Last year was the first time in about nine years we haven't made the playoffs. That's certainly a motivating factor.

Nick has one of the better arms we've had here. We're not going to have another Brawn, hitting-wise, but defensively we should be OK.

We've been using (Lucier) in relief. He has the ability to throw a number of pitches for strikes. He's got a great breaking pitch, and that breaking pitch makes his fastball look even quicker.

It's just getting innings in, and getting ready for 40 games in a month and a half.

There's a difference between losing a game and getting beat. If you lose a game, then you have made mistakes that cost a victory, but that wasn't the case (Saturday night). We just got beat by a better team.

I couldn't be any more of proud of my team than I am right now. These guys played their hearts out and left everything out there on the floor, and that's all I can ask of them. We just got beat by a better team (Saturday night).