Bullpen Quotations

There's been times where I've come out of the bullpen thinking I was going to throw a no hitter, and I've lasted two or three innings. So I try not to use my pre-game warm ups as a barometer of how I'm going to pitch.

In '05, '06, '07 and '08, I wasn't throwing any changeups at all. Maybe two or three per game. In '09, I started playing with the grip, started throwing it in the bullpen and playing catch. It came out really good.

We are a different club and we are probably not as offensively as potent as we were last year. We certainly don't have the possibility to break a game open with the long balls like we did last year. We're a little bit younger in our offense, but somehow we found a way. Our pitching is more solid than it was last year from top to bottom. Our bullpen has been good on the balance of the year and having Andy Pettitte healthy has helped our rotation quite a bit. We are probably a little stronger in the pitching department and probably a little weaker in the offense department.

We're in pretty good shape, everywhere from the bullpen to the position players. This is how you want to be at this stage.

When you walk into that job, it can be a little overwhelming. Getting all your starters lined up, your backup starters lined up, getting your bullpen guys throwing in a routine. Once he gets a handle on that, he'll be fine. It all works out in Spring Training.

We're not going to take any chances. He can do a lot of things right now. Gil was able to throw a bullpen at about 70 percent and felt OK. That's a good sign.

We had 13 guys left on base. That doesn't help any matters. Our bullpen late in games has been doing a good job, too. They just got one pitch and took advantage of it. But guys are working hard.

We felt it was important to strengthen our bullpen with some talented, more established arms. And we were able do that with Cruz and Reitsma.

We're going to keep him in the bullpen. I like the way the bullpen looks right now.

We're going to have many more times where it's going to come out in our favor. I really feel that. You've just got be professional and just keep going out there and preparing. I'm anxious just to get back in the bullpen with him and start again and get ready for our start in Baltimore.

Usually, if he makes a mistake, they don't hit him out of the ballpark with that sinker, ... He made a mistake; that's what happens with youth. We have a young pitching staff and a young bullpen that's subject sometimes to walks and also subject to mistakes.

Usually bullpen guys are cut from the same mould. They're laid back, they don't take things too freaking personal, so it's a good group. I knew it was a good group coming in and it was a group I wanted to be a part of.

Worry and bullpen are always in the same sentence for me. He'll be a welcome sight for us up here at this point.

We have to get a quality start out of Tabor. Our bullpen has worked hard and we need to get five or six innings out of him and only give up two or three runs.

We're playing as good as anyone right now. Our starting pitching has been good all year, our bullpen is the best in the league, and now we're starting to get production from the bottom of our order, which is huge.

We've been in our bullpen with a lot of regularity this year in the fifth inning or starting the sixth. We've had to use (Julio) Mateo, (J.J.) Putz and (Rafael) Soriano in two-inning stints a lot already this year. If we continue to do that, when we get to August and September and we're in this, those guys are going to be out of gas because we had to use them so much.

We had no idea this was going to occur. But Eric pitched 14 games last year and hadn't pitched in the second half, so we're all smart enough to know you don't know what he's got. He gave me no indication anything was wrong. We made the trade to shore up the bullpen and provide a little bit of security in case something like this happened.

The price was very high, ... But to get a prime bullpen arm, you have to give up something.

The price was high, but to be able to get a proven bullpen arm who has pitched at a championship level, it was too good to pass up.

We need a real potent bat in the lineup, we need starting pitching, we need some late-inning bullpen help and then we need to beef up our bench.

Let's be honest, Pedro for five innings is better than no Pedro at all. With the way our bullpen is going to be structured, having a day off Tuesday, it might not be so bad to have him out there for only five innings -- assuming he's healthy and that's the most important thing.

Last year was a pretty good bullpen. (Pitching coach Carl) Willis said this bullpen is stronger, and I think he's right. We proved today that we have a good bullpen.

Shows consistency. But that's what my goal is: trying to be consistent as often as I can. I've said this (before): If you go out and be consistent and give this team a chance to win with the defense, offense and bullpen we have, we're going to win a lot of games.

