Dave Duncan Quotations

Mulder got out there and I didn't think he was able to finish his pitches. I didn't think it was smart to have him pitch at less than 100 percent if it meant he was going to have a problem with his delivery.

Mulder really deserved this game today, because he's probably had the opportunity, or been in position, to win four or five games that we let get away from us after he's been out of the game. It's nice for him to get a special win, and I know this is special for him.

I was attacked on the field. That's what it boils down to.

I would guess that he hasn't grinded it out from start to finish. Is he capable? I don't know right now. I do know he's got the physical ability to be a starting pitcher. But you don't win a lot of games picking and choosing the games you want to really put everything into. You put everything into every start.

Shows you how talented he is. Last year he won 15 games ... re-establishing himself,

Reyes needs to pitch innings. He needs to show us he can go out there consistently. Hopefully, he'll get 180 innings.

Nobody has eliminated themselves from anything. They both looked good today, and so has Adam Wainwright.

I got started with a basic thought. I wanted to know how each pitcher got strike one. Once I did that, I added this and then that.

If we know who we're playing (in the playoffs), ... that could be a start (for Marquis).

Looper is important to our bullpen. Can it be a good bullpen? Yes, if somebody else steps up if he isn't what we expect him to be right away. The key is getting him to do the things he needs to be doing.

The only thing I want to pay attention to is his confidence. Knowing Matt Morris, I don't think he's going to lose confidence and not feel like he can go out and compete against anybody.

He knows what information I want, and I know he's accurate. I work off Chad's base.

He lets me do my thing. If there's something he sees that he wants done, then he lets me know that he wants it done and I try and get it done. I'm open-minded to what he has to say.

He knows how to put a hitter away.

Getting them all the amount of work necessary is important as long as the three of them are still competing for the job. We're going to try our best to give them equal opportunity. We'll figure out a way to do it.

From here on out he's going to start seeing more situations like that and he's going to be facing big lefthanders. And he's going to have to be ready to start getting them out.

But due to the destructiveness of the explosion, we can't precisely identify what happened.

Basically, yesterday he felt better than he did the day before. And today he felt better than he did yesterday. So we had him warm up to see whether he could go.

To fight through a day like that when everything was a struggle, that was a great performance.

We've got to play the rest of the season, ... That decision doesn't have to be made right now. So we'll see what happens.

He was struggling with his delivery and his control. His pitches weren't sharp. But I told him it's a great sign because you're going to have 10, 12, 15 games during the season when it just isn't working. A lot of guys give in to that. But he didn't. He kept battling.

He can throw to both sides of the plate with all his pitches. If there is a way to get a hitter out and he knows it, he can execute it.

He did everything that he needed to do throughout the course of the spring. He did everything that he needed to do to earn the spot.

If the three weren't even, coming into spring training, they are even now.

He did a good job. He came into a tough situation, kept his composure and made some pitches.

He hasn't needed it. But he's going to need something like that at the major league level. It's hard to pitch at the top of the strike zone.

His velocity is there, and he's more consistently getting the ball down. A few more outings and hopefully he'll be what we're looking for.

His stuff is there, it's just going to be a matter of time. He'll get into the swing of things.

He's just trying to do too much. Is it because he goes 4-5 (in his last nine starts before the game)? Somewhere in there you do something different, and if you get off your game it's easy to talk about and not easy to get back on it. He needs to get back on his game.

He's a location and change of speeds pitcher. It takes a little time during the spring to get all of your pitches going and get comfortable with them. He's doing good.

He's been very impressive. I didn't know anything about him really, but he's done a good job.

He's going to get every benefit of the doubt.

If I remember correctly, we had some questions leaving camp last year. No matter how good you are - and we have to prove we're good - there are going to be questions.

He needs to show he can pitch an entire season without being injured. Pitching 180 innings in the minor leagues is a steppingstone to pitching 200 in the major leagues.

He had a good set of eyes to watch guys in the bullpen. His biggest strength was always his consistency. He could throw a ball for a strike pretty much anytime he wanted to.

He had a good, solid year. I'm happy the organization recognized it. It will be a good experience for him to spend some time here and see what it's all about. This is one of the steps that is part of the process of establishing yourself as a player.

