He worked his butt off for eight innings, and I go out there and give up the lead not once but twice.

Of course we're better off. We got Carpenter healthy, and we got Mark Mulder. I'm not taking anything away from the other guys, but those two guys at the front of the rotation? They're pretty good.

Everyone has worked their butt off to get here. You get out here, you're back to square one. It doesn't matter that you're young or beautiful . . . beat everyone else out here, then you deserve recognition.

There were skeptics who wondered how strong our offense would be [in the playoffs] given all the injuries we've gone through. I think our hitters answered those questions.

If it's a one-run game, you pitch totally different.

I wasn't trying to strike everybody out,