Slider Quotations

My back was a little stiff coming in, but I only threw one bad pitch - on the triple. It was belly-button high. I loosened up by the end of the inning and had my slider and fastball working. I was basically just throwing to the glove at that point.

On the last at-bat, he threw quite a bit of changeups and a good slider that fell off. On the 3-2 count it was a fastball that got up, and I tried to put the barrel on it and not do too much, and it worked out.

Maybe he read the article where I said that's never happened to me before, ... I mean, I've had some that were questionable - but, come on. I'm sitting on the bench all day, the guy throws a slider at you and it hits you in the middle of the batter's box. That was only my second ejection. I guess I'm a big troublemaker.

I got the ball up in the fifth inning and they took advantage of it a little bit. Joe said that was enough. I'll just go forward from here. I was a little bit happier with my slider today. I threw it for strikes a little more. ... It was an all right performance, I would say.

I don't give in, (so I) throw fastballs in the zone and make him hit it. I figured if I can start a slider a little bit out off the plate that he'd give up on it, and (I) was able to do it. And it came back over the plate for a strike.

I don't even think it was Harvard, I just didn't throw enough strikes. I had trouble getting my slider over so I relied on my fastball more and they were sitting on it. They have a lot of disciplined batters. Even with two strikes, they didn't chase too often and they made me work more.

Hartmann was great again. His slider and changeup were working for him tonight and he had some great sink from his fastball.

Hanging slider right in the middle. What do you expect me to do in that situation?

He knows how to pitch. He's a guy whose slider looks like he can throw it four times in the dirt and walk you, or he'll throw it three times and hit the outside corner and strike you out.

I feel sorry for their families. I got to know Oscar in 2002 when he was the pitching coach. The slider I have, it was because of him. My slider was really long and he worked hard with me, kept telling me I could do a good job. He tightened it, showed me a different grip. I've been using it ever since. He helped me a lot.

I feel good, and I'm fine. My slider is working, and I have made two mistakes. That's about it. I'm going to get work and the innings in.

I don't throw the slider and I haven't really thrown the slow curve anymore. I can't throw to bases anymore. It used to be the easiest thing in the world to do.

I felt a lot better than the first time. All my pitches were moving, and I hit my spots. I made one bad pitch on a slider and got it up a little bit. But I felt good, and I feel good today.

I felt good getting on the mound and going one, two, three. I'm happy it wasn't like that Tigers game. Everything was working. I threw what I wanted. The slider was working well.

I felt great out there. My pitches did what I wanted them to do. My slider and changeup were about as good as they have been. I didn't feel like I was pitching on short rest.

When his arm speed comes back, his slider is going to be close to what it used to be, and we saw that (Monday). If he comes in (today) and feels good, we are probably looking at a three-inning game in the rookie league in Arizona on Thursday. After that, we'd like to get him up to four or five innings and think about where we've got to go with him.

He's a guy that had arm trouble early in his career, but he's recovered from that nicely. He throws 89-92 mph with downhill sink, attacks the zone and gets groundballs. He has a slider and changeup that he throws for a change of pace, but it's that fastball with the downhill plane that makes him successful.

He was locating his fastball pretty well. He had a good slider and he didn't walk anybody. That's really important as a pitcher, getting ahead. We didn't do the things we should have done at the plate either. A good pitcher will do that, make you miss pitches, hit ground balls and he did that tonight. He kept us off balance, he threw well.

He was outstanding. What a nice job. B-Law gave us a great effort. He let one slider get away from him. Besides that, he was right on his game.

He just makes pitches when he has to. He gets himself into trouble, but he's got a slider that seems invisible to hitters.

He just makes pitches when he has to. He's got that slider that sometimes looks invisible to hitters, but they'll swing at it. ... We've been calling him Houdini all season long.

He was dropping down and his slider was getting flat. It was staying in the same plane. He has to get it up high and get that ball to come down, so the hitters could swing on top of it like they were earlier in the game.

He has electric stuff. So far, he's been lights-out. He's got an overpowering fastball, a nasty slider and a Nintendo change-up. It's good to have him, for sure. From what I've seen, he's got the makeup and the stuff.

He's competing to be a starter right now. He's pitched well. We'd like to have him be a starter. I think he has better command and his changeup and slider are much better.

He hasn't pitched since he was a sophomore. I've told him he's going to be our closer. The slider was working well.

He had the best slider I've seen him have in four years. It looked like a fastball before you swung, then it just dropped.

He had a pretty decent sinkerball and a good slider ? and good hitting. He can hit, by the way. Some people might besurprised.

He's got some good stuff, really good stuff. He's got great velocity with his fastball, a good split and his slider is better than it used to be.

He showed me his slider was his command pitch. I told him, 'You get behind in the count, throw it anyway.' He started throwing the breaking ball with the fastball.

He sees little things that we can't even pick up. He'll just say, 'I've got this guy,' and then hit a slider 500 feet. He's not only talented and gifted, but he does his homework.

