Brad Ausmus Game Quotations

When he took himself out of the second game (Tuesday) I became a little concerned about him. He'll make that decision, and he'll be honest with himself and the organization.

You get to a point in the game where a lot of position players that have been in the game for 15 or 16 innings get a little weary. The legs can get tired and your concentration wanes. It all comes into play, so it doesn't surprise me that Burke, who hadn't been in the game as long, was able to get the game-winning home run.

This was a much more important game for us than for the Cardinals. We're fighting for our lives at this point. We're the ones in a pennant race. They're umpteen games up with a month to go.

After talking to him, I think he was battling himself a little bit, ... But trust me, I'll take Andy at any time, at any point with any game on the line.

He's remarkable because we're in an offensive era. He's not just consistent. He should have won every game he's pitched. And he knows his mechanics. If he has a flaw mid-game, he can fix it.

It was just a much more important game for us than them, ... I don't think they are worried about making the playoffs. We're fighting for our lives.

In a game like this you certainly want to win, because the guy behind you in the standings is staring at you across the field.

It stinks for me, because he's the guy that I could really bounce things off of. He's the guy who I would have a beer with after the game and talk about the game with. The guy I went to eat meals with. Certainly, our friendship doesn't end because he may not ever play again. But I would prefer to have him sitting next to me in the locker room.

It's good to get your feet wet in a little bit of a sloppier situation rather than a one-run game or a tie game. We had a five-run lead, so we had to attack the hitters and force them to earn their way on base. I'm not going to try and trick them. And that kind of plays in hand to what Taylor does generally anyway.