Jim Tracy Game Quotations

One of the things that young players have to not only learn but gain an admiration for is the respect factor of the game and the people who have participated in previous years, and an understanding of the history of the organization they are playing in. It's an organization very rich in tradition.

He was terrific. He looked like it was his third or fourth game of the spring, not his first. And I liked his approach at the plate, too.

He was terrific tonight. I certainly would hope that this is a game he can build on. He doesn't have anything left to prove in the Minor Leagues. He has to prove that he belongs here, and I think he started to tonight.

We made the most of three first-inning runs. The reason: Derek Lowe. For the fourth game in a row, he's been phenomenal. Not good, not great, but phenomenal. I can not say enough good things about Derek Lowe.

Pitching and defense has been the name of the game in baseball forever. I don't care what level you're playing at. My philosophy since I started managing has been that, before you can look at any other phases, you've got to feel fairly comfortable that you've got some people who can pitch and you've got to be able to catch the ball. If you can't do either one, your chances of being very good are slim.

Just giving him two or three days. Hey, that kid can fall out of bed and hit. The first game we played he had three hits and every one was smoked. I said right then, 'Let's put him in a humidor until Opening Day. Why does he need to be out here?

We had opportunities for this game to be different than it was. We let it get away from us and that happened in the top of the first inning.

We had our chances to win that game, but it boils down, night after night, to the kind of game we had, and I say the same thing. We needed a situational at-bat to tie the game, then a two-out hit would put us ahead.

We got the three runs in that inning and we didn't do anything else. That's our offensive game tonight.

That was his game to determine. It was his baseball game at that point. You have to give him the opportunity to finish it.

We're not quitting, that's for sure. We've been in every single game and we've had a chance to win every single game.

Each time we creep back into the game, it's followed up by additional runs from the other side of the field. When you're trying to get back into a game three or four times a day, that's tough to do.

Each and every time we creep back into the game, it's followed up by additional runs by the other side of the field. And when you're trying to play catch up, and it continues to go further and further away from you, you're trying to get back in the game three or four times a game that's tough to do.

I started to fall in love with the game of baseball when my dad gave me my first set of baseball cards, ... I kept the ones I recognized. The guys I didn't were the ones I put in the spokes of my bicycle with clothes pins.

Think about the ... significance of ... how many at-bats he takes this year with men on base because the guy (Casey) hitting in front of him is going to be on base. There's going to be a number of times that he's going to come up to the plate with people on base and have the opportunity to either extend the inning, put a game away or extend leads. All those possibilities will be there.

When the first pitch of the game gets thrown, we've got four games to try to win. I'm certainly interested in doing that now that I am sitting in this office.

I've never seen Curt Schilling go out and start a game with the intention of hurting people. But if you start hitting people in the head... you need to be very careful of that.

Offensively, we did some great things. To get back in the game in the manner in which we did took some great at-bats.

That's his game to determine at that point. You take him out of the game like that there, you bring in the bullpen and a mistake is made, a ball gets hit in the gap, and he's the pitcher of record in the losing decision, and he got to watch it on the other side of the dugout. I don't handle pitching that way.

Sometimes it takes one at-bat in one game for the light to go on. You can accomplish a lot by doing what we were doing with Duffy today.

As small an aspect of the game as bunting might appear to be to a lot of people, it's really important to me. The complexion of a game can change because you have the ability to advance a runner 90 feet. It's huge.

That's a tough game to lose, and obviously we're being tested early.

I know he wants to retire from the game knowing he did it physically competing at the end, ... You have to admire that.

He's the consummate professional. He plays the game only one way and that's to win. I really think the fans in Pittsburgh are going to love this guy. He's their type of player.

It was a great game. We did everything we could to win the game to avoid being swept.

You want this whole environment to be fun for them. You want the game of baseball to be fun. You can have fun and also be involved in a businesslike manner and continue to utilize the techniques that we have been talking about over the course of these four days. You can get something done and have people going into the clubhouse with a good feeling about themselves.

The ebb and flow of the game was how you'd like to see it.

The kid has the pitches to be very good. This was definitely a game for him to build on.

It's a tough game to lose after the manner in which we came back.

It's a tough game to lose after the manner in which we came back. One of the first things to stave off on the road is a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth. More often than not, it comes back to haunt you, and it did.

We were pitched to death. It's the best game that's been pitched against us all year.

It's going to be just another game to those guys because they've been given at-bats. That's why they've been given at-bats, so that in a situation like this, they're ready and not rusty.