As a competitor, I don't expect anything less than what I'm capable of doing. When you think you're underachieving, you feel you let others down. But trust me, I'm letting myself down more than anything else.

I think most guys, when they see a problem, they want to fix it. Sometimes less is more, and that's a hard concept for all of us to understand at times.

As a competitor, you want to be on the field when the game is on the line. So no, it wasn't fun from that standpoint. We were all just pulling for our defense. We were all just trying to get out of this thing alive.

It's a lot easier than the NL when they treat you like Barry Bonds when they know the pitcher is on deck, so it's better for Alex and a comfort level for me, defensively.

I think they just didn't want anything to get out of hand. I don't make anything of it. He was protecting Jeter; they thought we hit him. It was no big deal.

He breeds a good feel to the game when he's on the mound. It's not a boring game when he's out there.