Clint Hurdle Pitch Quotations

Nobody's under a magnifying glass. You put somebody under a magnifying glass long enough, you burn them. The guys that didn't pitch well, they know who they are. Through honest self-evaluation, they'll see their location and the adjustments they need to make the next time out. That'll be the critical area to watch.

The pitch to Bonds wasn't quite over the plate. But with him if it's up, he can get it. And he crushed it.

I don't want them to feel they have to pitch their way into the spot and that is what spring training is about. We need to get it out of the way, clear out any distractions and keep focused on the job at hand, getting ready for the season.

He didn't pitch down enough. He didn't throw his sinker enough. He has to remember he is a sinkerball pitcher.

He hasn't been tested with any kind of competition on the line in two weeks. He's going to have to go through a two inning stint one time, pitch back-to-back days. So there's some distance in front of him.

We've got different plans for Bonds. We're only going to pitch to him in innings that end in vowels.

Until we have somebody ready to replace him, we'll be patient. We're not looking for a replacement, we're looking for him to pitch better.

We will pitch to him only when we feel it's practical.

There are going to be opportunities in different roles because we don't want to pitch anyone more than three days in a row.

Initially we stuck him in there because we had run out of options. He is a big kid who has some power and we thought maybe we can find a guy to pick up some run support when they didn't want to pitch to Helton. Obviously he took that opportunity and ran with it. He is a legitimate fourth bat in the lineup. He is not just hitting behind Helton any more.

I'm not sure what happened the day he left my office, but something clicked. He looked at me, and said, 'I will be back and I will be ready to pitch in the majors.' He was right on the mark. When he came back that season, he was definitely ready.

After he gave up that homer in the sixth, I think he had a little talk with himself. He just put the hammer down after that. He wanted to pitch a complete game.

The confidence that comes from getting on any type of run gives you that confidence once you initiate that run again. We've got to pitch well, we've got to play solid defense and we've got to get timely hitting and execute, which is what we did for the last three months last season - with a lot of guys people didn't know against a lot of teams with some pretty big names.

That's probably a pitch you'd like to have back. But we made a lot of mistakes in the game that put us in that situation.

They got their work in and built up their pitch count, which is all we wanted.

He painted himself in a corner and fought his way out. That showed some pitch ability. One, some fortitude, two, and some more gray hairs on the manager, three.

If he throws 100 pitches, he's got to pitch five innings.