He's kept his sinker low and located his slider on both sides. Whatever I read about him, he's fit to a tee.

He's been an unbelievable amount of help to me. He sees me down there every single day and when I'm off, he knows exactly what it is. He is the one who helped me develop my slider last year, especially during the second half of the season. He's been amazing.

He had a hard slider and was working in and out with his fastball. Give him credit: He hit his spots.

He hit a slider where we like for Brad to throw it, and he got it up the middle. All along in this series, we talked about they were doing a nice job of hitting, and that was a classic case of it.

He hits his spots all game. He kept us off-balance because he had a good 12-6 curveball and a slider and he threw a changeup well. He threw everything for strikes.

Just one bad pitch. I tip my hat to J.T. because he hit a good 3-2 changeup. But my slider was not working well today and that's the pitch that beat me. It was supposed to be down to Feliz and it stayed up.

My slider has been really good this spring. It's kind of good to know that it's come along. At one time at the beginning of spring, I thought about throwing that pitch away.

My slider was really good to start the game. I realized that. Just throw it until they hit it.

Steve is in a bit of a funk. He can't get his pitches down and his slider was up. We have some work to do with him.

I stopped by Rangers camp for just two days and only pitched one of those days. I have not faced any batters, but in the bullpen, my fastball and slider look good.

I thought it was his best outing all year. He has his slider back and he hadn't had it for weeks. That made all the difference in the world for him.

I was just looking for a fastball and he came in, and I got a good swing on it and got it out of here. On the double, I was able to get a slider away and get it into the gap.

I was just looking for a pitch to drive. I got a good slider to hit and got one into the gap,

I was just looking for something up early in the count and I got a little slider up in the zone. I was thinking of trying to drive it to the outfield and it got a tad in on me, but I got the job done. I was stretching six different times during the game, but you never know when an opportunity like that is going to come.

I was working on locating my pitches and throwing my slider for a strike. It was nice to get out there and face some hitters.

I think if I stay healthy, I'll be okay. Now that I don't throw 94 or 95 miles per hour anymore, my slider is basically my best pitch. They pretty much know I'm 39, so I'm not a young guy anymore.

I think his slider has been nasty, and it's been setting up his heater, ... I think he's been going into the game and he's got two choices. He can use his power to set up the slider and he can use his slider to set up the power. Whatever way he thinks is best that particular night, that's the way he should go.

I threw 100 percent. I used my splitter. My slider was good. My location was good. Right now, I feel really good.

I was ready to pitch my game once we started. The rain was the last thing on my mind. I had a good fastball, kept the ball down in the zone, and my slider was effective early in the game.

We decided to give Taylor a shot and see what he could do. He did an outstanding job. His slider really had them off-balance today. We're looking for him to help us more this year and next year.

We'll sit down and watch tomorrow to see if he was tipping. We really don't know. You get in the heat of battle and things happen. He might have been squeezing his glove on a slider or squeezing it on a fastball. We don't know.

The slider didn't really break. I didn't think he hit it that good.

Adams just made a mistake on a slider down the middle and the kid hit it out. And the bases just happened to be loaded at the time.

Rudy has a great slider and changeup to go with that fastball, ... He did a great job pitching to Bonds. Any time you strike that guy out, you've done something.

Rudy has a great slider and changeup to go with that fastball. He did a great job pitching to Bonds. Any time you strike that guy out, you've done something.

Everything was working. My fastball felt good, I was able to throw it with velocity, and my slider was working well. It got away from me once, but other than that, I felt it was working good.

The only thing I'd say that's left is that his command of his fastball, slider and split is a hair off.

This is as sharp as I've been all year, ... made my slider better, my splitter better, made everything better.

I need to get my slider back. You can't throw fastballs and a change and get these guys out. They are a good hitting team, and they are hot right now.

I'm just guessing they wanted to take a look at some more guys over there. I really wanted to work on getting my slider down. The last game it was just so-so, and today it was much better. Today, I had a better tempo and it was much better.

I'm just trying to make solid contact right there, and I got a slider over the plate and put the barrel on it.

I had a nice slider tonight and I was able to elevate a few pitches on them and get fly balls.

I had a game plan going up there, ... I know he throws a lot of sliders. He throws hard, but usually his fastball is just to keep you honest. And I stuck with the game plan of going up there looking for a slider and just not trying to do too much.

I had a game plan going up there. I know he throws a lot of sliders. He throws hard, but usually his fastball is just to keep you honest. And I stuck with the game plan of going up there looking for a slider and just not trying to do too much.

I'm ready to go. My slider is working pretty well, and that's my fourth-best pitch. It's working better for me this year.

The ball was jumping out of his hand. His velocity jumped up with it, his slider was tighter and he had a dominating performance.

As Mike Mussina says, it became mindless for him. He wasn't thinking about his mechanics. Everything was just falling into place. I think that's why we saw the emotion, the intimidation. The velocity is up. His slider is nasty.

