Jim Tracy Last Quotations

The last five or six games, I've been doing some things that go against the norm of what I usually do,

One-and-7 obviously isn't the way you want to start. But the (Dodgers) team I managed last year started 12-2 and we won 71 games. So it's not a large enough sample size of games. It doesn't mean this is the kind of team we're going to be for the next six months.

I thought he battled. He didn't have his breaking ball until his last two innings. That's a tough club to pitch against with basically just your fastball.

He threw way too many pitches last night, with 100-plus still trying to get through five innings, ... But he's getting plenty of seasoning this year. He has exceeded expectations for a Rule 5 Draft pick. Is he a stone-cold lock to make the starting rotation in 2006? No. Is he a candidate? Sure he is.

He's the same Sean Casey I've watched over the last seven or eight years. We're talking about a guy that knows how to hit. It's just that simple - he knows how to hit.

It remains to be seen how this will affect us. Based on last night, not at all. But that's one game. We have 37 more games to be played. And it's not just the results, but how we go about it. Do we play with enthusiasm, with intensity, with passion?

Some of the elements we had last year that made us successful were not here this year,

I don't want Jason Bay to do anything other than be the player he's been here for the last two years.

Coming out of Spring Training, I thought we'd score some runs. We've scored 20 runs in the last three days and haven't won a game.

I'm not saying things would have necessarily been different if Sean was in the lineup but I think it would have helped to have a hitter who combined to strike out less 100 times over the last two seasons up in the situation. You need to make contact with a man on second and none out, and I think Sean would have given us a great chance of doing that.

Did the starting pitcher give you a chance every fifth day to go out there and win? -- that's the biggest element I look at. (Santos) was pretty good at that last year.

I haven't convinced myself that he's played his last bit for 2005, but I do know today he should sit back and relax, ... He's quite a professional player and a professional person. I believe we've pushed him about as far as he can be pushed, and he's responded in every single case.

What we're seeing right now is, in my mind, identical to what we saw last year, when it took him a few starts to get untracked, and then you see one quality start after another. His teammates recognize that's he gonna leave everything that he has on the field, and it's very easy to step up for a guy like that.

We're just going to gradually walk into this situation. We're not going to race into it. We're very well aware of what has taken place as far as his medical history over the last year. There's not a major hurry here.

Zach Duke showed us last year, and in his first start, what type of pitcher he is.

Derek Lowe, for the fourth time in a row, was phenomenal, ... Not good. Not great. Phenomenal. ... I can't say enough good things about Derek Lowe the last four times he's pitched. Unbelievable.