Rick Peterson Quotations

We were as prepared as we could be for the rainfall with the road barricades, having them ready. There's nothing we can do to hold the rain back, we just deal with it when it gets here.

This puts him on track to open all our options.

One small step for Pedro, one giant step for the Mets.

Personally, I think people make playing in New York a bigger deal than it really is.

I got to know him very well. He is a great guy.

I don't know why. But if we weren't that way, we'd be way out of it by now.

I felt, ... like I got kicked in the soul.

From the first day I've been here, and it's true with everyone, you get linked to your past. But when people ask your opinion of someone that you haven't seen perform for a long period of time, no matter who it is, your opinion has no value.

I don't think he's the same guy in his first four starts that he was in spring training. I think he's heading in that direction, but he's not there right now.

He has four pitches that he can locate to both sides of the plate, and that's exciting. You're just excited to see him in competition against big-league hitters and see how they react.

He has the aptitude to learn that. He understands he has the weapons it takes to flip a line-up three times and not become predictable.

He's just not in any kind of rhythm right now. It's all location. He was too much in the middle of the strike zone against an aggressive hitting team.

He was getting to the point where he was going to engage the rubber like he does during the season. That was the step we wanted to take today. He took that step and he felt great.

He was awesome. He was very focused, and he was actually rehearsing sequences. He's not 100 percent, but he's getting there.

You always hear that when hitters are in a groove, they say that they're seeing the ball well. But Chad makes it so they can't.

To me, that was worth the whole trip. I think he understands that young pitchers who settle into the big leagues quickly settle in not because they're fastball-curveball (pitchers) but because they're fastball-changeup.

There are always going to be spikes of inconsistency. Getting through the first year without a setback is huge.

The recovery day is every bit as important as the activity day.

We're going to wait and see how it is. They're looking at the shoe right now, and were going through how the shoe felt. It felt better. It's always still an adjustment. In fact, it felt great, and that's the biggest factor of all.

First time out, and he does all that.

That's why they call it the 'New York Minute,' I think. They have about a minute's worth of patience for anything. It's the nature of this industry, and anybody who goes through a tough time. If I'm not mistaken, I think they were booing (Mariano) Rivera the other night. He's been pretty damn good.

That?s why they call it a New York minute. They have about a minute?s worth of patience for anything. Which is the nature of this industry. If I?m not mistaken, they were booing (Mariano) Rivera the other night. I?d have to look myself in the mirror if I booed Mo. So nobody?s immune.

They've all been trying to bend over backwards to make sure we're OK. We'll have to wait and see; they've got a lot to do.

They are targeting brokers like Savage who specialize in extremely high-net- worth individuals and institutions.

They're going to call a balk if he doesn't get on the rubber, so we're going to get to the rubber. That's the next step. When he's ready to take that step we're going to take that step.

There's always going to be an adjustment period when a guy comes off an injury.

It's just a progression. Typically you do it for arms, not for toes. We'll just have to wait and see how he feels.

It's one of those things that we'll figure out as the spring progresses. It's early, and I'm looking forward to getting to know him.

It's the difference between high winds and tornados. It's a violent rotation.

It's the difference between high winds and tornados.

It's pretty amazing what those guys are saying to themselves, what their thought process is. Every pitcher could benefit from that, not just Victor.

It's understandable, I think, with New York fans. That's why they call it a New York minute. They've got about a minute's worth of patience for anything. If I'm not mistaken, I think they were booing Rivera the other night. He's been pretty damn good. Nobody is immune.

The next step is obvious. They're going to call a balk if he doesn't get on the rubber in the game.

It's impossible for him to change. That's what he does, and what makes Pedro so great is he focuses on making pitches, not how his body moves.

It was a big step forward. He showed command of all his pitches and showed a lot of stamina.

It was a big step forward. He had command of all his pitches. He had a lot of stamina. All in all, it was a good day.

It was a confidence booster for all of us (with the starter role). Had we not had the need in the bullpen (last season) he would have stayed in the rotation.

They call it a New York minute. They've got about a minute's worth of patience. That's part of the industry.

Any time you have a lot of time off that's always a concern. It is always a factor, but he's done a lot of throwing (in the bullpen).

Any time you have a guy like Billy Wagner - the quality of that kind of guy - believe me, Met fans in Shea Stadium, when they see Clark Kent coming out of that phone booth in the ninth inning, that's an exciting thing when he puts that cape on.

Any time you've got players with these sorts of personalities, they're bound to lighten up the entire mood. It's great for everybody.

If you can change speeds and locate, that may be better than throwing 99 or 100.

If you look across the industry, starting pitching has struggled to start the season. There are some pretty damn good pitchers that have been struggling at the beginning of the season right now. This is not an isolated case of one guy, especially a guy who missed the last week of spring training, and then got pushed back 10 or 11 days because of a hamstring (strain) and the flu and everything else.

If you cook a meal for the first time the recipe is going to change.

If you want to lose 15 pounds, it's not fair to get on the scale the first day of your diet and be discouraged if you didn't lose any weight. If your process and frame of mind are correct, then you'll lose the weight. It's the same thing with Jorge. He's learning the process, and soon he'll see ? we'll all see ? the results.

He still doesn't know how much of the plate he can get. That will come and wait till he sees the results. He pitched a D-plus game and look at those results.

He's ready when he's ready, I don't want to kill a brain cell thinking about it.

The finger responded exactly how we were hoping it would.