Pitcher Quotations | Page 6

It was a new pitcher and I was just thinking sit back and wait for your pitch. Especially with a lefty, I wanted to keep my shoulder in. I didn't want to pull that out and just put the ball in play. That's my main thing when I'm up to bat just put the ball in play and make something happen. Nothing's going to happen striking out. I ended up getting hit.

It was a huge at-bat, because the game was pretty close. We had guys on first and second, so in my mind I was thinking gap-to-gap, trying to hit a double. The pitcher hung me a curve ball, so I got a little out in front but stayed through and hit it down the line. We got both runs in.

The second game was just a lack of intensity. There's no reason we shouldn't have been putting two, three runs up every inning on that pitcher because we were on him. But then we had some lack of intensity. We're up by seven so let's laugh and joke -- and that's my fault. I've got to keep the intensity on this team.

The second time a young pitcher sees the same team, that's what made today's outing even more impressive. They have some idea of what you're going to do out there.

The team that gets rid of the other team's starting pitcher first has the best shot.

The South Park coach made a classy gesture by presenting the game ball to our starting pitcher and then she went home and had the ball cut in half and gave the other half to April, which I thought was pretty cool.

The thing about baseball is, it takes one pitch to change a game. He just got the bat head out. Every pitcher in America's going to say, 'Darn it, that shouldn't have been hit.' But he hit my pitch.

I've become a better pitcher because I've learned to economize, ... I can throw four or five days in a row, and when Felipe (Alou) gets me up, I almost always come into the game, so there isn't a lot of wasted energy.

I've become a better pitcher because I've learned to economize.

Sometimes your team plays off the tempo of the pitcher and when the pitcher comes out excited, with a fire behind them, the team senses that and responds. All three of our pitchers were hitting their spots today. Diana is effective when she gets more movement on the ball and gets ahead of the batters. She came out ready to go and did that today. Then Mel came out and did her job as well. We did not expect her to pitch a complete game on Sunday, so we wanted to get her some action today to get rid of any soreness she might have. We also wanted to get Brooke some more innings in before the weekend.

(Teams) all prepare better for better pitching now. Your pitcher has to be able to do other things now. You just can't throw it by people.

Sometimes that's what happens. Used in another role, given a different opportunity - a pitcher finds his strength.

Sometimes when a young pitcher gets to the point where he's pitching pretty good, he thinks he's being lucky. (Capuano) is realizing he's pitching good because he is good.

Sam has thrown four outstanding games in a row, and when we can put some offense up early, it's always going to help a good high school pitcher to stay calm and go after them.

Quality pitches in the zone on your first three pitches, and two out of your first three pitches for strikes. We'd like for a pitcher to throw 12 to 15 pitches an inning.

Randy is Randy and his power is incredible. But Wang has the best stuff in our clubhouse, no doubt. He'll be our No. 1 pitcher eventually.

Our seniors at the top of the lineup do a great job of leading us. All the girls look to them to get us going, as well as looking to Brittney as both a pitcher and a hitter.

Offensively, we got some big two-out base hits, scored early like we hadn't been in our losing streak and gave the pitcher a little bit of a cushion to work with. At the end of the game we hit some home runs a little bit like we had been when we were in our winning streak.

The oldest pitcher acquires confidence in his ball club - he doesn't try to do it all himself.

The most important thing about my pitching is that I'm satisfied, that I know I'm being the best pitcher I can be.

Adair is as good as anybody. I've voted them as high as third and as low as fifth. That pitcher completed them.

Stormy settled down and started hitting her spots. She's by far the best pitcher we've seen all year.

Some teams want a pitchers' park and some teams want a hitters' park. That's not the case in St. Louis. ... It's a fair playing field. It doesn't favor either pitcher or batter. Frankly, that's a carryover from what old Busch Stadium had.

Some days it's going to take the starting pitcher to come out and dominate, and you might win, 2-0. But for the most part, we're going to score runs. With a team like this, you don't panic.

South Brunswick should have a good club this season. They have their No. 1 pitcher back, and this game should be a good starting point for us. I think they'll be one of the top teams in the division this year.

No matter how great your pitcher is, things are going to happen and you're going to have to back her up.

Defensively, we didn't help our pitcher out. She made a lot of nice pitches and we either made an error or made a mental error and we just have to work on that. It's early in the season.

Deanna was mediocre when she started. But she decided after her freshman season that she was going to work her tail off at becoming the best pitcher she could be.

Cody has such a tremendous work ethic. She was awesome her first three years but this year she's turned it up another notch and that says a lot about her. She's the most consistent pitcher I've ever worked with.

Devin is a heck of a pitcher. He is a first-team all-conference pitcher for a reason. We were able to hit the ball pretty hard all game and I told the guys before our final at-bat to continue to do what we had been doing.

Any young pitcher who has stuff like Brito does, (needs) consistency. (He) has to be able to command the strike zone, command his pitches, and handle the running game. ... That's what I saw in the big leagues the last three years in Pittsburgh (as an assistant coach). Young pitchers that were consistent survived.

