When I came here, I didn't come here to retire, ... I did the best I could from a professional standpoint. I'm proud of some of the things we accomplished. It's not easy to lose, especially when you've won your whole life. It's not enjoyable to lose. That's what I tried to instill here and hopefully that's been done.

With the way the lineup's set up, we have our best two speed guys there,

When other teams are getting better presently, and we're not, you're going to get your butts beat, and that's exactly what's happening. I'm not going to take responsibility for this. If I had been given a $40 million or $45 million payroll, and we were getting beat like that, I'd stand up like a man and say it's my fault. I'm not going to do it. If you want answers to what's going on here, you call up the new ownership group and let them give them to you.

Young pitchers are going to be inconsistent. Young pitchers, when you expect really good things, you tend to get a little disappointed.

With his grandmother passing away, I don't think it was conducive to his best concentration. I think he learned a little bit from that experience. You just don't throw that get-me-over curveball, especially to a team that's swinging the bat as well as Boston.

He's gotten better as the year has gone on. When he learns to get hitters out with low pitch counts, then you'll see him go to the next level.