Miner pitched well, and the guys in the bullpen have thrown strikes and gone after guys. They're making some pitches when they have to. I'm really feeling good right now about the way the bullpen has pitched in these first two games.

Matt's ability to retire batters in tough situations makes him one of the premier set-up relievers in baseball. Last season, he had an important role in the bullpen and we're thrilled to have him for two more seasons.

My legs got a little tired when I got around 90 pitches, but I was hoping if I could just keep it 3-2 after the second home run and get through the inning, maybe the bullpen could come in and pick up the last four.

My leg cramped up in the eighth inning. It was like getting an elbow to the knee. I wanted to go back out and finish it, but it was best to let the bullpen finish it.

Obviously, you lose two quality guys and you ask guys to do some things they haven't done before and you're hoping somebody can pick it up. The bullpen is a work in progress right now.

I was feeling good during long toss but when I got to the bullpen it got a little tight. I didn't want to come out but they explained they don't want anything to happen to me. I appreciate that.

If we had gone 11-6 over the last 17 games, we would have won 89-90 games. That's all it would have taken. But you know, baseball is a game of luck, health and bounces. It's hard to play when guys you are counted on are injured. More than half your bullpen had injuries. It was like all the injuries happened at once hit us.

I got us through six, ... But the bottom line is, our bullpen came in and picked me up when, reasonably, they could have been tired.

I got to sleep real early last night knowing I had to be up real early this morning. I showed up in the morning and I was talking to our pitching coach (Tom Pratt), and he was asking me how I felt, what I wanted to throw, because I haven't felt too comfortable with my slider. But in the bullpen I felt like I had (the slider). I felt like I had everything.

I didn't miss any bullpen sessions. I just missed batting practice. You can throw all of the bullpens you want, and it's just not the same.

I don't expect perfection. Just keep us in the game, keep us around. You can't use the bullpen at that rampant of a pace.

I'd like to see him play in the bullpen so he wouldn't be on the field,

I don't know that he's got everything he had back then. I don't think he throws as hard. But our scouting reports still say he's an effective set-up man, and he's going to make our bullpen stronger.

I don't know what other bullpen is better in the major leagues. I really don't. We have four setup guys and one of the best closers in baseball. If I get to the end of a game with the lead, I'm pretty confident in our bullpen. That's the strength of our team.

Ian pitched his heart out tonight and really deserved for something good to come out of this start. Unfortunately, our bullpen could not shut Evansville down and we lost another game late due to a big inning.

Certainly it would be a little disappointing. But the bottom line is I didn't go to the bullpen because I pitched poorly last year.

But the bullpen did a great job and my teammates helped me out.

Burgos has done pretty good, but this has our bullpen out of synch -- it puts everybody in different roles, whatever those are.

Bullpen, I think, is the most unpredictable part of the game, for me. You can build a quality bullpen so many ways. What I want is to slip a few pieces of it in and then bring in a lot of quality arms, then sort it out from there.

Building a bullpen calls for going from the back forward. Having an established closer like Nathan along with a reliable setup guy in Juan Rincon is a key. Then we had Jesse Crain emerge as a quality sixth- and seventh-inning reliever.

I have a pretty good idea of what areas you can cross into and what areas you can't cross into when you're a bullpen coach,

I hate to do too much of a diagnosis without talking to everyone. I think there are some pitching needs. There were some positive steps at the end with the bullpen getting settled. But defending your own turf is a big issue. Winning at home and doing better at home are important things.

I felt great out there. I felt comfortable warming up in the bullpen and just took it out there on the mound with me.

I felt kind of down in the beginning of the year down in the bullpen. But the bullpen helped me out a lot, getting my confidence back, and I'm taking that out there every day now.

I felt good in the bullpen and even when we came out in the first inning I felt fairly good.

(If) I put McCarthy there, I have six guys with no experience in the playoffs in the bullpen and now a rookie to close the game. El Duque knows about the playoffs.