Any pitcher you sign to a long-term contract is a risk ... You do your homework and make your decision.

Any pitcher would love to have our offense. Last time, I couldn't hold a five-run lead. So I said to myself, 'This time, that's not going to happen,' or I would be embarrassed to not take advantage of those runs.

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.

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.

Ashley did just what a senior pitcher needs to do in a pressure situation. We needed one out and she came in and gave it to us.

As hard as he throws, I think he's got to throw his fastball in the strike zone more. Then he can pitch off his fastball. Every successful pitcher in this game pitches off the fastball.

Ashley is a good control pitcher who throws the ball hard and really adds up the strikeouts. She is also aggressive at the plate.

The bottom of our order has power and can (also) play small ball. The way (Central pitcher Mike) Gibson was throwing today, we needed a run.

The big thing was Curt Schilling, he was obviously on top of his game. We ran into a great pitcher today. It's disappointing.

Audrey (starting pitcher Decker) had a a rough start. She should have been down 1-0 instead of 4-0 at the end of the second. An error cost us three runs.

A younger pitcher might have been more worried, but Emily was just fine.

As long as he keeps his focus and continues to realize there is no real opportunity to be satisfied and he maintains that hunger, ... he could wind up being a real good pitcher in the Major Leagues.

That's what patience does. When a pitcher is down we've learned to wait and let them throw. Neither of their pitchers were hitting their spots and that was evident so we just jumped all over them.

That's not how this game works. A few years ago, we scored a lot of runs against Bud Smith, and then he came back and threw a no-hitter against us. It depends on how the pitcher is going. And there have been guys we should've killed, but we didn't.

That's just a little more than a third of an inning more per start. My goal is to be more consistent, and I know I'm capable of that. There were a lot of games when I either had a lead or I fell behind early. I want to be the type of pitcher that can pitch for a long time and keep his team in a tight game.

That's his game to determine at that point. You take him out of the game like that there, you bring in the bullpen and a mistake is made, a ball gets hit in the gap, and he's the pitcher of record in the losing decision, and he got to watch it on the other side of the dugout. I don't handle pitching that way.

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

You've got to tip your hat to a pitcher now and then.

You're missing someone who should be high on the list. Al Lopez knew pitching. He knew when a guy was losing it. He didn't take the pitcher out after he lost the lead; he took him out before he lost it. He was a catcher and knew the game. He's first on my list.

You're going to have your 0-for-4 days, but you don't want to have days on defense when you're going to cost the pitcher a run or two, so you have to stay sharp on defense.

You're at a slight disadvantage (batting eighth) because the pitcher is behind you. That makes it harder because you don't see as many pitches to hit.

You're always happy when you can get a Triple-A or big-league pitcher because most, as a whole, know what they are doing. Finding a way to win a game or go five innings when you don't have your best stuff is what pitching is all about.

The whole first period I was thinking about it. Whoops, there's two minutes. Whoops, there's another two minutes. It's like telling a pitcher he can't throw curveballs because we need home runs.

The whole first period I was thinking about it, ... Whoops, there's two minutes. Whoops, there's another two minutes. It's like telling a pitcher he can't throw curveballs because we need home runs.

Thirty-five games from now, I have a feeling Cedric will be a different pitcher than he is now.

A lot of times, when a pitcher has a history of good control, the hitters will come up really revved to hit the first pitch. Sometimes that works out for them and sometimes it doesn't. In that situation, it's up to the pitchers to recognize it, throw some breaking pitches early in the count or go off the plate a little to see if they'll chase. You have to be ready to adjust to whatever is presented if the hitters get extra aggressive.

They made some plays when they had too and we didn't. And their pitcher did a good job.

They got four in the first and we had an opportunity to come back and we didn't. Their pitcher struggled and we couldn't capitalize on that. We had to answer back and didn't. They did capitalize. They hit the ball well.

They are ranked No. 2 in their small-school division in Pennsylvania. They are a very good team. They got some big hits when they needed to, and their pitcher did a great job commanding the game.

There was a situation in Pittsburgh, and our understanding was that Luna was one of the individuals involved in the situation, ... He had been hit once before in the series and it was certain that, given the variables I had to work with, in that particular game and that particular situation, with the pitcher hitting behind him, I thought he was throwing at him intentionally.

There were times when I pitched that I would rather have seen a defensive player at a certain position behind me than an offensive player. It's tough as a pitcher to see players who should be out there and they're not because they aren't quite the hitter someone else is.

There isn't a pitcher out there who we don't treat for soreness. Unfortunately, Mark was describing it as pain.

There isn't a day you would sit here and not want a starting pitcher to go out there and perform the way he did today,

There's a big emphasis here on going after hitters. The worst thing you can do as a pitcher is get yourself into a jam with unnecessary walks.

This is a very special kind of athlete. He's confident and stays within himself. He's a pitcher who will fight you when he's on the mound.

They're pitcher did a good job. We want to win. We feel like we're good enough to win a couple games here if we can get things going. We have to have everybody participating.

