Clint Hurdle Good Quotations

More can be learned from adversity than when everything good happens. They realize they were short in areas, went down to (Class AAA) Colorado Springs, addressed the shortcomings and came back.

I wish him good things. Our book is closed.

If we get that kind of effort (one run allowed by Jennings in seven innings) from our starting pitching, we are going to be in good shape.

Nobody here has taken him and put him in a chair and tried to get him wound up so tight that he can't perform by breaking down his mechanics, ... We've kept things as simple as possible for a young left-handed pitcher to go out there and perform. I really believe that, at this point and time in the season, this is one of the more challenging things that's happened to him in his career. This'll be a good barometer of who and what he is.

If we can go 7-4 every 11 games, we'll be in good shape.

He didn't crack. It was a good outing for him, not having his best stuff and the conditions as they were with the wind, and to keep making pitches through the four innings and put zeros on the board, it was a good outing.

I am having a blast watching Stewart play. That is a big day with a couple of hits coming off left-hand arms. He struck balls well in the big part of the ballpark. He is a good looking young player.

He is as good as any catcher I played with or had on my team. He has top-shelf skills defensively.

He has hit everywhere he has ever been, so why shouldn't he hit here . . . . He is just a real good hitter.

He has been a very pleasant pickup for us. He has velocity (92-95 mph) on his fastball, tilt on his slider, a pretty good change for left-handers and every once in a while he drops that hook. He's made an impression.

He had a very good spring for us. We put him in all three outfield positions. We hit him up and down the lineup. He has been told he is an overachiever. We get to a point where you'll just be called an achiever.

Hitting a Major League baseball. I wasn't that good at either one. I think I've got the marriage thing nailed down now and that took me three tries. I know I can't hit the fastball anymore.

He made them hit the ball on the ground with regularity. He made some good pitches.

He had a lot of good things going on tonight. He worked both sides of the plate. He was never behind in the count.

He hit his spots, had a good split and worked his fastball on both sides of the plate. We're not on top of our game offensively and he didn't make it any easier on us.

He made nice strides this spring. He just needs to keep making the strides that he made. There was a point in time last season where we were having trouble throwing the ball around the infield. Now he threw the ball accurately, his release times were quick and efficient. I think he swung the bat efficiently. He's using his off-gap again from both sides. He had a good spring.

He got off to a good run, but his command has become a little more inconsistent of late. He's got a history of issues with command. If his command doesn't get to be above average, he will fall in the line of a lot of pitchers who will show you a good game once in a while, and then you wonder why they don't have more success.

Like I said, we're going to have a good year. We have too much talent in that room to dream small.

I think by far and away he was way ahead of the pack at the time he went down. But the numbers he has now, they still spell out pretty good in the big scheme of things if you want to dissect numbers and break them down. Everybody else had an opportunity of three months to really put some distance between themselves and him and elevate themselves, but it didn't happen.

I thought he handled a couple of challenges very well. I thought his first 10 pitches were up a bit, and then I thought he got pretty good command of the strike zone down.

Our young players give us reason to be optimistic for the future. Holliday continues to improve and should become a good offensive player.

Those guys (the middle relief) have some good numbers on the back of their bubble gum cards.

We haven't been sharp. Off the mound, defensively, there are things we should have done better. We didn't make good pitches out of the bullpen when we got close. The offense rallied late, and hopefully that'll give us some momentum going into (today).

We are a work in progress. These guys had a lot of baggage laid on them last year. We weren't that good last year. There were a lot of young players cutting their teeth, but they also are players who came up together (through the farm system) and had success together. And they want to have more success together.

We are new at this. We are starting to like it. We need to keep it going. Each one is a confidence builder. Each one helps the guys feel they belong. Guys each get a chance, and when they perform, they feel good about themselves.

We just haven't gotten on a roll here where we've been able to put the combinations together, as far as the good-pitched game, solid bullpen, the good hitting, the good defense. We haven't done that with much regularity at home. We've had this part or that part -- we haven't had all the parts in a roll.

We can definitely get used to (having Kim around), because while he's had his trials and tribulations in other areas, he's playing good baseball for us.