That ball was down and away, off the plate. He kind of stuck his bat out there.

I'm sure by the time the playoffs get here, Ray King will be fine. Because we're going to give him as many opportunities as we can to pitch in those situations, and he's good enough to get the job done.

I thought it was an awfully big fine for what involvement I had. I thought it was an excessive fine.

It depends a lot on who the fifth guy is. You have to consider how long he's going to be sitting out before he pitches again, No. 1, and what benefits you're looking to gain from that.

I still think it's excessive, but I appreciate them reconsidering and listening to what I had to say.

I thought last year was a miraculous year for him. And he definitely earned my respect last year as to what kind of pitcher he was, what kind of person he was, what kind of competitor he was.

I thought he threw the ball well. Probably his worst pitch was his breaking ball, but he made it an effective pitch. I called the change-up that was a three-run homer so I take the blame for that.

I think he's more conscious of trying to pitch to the weakness of the hitter rather than just going after everybody the same way. That's pretty much what he did when he first came over.

I think he's always at his best when he pitches aggressively. I think that, if anything, that's what he's done, with the exception of a couple starts in there where he might not have been as aggressive as I'd like to see him. But for the most part, that's what he's done. He's pitched aggressively.

I think he's getting there. He made a lot of good pitches today. The ball was down for the most part. He got the ball in on the right-handers when he needed to and he got his split-finger over the plate.

I think the only other guy I've been associated with who was that dominant was (AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner) Vida Blue in 1971. It's just no contest.

It has a lot to do with mental strength. He prepares as good as you can prepare. He doesn't let anything distract him, whether it's a bad call by an umpire, a call that he thinks is bad, an error, or whatever else might go on. He stays focused on what he wants to do and doesn't let anything distract him from that purpose.

I think we have the makings of a good bullpen. It always takes a certain amount of time when you have new people to figure out exactly how they're going to fit in best with your club. We've played six games. I don't think that's quite enough time to have it figured out yet.

It could be a good pitch for him if he can gain control of it to the point where he doesn't make mistakes that are hit. If his mistakes are down, OK. If he makes mistakes up ... I don't think he wants to walk off the field after getting beat on a changeup. But he can find places to use it.

To be a vert guy, you have to train and put on your gear. It's physically demanding.

Unfortunately, the toughest competition comes the last two weeks of spring, and I'm not sure where we're going to be (with the starters). It would be nice to be able to see them all in the toughest competition of spring. Will we be able to? I'm not sure yet.

You can ask yourself that question and give yourself a better answer than I can give you. We'll know (today).

You knew as soon as he walked in the clubhouse, he was there for one reason and one reason only. That was it.

The question answers itself. For there to just be a debate tells you something about the depth of our starting pitching. I think you could start any one of our five guys. But we're only going to use four. Everybody has the right to second-guess. That's part of it. Part of the decision is what you know about the person and the situation. At the same time, you try to maintain as much depth as you can.

We'll see how patient they are in St. Louis. If they're the same, I'll be impressed.

We'll see how that goes. It's a long season.

We want to keep Marquis live, ... It's a possibility, a good possibility. It's an idea we've played with.

We'd like to see him get on track and feel better about himself. He's an important guy for us. He knows that.

The expectations were probably unrealistic. He was looked at under the microscope. ... It's lot of pressure on him because everybody thinks that he's getting special favors because he's the son of a coach. In reality, it's just the opposite. People are careful not to give the impression they are doing something special for him.

We thought Marquis would be very valuable to us in the bullpen. He can be used in a lot of different situations, and often. I would be surprised if he doesn't pitch quite a bit yet in this series.

We think we're a pitching-strong team. Our guys aren't doing anything they don't expect to do.

We'll see what happens Tuesday. If (Marquis) can get a couple innings on Tuesday, that would line him up for Saturday and then we'll see what goes from there.

We're going to try and do that as often as we can between now and the end. He had a good day (Monday), and that's a positive. Confidence comes from succeeding. He can build confidence this way.

Unless something changes tomorrow or Friday, I expect he'll be out there.

We're not afraid to use Hancock. As long as he's pitching the way we think he should pitch, which is aggressive and keeping the ball in the bottom of the strike zone for the most part, he can pitch in any part of the game.