I feel much better about our bullpen right now.

I can't say enough about our bullpen coming in and picking me up. I'm a control pitcher, so I don't rely on great velocity anyway. It wasn't a big deal for me. I was able to move the ball around a little bit and got away with a few pitches.

From my understanding, yes, I'm competing for a bullpen spot. It is subject to change at any time.

I don't remember how I got from the bullpen to the mound.

He's had some issues with volatility, but we felt that he probably was the only available bullpen guy at that time of that ilk. And we needed one. He ended up being a very good acquisition for us.

He was dominating the strike zone. We stressed that in the bullpen session earlier in the week.

He was dodging bullets all the time. Your luck sometimes runs out but we got out of here with what we wanted. Five or six innings, 85-100 pitches. And we had enough guys in the bullpen ... he did his share and the rest of the guys picked him up.

He has been the foundation of our bullpen since 1993. And it's great to know that he'll continue to close out games and pursue major-league records in a Padres uniform.

He is going to be built up as a starter. With the rehab, he needs to be built up that way. You can't retard the progress by putting him in the bullpen and limiting the innings and pitches. He is going to need to get the work as a starter.

He gave the bullpen a real nice breather.

He does it every year. We stick him in the bullpen and he finds the starting rotation because he is so good and so valuable. I'd like to have two of him -- one in the bullpen and one starting.

He looked good in the bullpen before the game. He just could not find the plate.

We talked a lot about mechanics. Being tall, when something mechanical can go wrong, it goes wrong in a hurry. We talked about what he watches out for and the things he does in his bullpen sessions. It was good stuff.

Having Marquis in the bullpen is probably going to help a little bit. Even though some probably are going to say their bullpen is a little suspect right now, I don't look at it that way.

He's a bullpen guy. I don't think there is any doubt that's the role he's best cut out for.

He's a great pitcher, but that doesn't mean we have to lose a series to a team I think we're better than. We're going to make all their other pitchers throw strikes and make their bullpen beat us.

(Good defense) affects you in a lot of ways. It prevents your pitcher from throwing too many pitches in one inning. It gives your bullpen a rest because your starter may be able to go a little deeper into games. Cameron is going to save games with his glove.

He's been there and done that and he knows the game very well. He can help out the bullpen a lot and give them a lot of advice because he's been there and he was very good at what he did.

He's a very important part of the team. When he's pitching well at the back end of our bullpen it really allows everyone to fall into place.

He's a very good guy, he's a great teammate. He's good in the bullpen with the younger guys and he's free with his advice and he speaks his mind and sometimes it isn't always a kind remark. To be a true teammate, something needs to be said when it needs to be said. He's the type of person who will do that.

He's a very experienced bullpen arm. The landscape of relief pitchers is fairly inconsistent year to year, but Dan has remained consistent.

He's got 13 wins. That's a difference maker with the amount of injuries we've had to our pitching staff this year. We were able to dip down in the bullpen and have him start - good start after good start, five, six, seven innings every time out, giving us a chance to win.

He's going to catch a bullpen (session) or two.

He's getting an opportunity, and he's taking advantage of it. He's been good from the first bullpen (of spring). He came in ready. He has the attitude that he wants to make this club.

He's been great and I think that's been a big boost for our bullpen. To put him in a bullpen that's already got some pretty good arms is huge.

He's been doing a good job for us. Beverly's been giving us five or six good innings each time, and we've been able to keep his pitch count down. He could go longer, but we want to make sure we use everybody in the bullpen and try not to wear ourselves down before the end of the year.

Hopefully, we can work a few more fastballs in there. At the end of the year, I was able to locate my fastball better. That's what I've been working on in the side sessions. I've maybe thrown 10 sliders in the bullpen. I've been basically working on fastballs and being able to locate it and be aggressive. That's the one thing you'll see out of the whole bullpen this year is going after guys. You sit around and talk, and that's the mentality that it'll be.

