Ned Yost Ball Quotations

Rickie got a curve ball up in the fourth and hammered it. That was a big part of the ballgame.

He looked outstanding. One ball was smoked and he made it look like a slow roller.

He's done a good job keeping the ball in the zone. He has had short, quick innings. He throws that knuckleball, and then he throws an 83-mph fastball and jams good hitters. He's got some weapons.

He just struggled. They didn't hit the ball hard, but they found holes. They put five runs on the board on him quick.

That was a tough play but it was within (Weeks') reach. It's a play, if you're going to win the ball game, that's got to be made.

We just let too many opportunities get early. We got his pitch count way up and had opportunities to score and couldn't put the ball in play. That always finds a way to come back and haunt you.

We just let too many opportunities get by early. We got his pitch count up and three times we had runners in scoring position and fewer than two out. We just couldn't put the ball in play. That has a way of catching up with you.

We just let too many opportunities get by early. That always comes back to haunt you. We preach to put the ball in play. Nothing good happens with a strikeout.

We figured that would be a good chance to gamble and take a shot. Davies was throwing the ball very well at that point. The odds of trying to get a two-out hit probably weren't in our favor. We thought we'd go ahead and gamble, and it worked.

Corey gave it everything he's got. He might have dove just a hair early, which jarred him when the ball did hit his glove. We had trouble catching fly balls tonight. . . . It was one of those nights.

Corey came in, got off the plane, got dressed, took batting practice and smoked the ball two or three times. He finally got a hold of one.

It was a ... bullet, and at times the ball skips in this outfield. To Conine's credit, he's charging that ball to make a play at the plate.

The bullpen just struggled. They hit the ball hard and they found the holes.

There's a reason why guys win 300 games. They can field their position, they can swing the bat and they can throw strikes. That's a big part of his game. There's not a lot of pitchers that catch that ball. That ball was smashed. That was a big play.

It nicked off his glove. With two strikes, we play in on Pierre on the opposite way anyway. About the last thing he will do is hit a ball the opposite way over an outfielder's head.

(Davis) tried to overthrow a breaking ball (to Burke) and he hung it.

Danny has had good downhill action. His ball is sinking good. He's going to be fine.

That's something that we talk about every day: You pitch to contact with your good stuff. That's what you look for. You want guys to have good, quick, clean innings. You want to go out there, let them hit the ball early in the count to one of your defenders, get the out and move on.

It was just one of those days. He just wasn't sharp tonight. I was hoping he could go two innings but his fast ball was up and he wasn't locating his pitches.

Any time you get the tying run to the plate (late) in a ball game you've done a pretty good job. But the score really doesn't reflect that.

The last thing he's normally going to do is hit the ball over an outfielder's head going the opposite way.

He threw the ball OK, but he got a few pitches up in the strike zone. The wind blowing out didn't help him.

He threw the ball good. Our plan now is to have him play catch (today) and then see how he feels. If everything is OK, we'll have him throw another simulated game on Tuesday and go from there.