Dave Duncan Quotations | Page 2

He's someone you don't know. It's a concern. I'd like him here to see him throw and get in shape. I also understand sometimes things happen. But my preference would be that he be here.

He's shown that he has the ability to pitch at the major league level. Opportunities come in different ways. When you get them you have to take advantage of them. If he makes our ball club he'll probably appear in the middle of the game as a situational type left-hander.

I looked at doing it another way but it was too disruptive.

He throws four pitches for strikes, he keeps the ball down, gets a lot of ground balls and he's a strikeout pitcher. He's got a lot of innings pitched in the minor leagues and ... he has developed the consistency that's needed to pitch at this level. We feel it's important he get his feet on the ground up here (in St. Louis) for the time in the future when he's a starter.

He's trying to throw too hard, trying to make it break too much, to make it better than it is. It doesn't need to be any better than it is. But when you increase your effort, you come out of your delivery and it affects your command.

I don't think (Looper) is where he needs to be yet, and I don't think he thinks he's where he wants to be yet. I know he's not because we talked about it. It's a long season. I think it's more important we concentrate our efforts into getting him into some games and some situations where it's not critical. That way he can re-establish himself before we start putting him into difficult situations. He agreed with me.

He's respected, and people listen to him. That's a big part of coaching. If they don't listen to you, it doesn't matter what you tell them.

It was pretty nice to have both my boys on the field at the same time.

It's a never-ending process. As long as you're pitching, you're trying to learn something new. Anytime you can add a pitch, if it's a quality pitch, it's just another weapon that you have to work with. It's one more thing the hitter has to deal with.

It was not a close call at all, simply because Marquis can be tremendously valuable to us out of the bullpen,

It was pretty easy to wait. I don't want him going out there the least bit restricted, and then all of a sudden his delivery changes and he gets into some kind of bad habits or hurts himself worse. The bullpen is well-rested, especially the guys that are able to give us innings: Eldred and Thompson. It's a pretty easy decision to make.

You can't always do what you would like to do, so you just hope the situation presents itself. You're aware of how much they're throwing, how hard (the starters) are working. That influences what you do. But we're still going to play the games and try to win them.

You can't even compare this starting rotation to last year. There's so much more depth this year.

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,

These guys pay attention, ... All of these guys are interested in it so that makes you pay even more attention to it because they'll come to the bench and we'll talk.

There's an aura that surrounds certain guys, whether it's truth or fiction I don't know, but it's the way they're perceived by the opposition,

It's not just winning games. It's the way he's pitched. He's been pretty dominant. I've seen guys win a lot of games before. But with the exception of Vida Blue in 1971, I've never seen a guy that has controlled the game, game after game after game, like he has.

It's not really a concern. Izzy's not a guy who really has to have a lot of work. In his case, it can be better for him to throw on the side than to bring him into a (non-save) situation.

It's a real plus when you have a guy who can come into a situation anywhere from the sixth inning on and get a huge out for you. It's even better if he can get a strikeout when you need it. That's a weapon not every team has.

As much as I could, I tried to stay apart from his career.

The objective is to get (Looper) 100 percent. We don't expect it's going to take that long.

Thursday's game (against the Padres) was tough because there were so many left-handed, right-handed situations,

We don't want people coming up just to sit around.

It was a natural progression. It was good for the pitchers to know how much importance we placed on defense. We're always adjusting ... defense as well as pitching strategy.

It's hard to identify who's No. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Because at different times, each one of those guys gets on a roll. And at that particular time, he's the No. 1 guy for us. ... Every one of them has had their periods of time when they threw as good as anybody.

It looks to me like he's trying to be too fine. He's getting behind in the count too much. When he does know he has to throw a strike, it's in the top of the strike zone. He needs to be more aggressive early in the counts - not as concerned inside and outside as he is up and down ... mostly down. He can go to the corners when he controls the counts.

He shows you a good, live arm. For what we're asking him to do, he's in shape to do that, as long as we don't push him.

He's got a lot of talent. He's from Los Angeles, so hopefully that will be a good situation for him.

He's not locating the ball where he needs to locate the ball.

If he feels better he'll go out there tomorrow. We'll go from there.

Granddad. These kids deserve all that they get from this sale. They work really hard, and I'm happy to help them in any way I can.

He pitched more like he did when he was pitching more aggressively: taking advantage of his strengths, staying away from getting in trouble with his weaknesses,

He can have a big year. If he continues to go like he's been going so far, he can have a very big year. He's real smooth. Under control. It's exciting to think about the type of year he could have if he keeps going the way he's been going.

All of those guys competed equally. Any of them wouldn't have been a bad choice. From start to finish, Hancock was the most consistent throwing strikes.

All the pitches they got hurt on were belt high. I don't like it, but I understand it. Next time out, we hope to be seeing guys take another step forward, making more quality pitches, get them in that mode.