He had a blister that was heating up in the sixth inning. Hopefully, he'll get to the point where he can go another inning, but between the blister and his pitch count, we wanted to be careful.

I think what he's doing is showing everybody what (the A's) lost last year, ... It's always good to see good professional people like (Ellis) come back. We need guys like him.

We're real happy with Kevin this spring. He's healthy, feels good, all his pitches are there, he hasn't missed a beat. We like what he's done in his career and he has continued on that path.

He might be the best pitcher in our league. He throws so hard [high 90s], and he'll throw that changeup when he gets bored.

Everything Michael does is geared toward [the first pitch of the game]. The way he prepares and goes about his business is a lesson for all of us.

We were fortunate tonight with all the walks and the hit batter. We had to scrap to get through it, but those are the games you like to win even though there were some things we could have done better.