There's a way to win when the other guy is pitching good against you. You've got to pitch and defend well against them. We didn't defend that well today, either.

What's different about this club, when you have this many setbacks, it's usually part of why you don't win or you barely squeeze by in the last week of the season with a good but not great record. To have this kind of run and play this quality of baseball for this long is why this club deserves a very different kind of credit.

When you go against a guy like Greg Maddux or a Roger Clemens, I don't care if it's a regular season game, is a guy with that kind of command and if he starts getting an edge he pushes and pushes it so it's up to whoever the umpire is,

My whole concentration on the game is affected by a pitch that got away. You know, that looks so terrible. The guy is a great pro. I just talked to Julian in there for a long time. Nothing against him, as soon as he fell out of his delivery...the ball has to get down. He's a sinker ball pitcher. That incident screws up the whole night for me.

In my opinion, and I think Dave [Duncan, pitching coach] shares this, if we had Al Reyes healthy, then I think Jason would pitch Game 4 just because of the success he's had against Houston -- especially in that ballpark. But we don't have him healthy. And [Marquis] is a force that we think will help us out of the 'pen in a lot of games in an area where we may be a little vulnerable.

I always say you don't just win with homers. You need a bunt, you need a hit-and-run, you need a steal. Those are the little things that helped us out to win 105 games last year and those are the things that are helping us out this year to win some games.