Tony Russa Pitch Quotations

We're going to go game-to-game, series-to-series. We'll see if we think our pitching is vulnerable.

He's going to pitch on the edges. He's tough enough to hit when it's over the plate.

When he makes pitches, he can pitch against anybody. When he doesn't, he's vulnerable.

That's the kind of pitcher he is. We were buying outs at that point in the game, and he bought them all.

That's the way we played all year long. Our pitchers are not afraid to pitch to contact and get the groundball.

That's the way we played all year long, ... Our pitchers are not afraid to pitch to contact and get the groundball.

And then the other stuff falls into place. As you saw there, that's what he's been doing all year long. I can't remember seeing a pitcher all the years that I've managed that has been so good every time out.

That's just the story of the postseason, ... Whether it was Atlanta against Houston or us against San Diego, or you take what the White Sox have done to (Vladimir) Guerrero and Garret Anderson, if you pitch really well, it's tough.

He made a mistake pitch and a clutch hitter took advantage. He did some good things and then he made a mistake.

Any pitcher can make a mistake, and we're good enough to capitalize. But (Arroyo) did enough good things. He got a lot of outs in a lot of different parts of the zone. That's good pitching. If we pitch good, I always think there's a chance we're going to break through any particular inning.

There's a way to win when the other guy is pitching good against you. You've got to pitch and defend well against them. We didn't defend that well today, either.

He's shown that he can pitch in difficult situations without it affecting him.

In the eighth inning, we missed our location three times, twice when we were ahead in the count. We almost caught a break -- Cabrera's ball was tagged, but it fooled Walker. That would have been an important break to catch. Matt got the ball up with a 1-2 count, and the pitch that Delgado tripled on wasn't where Ray was trying to throw it. Against good clubs in key situations, either you do or you don't, and if you don't, you get penalized most of the time.

They have done some really good things, mixed their pitchers or patterns up. I think no matter how good you pitch, we've got so many weapons, there's a way for us to break through and we haven't.

He pitched outstanding, and as long as this game is played, when a pitcher out there is pitching that way, you're not going to do much.

He pitched nine innings against a tough offensive club -- that's dominating. He had a 2-0 pitch to a terrific hitter and he hit the ball out of the state. But that's the last run they got. That's outstanding pitching. No disrespect to anybody in either league who's doing great, but there's nobody greater than Chris. He's clutch.

Guys took their place and did a terrific job with the bats and we were pitching well. We don't have Scott back, but we have Larry and Reggie back. Both of those guys can handle a bat, so you don't push as much with them as you would with some of the other guys.

You can't lose them the way we lost them. When you score one or two against a pitching staff that's last in the league. It's a mystery.

My whole concentration on the game is affected by a pitch that got away. You know, that looks so terrible. The guy is a great pro. I just talked to Julian in there for a long time. Nothing against him, as soon as he fell out of his delivery...the ball has to get down. He's a sinker ball pitcher. That incident screws up the whole night for me.

I think my first understanding of the significance of Gibson's home run is the drama of what he did that day, as hurt as he was, that being his only at-bat. And if you saw him foul those pitches off and how gimpy he was, it was an incredibly heroic kind of at-bat, if you can use hero in sports,

I think if you look at virtually every starter, we've had some rough starts here in the last two weeks, ... The big key is to get back on it mentally and understand that if we don't pitch, we don't win. Against the pitching we're going to face in postseason, we're not going to outscore people.

I think he's pitching with more confidence. He's got more experience and he's got more weapons when he goes out there. They all fit.

He throws strikes, has three pitches -- and his three pitches are major league caliber.

I don't think the pitch to Ensberg was all that bad. I didn't see the replay. He had good enough stuff. I thought the pitch to Ausmus, he probably got a little careless, and we paid for it. He retired six guys. He had good enough stuff to do it, he just didn't get it done.