation. Clean innings would be a big plus. There's something to be said for getting out of them. But when you have men on base, they're going to score sooner or later. He's done a fine job so far.

In a perfect world, you bring young players into an environment (like Atlanta),

He understands the mentality of why we use him in the ninth in close ballgames because he's the best pitcher we have available out there,

They're in a tough position. After the warning, they have to make judgment calls.

His fastball was short (Friday), and his command was mediocre. That being said, you're normally not able to make that statement and have a pitcher only give up one run in five-plus innings at Coors Field. So he deserves a pat on the back for that.

We need better from him. He's capable of better. He knows he should be better. I talked to him a little bit during the game and then again after the game. ... He's capable of better. We've all seen better. He needs to take the momentum from the last two innings and roll that into his next start.

With respect to the privacy of himself and his family, I'm not going to make any comment on his condition, other than the fact we believe it's in his best interest to put him on the disabled list. The doctors acquired all the information they needed.

It was a situation where I think we'd try to make a statement inside, hard. I think the statement was made inside, hard. It's unfortunate he got hit. It's unfortunate Danny got splattered last night. Sometimes unfortunate things happen. We won't be intimidated by anybody.

I do believe we are in this position by showing patience and providing opportunities during the season. I don't want to take away from any momentum the team has gained.

We decided to eliminate the uncertainty. There's no timetable (for his recovery). We need him healthy. Once he is able to play, we will get him out on a (minor-league) rehab assignment and get him some at-bats.

Teams had issues to deal with over the winter. We had less than most anybody because we had so much more movement the last few years.

It's Jason's time to take the next step, and sometimes when players can't get to certain places, it's up to a coach to take them there. I want him to know going in that I've got the confidence in him to do that. By giving him the ball Opening Day, I can't make a bigger statement than that.

Every year you show up here, you at least have a fraction of hope. This year there's a lot more substance to go with that hope. They know (the division) is open. It's time to make a statement on the field.

We're not looking for cheerleaders. We're looking for men that can make a difference, and when a man has something to say, it's something of substance.

There comes certain situations where I think a manager has an opportunity to make a statement to his team. You don't want to miss them. I might have missed one with (Cory) Sullivan earlier in the season.

It's unfortunate it's Matt. But those kinds of errors in judgment ... we're not last year's team. We're not going to be last year's team.

Danny is taking advantage of the opportunities that he's been given. He's provided some very good defensive stability behind home plate. His receiving and his blocking and his throwing has been a marked improvement over anything that we've really had here in a long time.

I love the momentum we are building. I know we are more comfortable than we were in April and I know we will be more comfortable next April than we are this September.

We haven't been sharp. Off the mound, defensively, there are things we should have done better. We didn't make good pitches out of the bullpen when we got close. The offense rallied late, and hopefully that'll give us some momentum going into (today).

We came out tonight and made a statement in the first inning.

There was some improvement, but we need some more improvement.

This guy has a very workable package and a passion to play the game. I was open-ended with him today because of his competitiveness and he made a statement to finish it off and throw a complete game with 118 pitches.

Every team that added something is hoping that something pops. Their situation is not more removed than ours. We are moving forward with men that showed some value and took positive steps for us.

There were games early in the season where we crumbled like a house of cards in situations like that. These guys are willing to pick one another up and that is a big improvement with this team.

After the line of games he put together going into this start, I had my mind made up when I got to the ballpark that if he gave us good effort through six innings, that's going to be plenty. Leave his confidence at a high and turn it over to the people who have gotten us in position to build some of the momentum we've been building.

Those were two grown men out there pitching today. They put a dent in the hardware of Coors Field.

These are opportunities for growth. Everybody made a statement tonight that took the ball.

These guys want to take some momentum into '06. They are looking forward to letting people know that we're going to show up and play.