I've always felt that we were at our best in the most dire situations this year.

Strangers do not exist; we simply create strange situations when being together.

Pierce thrives in those situations. He looks forward to his team being down so he can take the big shots and make the big shots.

We all felt like this was our year. We weren't going down three times.

Since halfway through last year this guy has probably been the best pitcher in the major leagues. I don't think anyone's been better. I'm just glad I don't have to face him. He's nasty. On a cold night, you give him some runs to work with and he's going to be tough.

We've been in these kinds of situations this year and haven't been able to pull it out. We wanted to prove that we could do it, to ourselves and to other people. Especially to ourselves, how hard we work and what kind of team we are.