(The offense) makes my job a lot easier. I had pretty good command of my fastball and slider and was able to hit my spots pretty well." ()

I just kind of gave in and threw him a fastball down the middle. The second one was a slider that was supposed to be down and I just left it up.

I heard where he hadn't been all that sharp this year. Well, he was sharp tonight. When he wasn't throwing slider he pounded fastballs in.

I really felt confident throwing my slider today. The mindset of a pitcher is to come in and be in control.

He threw very well, much better than I expected. He had good velocity, his slider was tight and he was able to throw to both halves of the plate.

He throws an upper-80s fastball with a strong slider and keeps the ball down. He's a competitive kid.

I don't know if there's anyone in baseball looking for a 3-2 slider in that situation.

I pitch and my teammates expect us to win and for me to put us in a position to win, and I didn't do that. My slider found too much of the middle of the plate. I didn't have a sharp one going down and away. Unfortunately, my pitches were elevated today, and I paid the price.

He's a pain-in-the-neck when he's on. He can throw his fastball at 97 (mph) and slider at 92, but gets in trouble with his control. He has to throw strikes.

He's the same as last year to me. He just has to control that slider a little better. Last year those balls were against the wall, caught. The ball was jumping tonight. There was a little breeze blowing out.

He threw as good as we were expecting and hoping he'd throw, ... He was throwing the fastball, using the fastball, locating the fastball and working off of that. Once he does that, his slider and changeup are unbelievable.

He threw his fastball for strikes, and when he got behind, he threw his slider for strikes against an aggressive-hitting team.

He threw me a 2-0 slider and I hit it pretty hard, straight into the ground. I thought it had a chance, but he was playing me to pull. Those are the things. When you have so many different opportunities and don't get the big hit . . .

He threw outstanding. He mixed all of his pitches. The slider was working today (and) he worked out of jams.

I remember him when I was with Baltimore. When Kirby came up to home plate, he was so doggone dangerous. He could take you out in left field. He could take you out in right field. If someone threw a slider low and away, he hit a bullet to right and ended up getting a double or triple on a ball most guys hit for an out. If you brought the ball up and in, he'd turn on you. I want to make sure that's the Kirby Puckett we have in Minnesota in 1991.

The first pitch, he threw me was a slider and I swung kind of too hard. Then he threw me another one for a ball and I stayed with my game plan. I didn't really try to do too much, just tried to hit it hard somewhere and found a hole up the middle.

The first four innings were good. My slider was not working well. Other than that they got clutch hits and their pitching has been amazing the last three days.

The first inning was kind of weird because I hadn't faced a batter since September, not even in batting practice. My slider wasn't very good.

It's too bad Baker left that pitch up. The kid hit it pretty well, but it was just a slider that didn't do anything. He didn't seem to have a lot today. Sometimes you just have to work through that.

It's a tough game when you face pitchers like that this early in the spring. Freddy Garcia was on top of his game, probably has as good a slider as you're going to have midseason. Betancourt came in and was throwing real well. Rodriguez finished up. It's tough. It's (four) quality Major League pitchers and we got two hits. Tough to win games like that.

We hung a slider and Albert doesn't miss sliders too much, ... He doesn't miss pitches up in the zone.

We hung a slider and Albert doesn't miss sliders too much. He doesn't miss pitches up in the zone.

I took that first strike and then he turned it up a notch. He brought that little cutter or slider or whatever it is, and it just ran in on me more than I anticipated. I thought I had a decent swing.

It was a terrible pitch, a hanging slider right in the zone and he was looking for it. I should be able to get left-handed hitters out this late in a game.

It was a terrible pitch, a slider that hung, and he was looking for it. I should be able to get lefthanded hitters out this late in the game.

It was a slider that did not slide. It stayed right there on the inner half. A nice pitch to hit.

It was a slider that didn't slide. It stayed right over the middle of the plate. A nice pitch to hit. Hey, he's getting a lot of money to hit those balls, so you can't make mistakes in those situations.

It was a slider that didn't slide. It stayed right there on the inner half. It was a nice pitch to hit. I tried to blow it foul, but it stayed true right down the line.

It was a slider that didn't slide, the same pitch he hit off me before. I knew the location of this pitch was trouble when I let it go.

He's in a battle with everybody and the inventory we have. Geoff made some big strides. He pitched down a lot better and came up with a sinking fastball and a slider to go along with that. The improvement of being under control and confident is the biggest thing.

I felt really good. I was throwing my change-up for strikes and my fastball where I wanted to. My slider felt good, but my curve ball needed a little polishing up.

He buries that fastball in on the right-handed hitters and when he gets that slider going you can't do anything with it.

Being in the majors for the first time was bigger than I expected. I think I took it in too much. I never threw my slider the way I wanted to. I was too timid with it. I didn't throw it with 100 percent conviction. I tried to make it too good. They told me there would be bumps in the road, but I didn't expect them to be mountains.