We may be in a situation now that we don't need to (piggyback starters). Depending on the game, you look at what your bullpen brings. We're just looking at the schedule now figuring where we need to slot people.

Huge ... having a start like Zach did for us today, there was no option but getting him that win. It showed how we can match up in the bullpen. We haven't been able to do that. When we can, this bullpen is going to be tough to crack.

Huddy struggled in the one inning again, but that was about it. And the bullpen was good again. It's on a roll right now.

He was really focused this winter and it showed right away with his bullpen quality. It just looked like he really came here meaning business from the very first day. It looks like he has the potential to get back to where he was and go beyond.

He was in the bullpen for them earlier in the year, and I think that was only his seventh start. Left-handed, running it up there at 92 with a good breaking ball, he was definitely carving us up. He threw very, very well.

He didn't really pitch deep into the game against the Yankees. He's done it before this year, and he came out in flying colors so we're confident he's going to get to a point in his game where we have some of the arms in the bullpen we're going to get to.

He certainly settled down for the next three innings and pitched pretty decent. We got the lead and the bullpen did a nice job for three innings." ()

He could be a lot like Scott Eyre, ... He has the same type of breaking ball, a 92 to 93 mph fastball. You don't see too many bullpen guys like that.

Having a big game like I did tonight and having a game where I'm able to keep my pitch count down through nine innings is going to help out the bullpen the rest of the weekend.

Half of our bullpen drives pickup trucks, ... They go hunting. They don't go to South Beach on their off days.

Halsey, that was a great effort by him. And the bullpen came through again.

Just one or two pitches, and then things got out of hand. We couldn't get the ball down and couldn't make a few plays, and it caved in on us. It was all of a sudden, boom. It was a great 2-1 ball game, and then ... you've got to make pitches. And the bullpen has been a bright spot for us this season. They've been strong for us. They gave it up tonight, but they've been consistent.

Just take a little breather and let the bullpen come in. They did a nice job. I don't need to go out there every time and pitch seven, eight innings.

I talked to Matt and I talked to Chris Doering, and I told them to stay in the bullpen for one more year, ... You never know.

I take it in stride. It's one of those things you have to deal with, you have to overcome. I went out and threw against some of my own hitters again, just so I could see somebody standing in the box, rather than a bullpen when nobody is there. It's tough. Nothing is like the real game.

I think the early bullpen injuries really threw us out of sync, ... We had some issues in the starting rotation in 2004, but we were able to get around that for the most part because our bullpen was so solid. But this year, we didn't have that same thing going for us.

Last Friday night, we only struck out four times and we got a (complete game) thrown against us. So sometimes the strikeouts get pitch count up and allow you to get into the bullpen a little quicker. I think we gave (Schmidt) maybe one easy inning, but for the most part, you do the best you can against that guy. He's tremendous.

I think we have to change. We have to improve our bullpen somewhat and find someone to play center field.

I thought Roy started tiring in the sixth, ... but he did the job he had to do. And the bullpen was perfect. Roy has had a couple of rough outings lately, but he was back in the groove tonight.

I thought our bullpen competed today. I like the way our bullpen came out today behind and instead of letting it compound, they stopped it. We brought guys in with runners in scoring position and they got us out of it and that's how we won the game." ()

It gets harder to leave the kids every year, but at the same time it beats working for a living. I'm glad to see the guys again. All the bullpen is already here. We'll play a little catch and shake loose some of the weariness.

I think we're in good shape for the rest of this series, pitching-wise. I'm hoping I won't even have to use the bullpen tomorrow night (tonight) with (Grant) Dorn and Can (Oil Can Boyd) pitching for us.

I was just trying to keep my team in the game. I wanted to throw five, at least, and get the game to the bullpen. I was hoping we could score some runs, so that the bullpen could do (its) job.

I was just so proud of how the team battled, really unbelievable. I didn't pitch well, but I can't feel bad the way the team played behind me and the bullpen came in and shut the door.