John Flaherty Quotations

We got to where we want to be, but it doesn't change the focus of this team at all. This is going to be a grind all the way out.

Mo did a great job with both Manny and Ortiz. He made his pitches, and if they were going to beat him, they were going to beat him on his pitches. He walked both of them, but he kind of dictated the at-bats.

Obviously, he didn't have a knuckleball like Wake has. This is the best that we've seen in this era and it's one of those things that you really can't prepare for. You try to talk to as many people who have caught him and see if they've done anything that has helped them.

If they have more than one hearing, it won't be that bad. But you get the sense they're trying to rush some of this, which makes it hard for people to take time to read and get familiar with this and come down to Dover.

From the way he warmed up and what happened the first three innings, we thought it was going to be a fun day for us. It just got out of hand in the fourth.

I don't think you could ask for a better young manager for a young team. And I think there's an instant respect there as well. The career he's had on the field and winning championships, he's a person if you're around him for about five minutes you know he's going to be successful in whatever he does.

He had great stuff but not great location. But his stuff was good enough to overpower that lineup.

There is nobody who is more prepared or more intelligent about the game of baseball,

When he throws strikes, he's tough; we know that from our experience with him. It's never been a question about his stuff, it's been whether he can control it in the zone. He did that in two starts against us, unfortunately.

Today didn't go the way I wanted to. You're not expected to hit it but you are expected to catch it.

He's a very detail-oriented guy. For this job, he's got a great combination of old-school work ethic - knowing how to put the time in - and the new generation that uses computers and video to get as much information as possible.

He's been pitching better, but tomorrow is going to be a big one. You don't want to say 'must win,' but we need this one tomorrow. Hopefully, he'll come out on top of his game.

He was ready to go before this game even started. I was talking to him about the lineup. He mentioned he was going to be into this game and ready for it.

I think it's a tremendous service, particularly the online access to minutes. I think it's a tremendous increase in the public access to state agencies.

I was disappointed that Fieldin reacted as quickly as he did, but he has a legitimate gripe. Randy was saying some things in the first inning and by the second inning Cubby had enough. In the first inning they went back and forth and Fieldin told him, to his credit, that he's had enough and to calm it down.

I thought Randy went back out there for a curtain call.

I think some of that's changed because of the reporting.

Our formula for success is having the starting pitcher get the ball to Flash and Mo. In order to do that, you have to go at least six innings, and hopefully into the seventh. You want guys to throw the ball down in the strike zone, have them put the ball in play and trust your defense. It's challenging.

I think he feels good about what he did. When you put in the hard work and see the benefit and the rewards, it's gratifying for him. Hopefully he'll get on that run that we expect him to get on.

You can catch him in the bullpen all you want, but until you get into a live situation with runners on base, it takes on a life of its own. It's one of those things we've been saying all spring -- the more you get back there, hopefully the more comfortable you'll be. Today didn't go the way I wanted it to. I look forward to the next one.

We were striking guys out with the high fastball,

To be up, 3-0, and not be able to stretch it out, ... that's probably where we lost it.

We saw a lot more strikeouts looking inside, which we haven't seen all year from Randy. He was able to keep that ball in there, keep it straight in there where it's not running back over the plate.

With every pitcher, if you call a pitch you know where he's going to miss if it's not right so you prepare for it. With Wake, I don't think you have that luxury. If he throws a knuckleball, you just don't know where it's going to go.

With Randy on the mound, we feel we have a good chance to win. Hopefully we will play better defense.

With Randy, it's pretty straightforward. What he throws is just harder and sharper than anybody else.

We're pitching well right now. Every time we go out there, it seems like we're getting a quality start. Hopefully, that will continue.

We fell asleep a little bit defensively, and we couldn't recover.

You'd think you were taking good swings off him, but his ball had a little extra life on it, and you'd foul it off. He steps up on the big stage, and he did it today.

Even those who would be willing to take the time to do it can't. They just can't afford it.

Early in the game, one swing of the bat could have broken it open, and we'd probably have a different outcome. It didn't happen.

It was a look that I've gotten a few times. And it doesn't make you feel comfortable.

It was a borderline pitch. I thought it could go either way. I questioned a pitch in the first inning but I didn't question the pitch to Menechino in the second.

After he reached for his leg I went out to talk to him during that inning. He said the leg was fine but that he was letting it all out that inning.

This is the day Randy Johnson stepped up to the plate. You can say maybe this is the game we got him for, whatever. A game of this magnitude, against that team, being four games down - he stepped up today.

As Mike Mussina says, it became mindless for him. He wasn't thinking about his mechanics. Everything was just falling into place. I think that's why we saw the emotion, the intimidation. The velocity is up. His slider is nasty.

It's a story about friendship and making new friends.

It is with mixed emotions that I am announcing my retirement. Thank you to all of my teammates, coaches, managers and fans for making the ride so much fun.

It's not a deterrent. There's nothing like playing here, like having the last at-bat. But we feel good about ourselves, home or on the road.

The ball was jumping out of his hand. His velocity jumped up with it, his slider was tighter and he had a dominating performance.

It was looking like a tailor-made double play. The throw wasn't quite where we wanted it.

I started my career with the Red Sox and proceeded to live out my boyhood dreams in Major League Baseball. Thank you to all of my teammates, coaches, managers and fans for making the ride so much fun.

If you didn't know he had surgery you wouldn't even have thought it. He had to throw probably 70 pitches, I would think. In that short period of time, it was incredible. I know I was dying back there, I don't know how he was doing.

In the first inning, they were going back and forth. Fieldin told him it was enough and Randy says a lot to umpires about strikes. You can place the blame anywhere you want. Randy took it too far or Fieldin threw him out too quickly.

He's trying to do too much right now. He wants to turn this thing around. It seems like the harder he tries the worse his stuff becomes.

I don't think there's any doubt, he'll have to guard against a letdown. The games he's been dominant lately, he's shown a lot of emotion. That's when he's at his best.

You can place blame any where you want to. You can maybe say that Randy went a little too far. There's probably some truth to that, but I was surprised that Fieldin threw him out as quickly as he did knowing the kind of umpire that he is. He's a very good umpire. I don't know if Randy stepped over the line. I didn't necessarily think he did.

The first half of the year, we didn't know who we were. We were struggling and we didn't know how it would end up.

The last pitch is the best pitch he had to hit. It had plate. He just threw it by him.

The day I got called up to the majors I wasn't feeling well. I had gone out with my friends for 'sodas' the night before.

...Say somebody shot somebody....We...are so concerned about whether this evidence was admitted properly...(and) not recognize the intrusion into our sacred individuality that is being caused every time people turn on the faucet? ...I am astounded by how much untruth has been officially promulgated (pro fluoridation).

...The evidence that fluoridation of the public water supply at the rate of one part per million is carcinogenic is irrefutable.

We've been seeing some good things from Randy. We're starting to see that Randy Johnson attitude that we've been looking forward to seeing.