Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Who knows how many times I'm going to get to go to the World Series? I know more than anybody how hard it is to get there.
Yeah, strikeouts just kind of happen. It's not something I'm trying to do, I'm just trying to get outs as fast as possible.
We don't own anything that we have. It is all a gift from God and we are just trying to be good stewards of what He gives us.
You can't control the talents He gives you, no doubt about that. But you can control the effort you put forth with those talents.
The playoffs is ‑ I think I took it for granted a little bit. My first two years I kind of just thought that always happened, I guess.
My changeup needs to be better. Until I feel comfortable throwing that pitch - or any pitch - in any count, I've got stuff to work on.
I've always kind of had a deal with my wife where, in the off-season, I'm kind of clean-shaven, and during the season just kind of let it go.
I hate watching myself on video. I don't ever do it. I'm just too hard on myself, and I always go away feeling like, Wow, I've got a ton to work on.
The more you try to grip control of your life the more God's gonna untangle that from you. He's going to make things go where you have to rely on Him.
I get paid a bunch of money to do this, and so there's a responsibility to my teammates, every single day, to show up and be the absolute best you can be.
You play baseball. You play a lot of games. You win a lot of stuff. You win a World Series. But if that's all you've done, what have you got to show for it?
Just trying to keep everything in check, you know, it gives me a lot of respect for closers. You're doing that 75 times a year, so that's pretty impressive.
Anytime a pitcher hasn't faced a hitter, I feel the pitcher has the advantage. The more times the hitter sees somebody, the more the advantage goes to the hitter.
It's a weird feeling more than anything. You kind of have to swallow your pride a little bit, realize we won the game, be excited about it. We get to go back to D.C.
There's a lot of variables you can't control in trying to win a game, but at the end of the day it does mean something to win a game in the big leagues and be on the mound.
Carlos Ruiz has been there, done that. I've seen it firsthand. He's gotten huge hits off me before in the post-season. He's been there. He's calm. He's confident back there.
I watch all the pitchers I admire. I love watching Cliff Lee. It looks easy for him when he's on the mound; he's almost like an artist. He knows exactly how to get guys out.
If we have a good day and we win, I'll celebrate and enjoy it. If I have a bad day and I lose, I'll be disappointed and then come back the next day and think about the next team.
I'm a big sports fan even outside of baseball. I love watching guys that are supposed to be great, and are great, live up to the expectations. So I really appreciate consistency.
Baseball is so hard as it is. For me, if you simplify it, it takes a little bit of the weight off, rather than trying to figure out all these other things. It's just peace of mind.
I don't care how you get the outs. It doesn't matter to me how bad it looks, how good it looks, how many strikeouts you have. None of that stuff matters as long as you get the outs.
I started really believing and understanding what it meant to be a follower of Jesus when I was probably in high school sometime. From there, just trying to draw on my faith since then.
Your career goes fast, just a blink of an eye and you're an ex-baseball player, longer than you are a baseball player. I try not to think about it too much, but it seems like it does go fast.
At the end of the day, if we don't win that game, we're going home, anyway, so what does it matter. I just wanted to be available, and it ended up to the point where I could help out tonight.
You know the only thing for me, obviously the routine was completely different, but I had plenty of time getting loose. I threw enough pitches, took my time. Tried to time it out as best I could.
I don't really know how many pitches I threw. It's kind of what I usually do in a bullpen, minus about, I had a plan out there. I knew what I was going to do warming up and I did it. I actually felt pretty good.
You are not supposed to convert anybody, that's God's job. But at the same time, you can be His disciple and live for Him and when people ask you why are you living for Him, you can show them why and profess your faith.
When you win the Cy Young, it's like, well, you're a baseball player, that's what you're supposed to do. When you win the Clemente Award, you don't do it to get recognized for your work, but it means so much more than baseball.
Sandy Koufax is a great teacher. He just talks about competitiveness and being aggressive - about stride length, power, how to spin the breaking ball. The way he explains pitching is simple, which is something you don't see a lot.
If you're playing baseball, why are you playing baseball? Is it to have success on the field and be a Hall-of-Famer or whatever it is? Sure, that's everyone's goal. But then what? For me, it's about the legacy you leave off the field.