With the staffs that we'll be going up against in the division, ... there just won't be too much room for error.

As I told Flores, if we were playing a different team, we may have gone a different direction.

When you have a number of guys expressing concern, naturally you share their concern. And there's not much you can do about it other than get frustrated and maybe scream and holler a little bit. But you certainly can't change it. You'd like to think you're getting a fair shake. It has the appearance of being one-sided. And over the course of the game that kind of weighs on you.

I've seen John pitch. He is a guy that hitters didn't really like facing so we're hoping we can see the same here.

You get in and get it behind you, and your focus changes the second time around. That's a big adrenaline burst for anybody no matter what the situation is. We needed to try to get it under their belt.

You get into competition, the juices start flowing.

We'll keep them ready to pitch and look for opportunities to get them experience. I'd rather see them come out of the bullpen than not pitch at all.

Ray may have recently suffered a little loss of confidence, and confidence comes by succeeding,

Delgado was very aggressive and swung at balls that weren't strikes. There was no need in that situation to throw him a strike. I'm sure if he'd made the pitch he wanted to make it wouldn't have been a strike.

Probably the guy he reminds me of the most is Dave Stewart, and not physically,

Sometimes that's what happens. Used in another role, given a different opportunity - a pitcher finds his strength.

Arm-wise, he looks all right. It would be nice if we would be able to see him some more before he leaves. If somebody were to ask me, 'Do I think he's in condition to pitch?' it would be a bare minimum of work that he would have to put in to be ready.

There's no getting around it until you get into the flow of things, especially as a reliever. It takes at least once to get out there and slow down.

I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for the way he manages a team, not just the game. He's always prepared. He's never caught not in the game. He's always aware of everything that's going on in the clubhouse. He studies the whole gamut - what's involved in managing a baseball team.

The way we've played the last three months hasn't been up to our capabilities, ... We have higher expectations with the players we have. We should be performing better.

You see some things you like, and you see some things you don't like. You don't make decisions early in the spring. You've got the chance to get some things together before you start evaluating.

You never know when you might need help.

I know the last couple of weeks we hadn't pitched as well as we're capable of pitching,

I'll chart anything that I want to know that I think is important. I've had people question it. Sometimes, I've tossed out stuff that I've charted as being not important. Who can say one way is better than the other?

If I was watching this club I would probably say that it's vulnerable, but knowing this club I wouldn't say that. It's only natural that there is going to be a loss of intensity under the circumstances we've been playing. You can't do anything about it.

If Looper gets his game back, which I expect he will, he can contribute as much as Tavarez, if not more.

I like our staff a lot if we get out of spring healthy. No matter how good you think you are, that's always the big question.

I'm seeing Mulder exactly the same way I saw him last spring. Location-wise, he's kind of all over the place. But his stuff is a little better than it was.

Instead of getting in shape, he can refine the quality of his pitches. Has he been good? Yes. Is he capable of being better? I think so.

If you do something he doesn't like, he just might flip you. Nolan Ryan was that way. Don Drysdale, I'm sure was that way. (Bob) Gibson was that way. Not that they're out of control. They're not out of control; they're in control. But they're going to win the game.

I'm not ready to make a decision based on today's game. It was the first game of spring for both those guys. If it was the fourth game of spring, I think it would be looked at a lot differently than it was today.

I'm not forming any hard opinions one way or the other. It's way too early. . . . Gradually things clarify themselves.

That gives him time to get some treatment and also throw in the bullpen prior to starting a game.

It's real early in the process. Right now, we just simply don't know how it's going to look in the end.

It's reality. There is a difference when you have to win and when you want to win but you don't have to. He knows how to get himself mentally ready to pitch.

About 95 percent of skateboarders worldwide are not vert riders. They don't have vert ramps around. It's easier to ride the streets.

At the same time, these guys are going to have to step up and be the pitchers they were the majority of the season for us to have a successful postseason.

It's big because for these guys to come in and do the job that they're being asked to do early builds confidence in them and for us as well. You hope that it happens enough that it snowballs a little bit and these guys establish the attitude that they need to have.

His approach was better and his execution was better. I thought his stuff was good. I kept seeing those radar gun readings and I don't think they were accurate.