He's still very good, ... He's still better than good. But in comparison to last year, that's what I've seen since the end of last season.

It was rare, ... We've not seen that from him really all year. He couldn't find (the strike zone), and I think the leg had something to do with it, although he said it really wasn't bothering him. He never did get comfortable from what I could see.

There were a whole lot of things last year that made me nervous. Starting off last season, I did not think we had a good enough team to get to the playoffs, and the truth of the matter is the kids all stepped up and grew up in a hurry and we ended up playing great ball.

That's the biggest difference in their team this year. They don't look like they're going to strike out as much as in the past. When you put the ball in play, good things are going to happen.

I still have him penciled in as the starter for Thursday's game, ... There's been a couple of times this year when I didn't think he was going to start, and he started, and he's pitched well.

We are a different club and we are probably not as offensively as potent as we were last year. We certainly don't have the possibility to break a game open with the long balls like we did last year. We're a little bit younger in our offense, but somehow we found a way. Our pitching is more solid than it was last year from top to bottom. Our bullpen has been good on the balance of the year and having Andy Pettitte healthy has helped our rotation quite a bit. We are probably a little stronger in the pitching department and probably a little weaker in the offense department.