He completely established himself as the strongest this year. He's not one to miss a play. He is the consummate competitor.

This is an extremely tough place to play, as you saw by the Iowa State comeback in the second half. Our team refused to let the momentum shift.

There are really only two options. We play here and everyone complains about the surface, or we play here and everyone says it's fine.

I'm not going to try to replace him, ... I've got to come out and play ball, that's all. I feel good about their trust in my ability to play.

It's exciting to strike him out. He's probably the best hitter to ever play baseball. You're playing against the greatest. It's like fighting Ali or something.

One bad play can come back and haunt you. That's what happened a lot to us this year. We played a good game and had one inning other teams capitalized on.