What parenting comes down to, I think, if you want to do it right, is you've got to get outside yourself. That's what children do for you. Well, the good Lord has given me all kinds of things right now to get outside myself.

They all got themselves in real good baseball shape coming in. That's what you like to see the most.

Very unfortunate. He was having a good spring. We were liking what we were seeing out of Josh.

Every year at this time of the season you tip your hat to them. If you ever get people saying that about your organization you are in good shape.

as good a game as you will see here

Sometimes a change of scenery can help out with the confidence level. That's as good an outing as you're going to see at this ballpark for as long as it stands here.

This is a big pick-me-up. Some guys showed up big-time. We just kept hanging around after an early lead got away. Obviously it was a pretty explosive ninth inning, and some guys that needed to get involved got involved. It's a good confidence-builder all around the house for us.

This is as solid as we've been on a closer going into the season as we have been in a long time. He's the exclamation point. He's in a good place now.

After the line of games he put together going into this start, I had my mind made up when I got to the ballpark that if he gave us good effort through six innings, that's going to be plenty. Leave his confidence at a high and turn it over to the people who have gotten us in position to build some of the momentum we've been building.

Not in my mind is there anything to worry about; he'll be good to go.

Danny handles the staff extremely well. His defensive skills are second to none. And his ability to throw is as good as there is in our league. So, that skills set, that defensive package, makes me very comfortable with Danny behind the plate.

Danny is taking advantage of the opportunities that he's been given. He's provided some very good defensive stability behind home plate. His receiving and his blocking and his throwing has been a marked improvement over anything that we've really had here in a long time.

That's a pretty good plan to have and be able to execute.

That's as good a game you will see here as long as the place stays. That was top-shelf.

I had a good angle on it. All I'm gonna say is, we play them 14 more times (this season).

His confidence behind the plate is as good as any catcher in the National League. And he has the skills to match. He's changed the dynamic for us back there.

He's the best hitter in the league that nobody knows about, from my perspective. He's starting to get talked about more, but he's a real good hitter.

He's our third baseman. We'll give him the freedom to play. We're not going to give him any power goals. We feel he's a good enough hitter and a smart enough hitter to be a good run producer.

It wasn't a hot topic after the first half. But it's a good feeling to come back and play the way we have against them this season. I think they would acknowledge that now when we have the lead, we're the ones putting them away. That wasn't the case in the past.

Are we going to talk about Barry Bonds just because he is here? He's very special. It's good that we have him back involved. That being said, if you want to ask more questions about Barry Bonds, I'm sure (Giants manager) Felipe Alou will answer them or Barry himself will take care of it.

You've got a double-play ball if he catches it or lets it go. Then Tucker's ball hit his foot. If it was a double play, we wouldn't have run into all that other trouble. We had one bad inning in three days. We played good baseball here.

The (improvement) starts with the bullpen. That is a pretty good group for us, one of the better groups we have had. And at catcher we have depth there where before it was a fragile position for us.

It's not free. He is going to invest in his future. It's a good plan.

It will be a good challenge for us.

It was a mixed bag. It was good enough. We saw what we wanted to see in terms of length, velocity, rhythm and tempo -- so it was another step forward.

This team has gone about their business as good as any team I've played on or been around. That's the way they've gone about it since they showed up. There was just a lot of anxiety and inexperience for the first three months of the season last year. We cut a lot of teeth.

He's got skills, but I told him they weren't playing out. And if the skills he has don't play out here, he would have to play Triple-A next year. It's very black and white. And maybe the idea of winter ball spurred him to have a good September.

I'd say he's been pretty good for us. And he's off to a pretty good September.

He pitched a good ball game. He was very efficient, threw strikes and changed speeds. We've seen him in a Pirates uniform and he's a no-nonsense guy who comes right after people.

He played short catch yesterday and long toss today. We'll try to get him up on a slope and throw tomorrow, and see where we go from there. He's making good progress, though.

He came in and helped Band-Aid things together and put himself in a good position for what might happen later on down the road. He built his confidence up. He pitched a lot better than he did last spring. He hit his spots, threw all his pitches for strikes and got the ball down.