There just didn't seem to be any rhythm from the beginning. As a pitcher sometimes you can have a great bullpen, which I did today, then go out there and it's totally different.

As soon as he didn't break, it didn't cross my mind until after the fact that the pitcher was on first and even though I had to get up, I might have had a shot at getting him at second. If you get a late break on Rollins, nine times out of 10, he's going to beat you to the bag.

All players would be lying if they said they didn't know a pitcher was throwing a no-hitter -- whether it would be their team or the other team. You look up on that board, you know you don't have any hits. I had never been part of a no-hitter. I didn't want that to happen, either.

It wasn't that bad. I'd much rather pitch in these conditions than be a hitter. At least as a pitcher you're constantly moving.

It was Stephen's first time on the mound in a game situation and he did an unbelievable job. You can't ask a lot more from your pitcher than that, and then Mason came in at the end and finished it off.

It was real simple. He kept his fastball up and his breaking ball down. When a pitcher with that stuff can consistently do that to hitters, he?s going to be successful every time out.

It was a very well played game. We settled down after a couple of innings against a very good pitcher (Brittany Schmitt).

It's a dream come true. In the middle of the game we weren't hitting their pitcher too well and I told the boys if you want it, go get it. I guess it lit the fire up again.

I told myself I wasn't going to throw a cut fastball to a pitcher all year and I did; look what happened. I just had to kind of forget about it. He just put the ball where we weren't. That was it.

It really did happen very quick. They came out swinging the bats, not just against me, but every pitcher out there. They didn't get deep into a lot of counts. I left pitches up, and good hitters are going to hit pitches like that.

It's all just for us to manage a 19-year-old pitcher that's got a lot of talent. And for him, it's a big adjustment to go out five months and throw every fifth day. So we're very concerned about what we put him through his first full season.

I told Zane that's he's had good starts all year long, and every pitcher somewhere every year is going to have a bad start. Unfortunately, for Zane it came today. But I have to tip my hat to their pitcher. We got to him early, but he settled in and pitched well after that.

It's unbelievable. He's been great. Every team has one or two guys who can stop those three- or four-game losing streaks. He's certainly that type of pitcher who can just stop a bad time.

It's not just that we're making them throw pitches. We're not swinging at pitches we can't handle. If you do that, you're going to make the pitcher work and he's going to get tired and eventually you're going to get into their bullpen. That's what you want to do. I think that's where our success is coming from.

For a while I thought the one run was going to be enough. The Mount Pleasant pitcher did a good job and I knew she would. But Kelsey was up to the task just like she's been all season.

It's one of those where the other pitcher is getting a lot of attention, but I'm not facing him. I'm pitching against their lineup. He doesn't have anything to do with the way I approach the game.

It's not easy to do. Three things have to go right: The pitcher has to make a bad pitch, the train has to be going by and the hitter has to have a good swing.

It's kind of like signing a top pitcher from another team. For Dell, it's definitely a loss. It's not just that he retired, he went to the top competitor.

It's more of an approach. We tweaked just a little bit. ... He wants me to have that mindset that that's the kind of pitcher that I am from the left side. He wants me to think that I can come in there hard and still be able to work away and change speeds. And I think last year I may have tried to finesse too many pitches in there, and it hurt me at times.

It's always easier to hit when it's a low-scoring game and your pitcher is doing the job. It all starts with pitching. Our offense got so much publicity early on, but pitching is the most important thing.

It looks like we have good approaches to get guys on base, then we seem to tense up. I'll talk to them about it but it's not something you can teach. You've got to stay relaxed and realize it's the pitcher who's in trouble, not you.

It means a lot to a team when you can match up against any upper-echelon pitcher and win.

It made me nervous, but we hung in there. Our pitcher is our veteran, and she is a steady force for us. She held us in there. This was a good win for us, and I think Frazier is a good team. I will be surprised if they aren't a playoff team in their section this year.

It's going to come down to who is on their game. Who is on on defense, who gets a couple of the key hits and who has their pitcher throwing well.

It shows you how good of a pitcher he was. He got in all that trouble, but baseball kept bringing him back.

It's got to be frustrating. Any pitcher that goes out there and that happens to you, it's got to be frustrating when he's been pitching so well.

It's great for another young guy, another good pitcher to match up against. But like I've said many times, it doesn't really matter who's on the other mound. I'm focused on what I can do.

It's opened some things up for my playing time, personally. And I think getting (Bronson) Arroyo here - I've faced him a lot and he's a quality pitcher who will help out a lot. It's a good thing.

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.

Then we come back and the bats were pretty good, we hit the relief pitcher pretty well. I thought we hit the ball extremely well. We climbed back in the game with a few runs, but the dam-age had already been done.

That's pretty much a power pitcher right there.

That's something I'm probably going to go to sleep with tonight - realizing I'm a lot better pitcher than that, and I know a lot better than to throw a 3-0 fastball up in the zone and let him swing freely. If I could do it right now, I'd throw it low and away, and not care if I walked him. There were two out.

That's something I'm not going to do, because I still care for each and every pitcher that's out on the mound, and that guy still has a livelihood.