When you're out there in the heat of the moment and you're pitching, and it's a big situation, you're saying 'Don't throw a ball, don't give up a hit, don't walk this guy.' But the harder you want to control something the more it gets out of your control.
I think these are the most difficult games to win, just every at-bat, every pitch, it seemed like it was important. The at-bats that the Nationals had the entire series, it just felt like it was a constant 2-2, foul off three pitches, seven-pitch at-bats.
Carlos Ruiz hascaught me a lot of bullpens, and he's really worked since he got here to try to learn the pitchers. You know, he's a true - he's a guy you want on your team, no doubt. He works tirelessly at what he can, and you know, got the huge hit for us today.
I think more than anything, just putting in perspective what this baseball thing means and understanding that it is a gift and I didn't do anything to deserve that and realizing that if we continue to look to God to guide our path, you never know what could happen.
When you're a kid, you just hope you make it to the big leagues. So to get to go say you're going to play in the World Series, it's an incredibly special moment. Up there with getting married and having kids, it's right up there with one of the best days of my life.
Baseball is going to end some day. I realize that as soon as you retire you know, people forget about you in this game fast! There's the next young guy coming up that's always better than you. So, for me, it's just about using baseball as a platform to do a lot of things.
Baseball is so performance-based. It's what have you done for me lately. I can get a lot of pressure and you can feel that, but if your life is given to God and your into Jesus there's really no pressure because at the end of the day your life is in His control and you surrender to that.
People make a big deal about celebrations and what's appropriate and what's not. But just talking with some veteran guys, I think anytime you get a chance to celebrate with your team, regardless if it's winning the division or winning a series, whatever it is, you take advantage of that.
Everyone talks about how hard it is to have a kid, and that scares you into waiting. It obviously is tough [to be a parent], but when you feel that love, and it's instant, and it's so cool, so fun. When your baby smiles at you or when you just hold your baby, it's a pretty awesome feeling.
There's a responsibility to the coaches, to the organization, to the front office, to the owners, to everybody who believes in you enough to give you what you've gotten, to the fans that show up every day and pay to watch you play - all those things combined. It's not fair to take a day off.
It's just Lord be with me... Winning and losing isn't the most important thing. He's not worried about the outcome of the game. He's worried about how I reflect Him and how I'm pitching... I think every time you pitch and every time you go on the mound you have to understand that it's for Him.
You can make a lot of cases that you can take the win stat out of the game and you can still figure out who the good pitchers are, and I agree with that to some extent. But there's something about your win-loss record, there's something about having wins by your name that means something. Regardless of how important that is.
You never want to be in a defensive mode or have a defensive mindset. You always want to know that you're in control as the pitcher, you make him get hits, you're never passive, always aggressive. If I get beat, I want it to be because I got rocked, got hit hard, never because I walked a couple of guys and before you know it.
I think first and foremost when you look at every other religion all over the world - its works based - you have to earn your way to the Kingdom. With Jesus, it's so different because we didn't do anything to deserve Him. He literally died for us and saved us! There's nothing else like that in the world. There is no other God like that!
I think when you look at every other religion all over the world - its works based - you have to earn your way to the Kingdom. With Jesus, it's so different because we, Christians, didn't do anything to deserve Him. He literally died for us and saved us! There's nothing else like that in the world. There is no other God like that! That's why I believe in Him! And I'm thankful its not up to me, because I fail every single day but He's there to give us grace - and that's an amazing thing!
I think, a lot of things get wrestled around with Christianity in this day and age about what it means, what it stands for and I think it gets the wrong connotation all over the world. So, for me, using baseball and using Jesus' name - I really just want to focus on Him. I don't want to think about Christianity or the religious aspect of it. You just want to focus on Jesus and loving Jesus. Saying you're a Christian shouldn't turn people off. You should love people well and that's Jesus' first commandment!
I know I didn't do anything to desire the talent, that God gave me. What a blessing it is to throw a baseball for a living! I know I'm very privileged to get to do that, so - that said I don't want to take that for granted! I want to do everything I possibly can to make it worth my while, make it worth God's time. With that comes a competitive advantage - I think I'm pitching for a lot more than just winning a baseball game, trying to honor Him in everything I'm doing - and winning's pretty fun too! So, I like doing that!.