(He) has something to prove, and it's already evident that he's been working hard, throwing a lot of bullpen sessions.

We feel like with our rotation we're deeper and with our bullpen we feel like we're deeper and more experienced. How our rotation shapes out after Webb is another thing.

In a year when we've shuffled quite a few things in the bullpen, this guy's really emerging as a guy going into next year you look at to pitch deep innings. He's a very high-energy guy out there, likes to be out there and has that look in him that he's going to get you out.

He was already at the point of the game where we're going to go to the bullpen if anything happens. When we got out there he said his knee was burning. I don't think he re-injured it. He just had a lot of pitches and wear and tear from the game.

Royce has been unbelievable as of late. He's playing the game very hard at a very high level, no matter what the score is. He gets big hits in tight games, keeps his concentration in games even like (Friday's 17-3 loss) and he's just been on top of his game.

None of these sessions would even run on a PowerBook.