Tony Russa Middle Quotations

Guys like Derrek Lee and Albert Pujols and other guys at the top, Miguel Cabrera , nobody throws the ball down the middle to them, ... So they have to work hard to get everything, and they deserve all the credit.

That's how he pitched early in the year. He just got in a funk. In the middle of that funk, he had a couple of games like this and we couldn't score for him. ... This is what he's capable of doing.

Take your hat off to him. He never put the ball over the middle of the plate when we had a chance to hurt him.

This is how he pitched earlier in the year. He just got into a funk. It happens to pitchers, it happens to hitters, it happens to defenders. And in the middle of that funk, he had a couple of games like this. Against Washington and today, this was the way he was earlier in the year. This is just his second year in the rotation; he's still learning.

We've got to get him going. He's one of our key guys, so whatever it takes. If hitting in the middle gets him going, then we'll do something else at second. I hope he gets it going, because he can help us wherever he hits.

So far, it looks like a smart move. When you pick up a catcher in the middle of his 20s like that, we may have something there.

That was vintage Carpenter. He had first and second, the middle of the lineup, and he gets out of it. That's what he does.

So you get Jim four and Walker in the five spot. I think that the other thing, too, if Reggie is not playing in the middle of the lineup and you leave Jim second, there isn't as much thump in the middle. So let's put some thump in the middle, and So gives you a lot of options.