Jim Tracy Few Quotations

Mentally, he was a few years ahead of everyone he was playing with.

I don't care what the numbers suggest. I thought the life to his fastball was as good as we've seen all spring. I think there could have been a couple different choices he made in a few two-strike counts, but I'll tell you: He was throwing nothing but quality pitches in the strike zone. ... He was actually too fine.

He had a few more three-ball counts -- too many -- than I'd like to see. That puts him in a vulnerable position.

Look at his numbers over the past few years. They were not too shabby.

I think it'll put a few more rear ends in the seats. The fact Washington is still very much in it will add to the intrigue. Obviously people go out to see him, no doubt about that.

That was another terrific performance by Derek Lowe . You can't ask any more than what he has given us the past few starts.

We're scratching surfaces and laying the general framework. Things aren't going to change dramatically other than the fact that we'll be more detailed-oriented, and a few extra steps will be taken along the way.

What we're seeing right now is, in my mind, identical to what we saw last year, when it took him a few starts to get untracked, and then you see one quality start after another. His teammates recognize that's he gonna leave everything that he has on the field, and it's very easy to step up for a guy like that.

There are a lot of very special people who are still there. You build relationships with people in this game, and some you build lifelong relationships with. There are a few over there I have done that with.

We've had a few like this. The record may suggest differently, but when you look at the games we've played, we've had our fair share of games like this.

To summarize for you, both guys passed (Saturday). It doesn't make any decision over the next few days any easier. But that's what you hope for. When you're in a position where you have to make choices like this, they're not easy. It's a great problem to have.

He threw a lot of strikes and worked very few deep counts. I didn't see impatient swings on our part. He just pounded the strike zone all night long.