Ron Gardenhire Quotations

We needed a win ? desperately. He's pretty intense right now. No one wants to win more than Johan. That's what he cares most about ? winning.

We needed a win, desperately. We needed to get back and have a better feeling around here, and that's exactly what happened tonight.

Omar was probably the most well-respected, popular player they've had here, but Peralta has done a very good job.

No, no. I just wanted them to get their three or four at-bats early in the game, so I put them both out there. We'll figure it out here soon.

My goal is to never stop learning and to never quit making adjustments, ... no matter where you are in this game. I'm always trying to make myself better, and I think I did that today.

More than likely, ... if that's the route we decide to go.

No one is stepping up. I haven't seen enough to decide that I want somebody out there. I'm just waiting for somebody to step up.

Poise? I don't think we're talking about poise here. I think we're talking about a 97 mph fastball with a curveball from hell.

Nothing came easy for him today, but he got through it a bit.

Now we are trying to get back up there and see if we can get back in the playoffs, so we're chasing them. They chased us for a few years and we're chasing them right now.

People will say we're actually alive and that's not bad.

I'd like to know for my lineups what he's going to do. He told me he'd like to stay, but he's also committed to them. That's something I have to stay out of.

I don't have to have a lefty. If one of these guys comes in and proves he can do the job, then good, that's a bonus.

I don't know what to tell you. We're going to try to make a decision here about what's best.

Last year, we missed too many opportunities. What hurt us more than anything last year was situational hitting, so if we can hit a ground ball to second in some of those situations to get a run in, we're going to be better off for it. That's what we are looking for, a little better situational hitting.

We made a good stand here against some very good baseball teams. We're .500 against four teams that are all going to be contending for the playoffs. We're standing at .500 here after a tough start, and we've really battled back to get to .500. And you know what, that's not bad.

We made an effort there at the end. Up until that, it looked ugly.

We need to make sure we're ready for next year for him. We don't want to mess with that thing. He's pitched on it long enough, and tonight he kind of tweaked it again.

We're just going to give him the ball like we always have.

We're looking at the possibility of getting this thing cleaned up. He's pitched on it long enough. We're not going to mess it up and take a chance.

Lew gave it everything he had. It's not like he could've done anything different. We didn't get it. That's just the way it's going.

Lew is fine wherever you put him. He's going to play like Lew, he's going to hustle, run balls out and hopefully some of his balls will fall in. Last year he wasn't as lucky as he had been the year before. A lot of times hits will go down to being lucky, and this past year he wasn't quite as lucky.

Sit him out any longer and you're going to have to send him out on a rehab. We need to get him in the lineup and let him play.

Means something to me, but you ought to ask some of those people out there,

Maybe we can put some fear in them, They have a single-digit lead (over Cleveland) now, so you know they're starting to feel the effects. And that's half the battle, to see how people handle things.

Most of the time, you'd send (Radke) back out there, but this isn't 'most of the time' anymore.

Most of the time you send Brad back out there, but this isn't most of the time. We're going to try to do whatever we have to do to win games.

Most of the time you send Rad back out there. But this isn't most of the time any more.

So far, we haven't come out swinging like we hoped we would. We just haven't clicked on the ball offensively yet enough to win games.

Sending him back out there, that's a little silly to try to do something stupid with a man's career. We haven't done that to him all year, and we weren't going to start today.

Kenny Rogers is not the guy he likes to face very often, so we sat him out. But he was ready to play. We've lost a lot of people, and Jacque is one guy who needs to step up.... Hopefully that's a good start for him to get on a roll.

I wouldn't be afraid to start any of those guys on Tuesday.

He jammed his knee a bit on the play. He called me over today and said he was a bit sore in his leg, so we'll give him a couple of days off with the off-day tomorrow.

This was a good win for us. To come out and score some runs and get a lead, we haven't done that very often. It was fun. The guys got to run the bases.

He likes to play and he'll play through anything, so when he has to sit out, you know he's hurting. That's a little scary. I'm just hoping it's not a lingering thing.

He just didn't make enough pitches today. He was all around the zone but he just missed. He was barely missing, but when you get behind these guys, those types of hitters, that's what happens.

I can't see Rad not wanting to go out there.

If Buck sees him throwing 84 mph on March 6, he's going to have a heart attack. It's an issue, but people have to deal with it. There are going to be pitchers who are notorious for not getting going until right at the end of spring training. Guys aren't going to be locked and loaded; that's almost a guarantee.

I don't want our young players to forget where this game's been. It's pretty special, to tell you the truth, to have Harmon Killebrew down here. I know the fans come down from Minnesota to see their heroes, and I know they love that.

I don't think we're talking about poise here. I think we're talking about a 97 mph fastball and a curveball from hell.

Castro is going to catch the ball. You saw that when Castro made a play up the middle near the end of the game, and he made it look easy. Not too many guys can do that.

Castro is very good at short. He's very quick up the middle. We've known that forever about him. He's going to prevent some runs. That's what he does best.

But as I told you before, we're a little worried about this.

I don't know, not until he comes out and takes BP. Whether he gets into this series or not will depend on him. He's pretty sore, that's all I know.

We've got to play a very good Detroit team, and obviously, we didn't swing the bats very well in the first two games (in Kansas City). So, righting the ship, that comes over a long period of time.

When he was on the field, he knew what was going on. He was always in the game. ... I had a lot of fun with Denny. I probably knew him as well as anybody.

Guys aren't ready to throw every day. Guys aren't ready to throw four or five innings.

Guys are trying. Guys are out there playing. You've also got to score some runs, too. Our starters haven't been getting it done. Our offense has to pick them up.

He's a good ballplayer. When he's healthy, defensively he's all over the field. All we can hope for is he's rusty.

We thought we had a chance to sweep them, but that's a great team over there. Two out of three I guess we'll have to take.

We thought we were ready leaving Spring Training. We were playing very good and swinging the bat good and everybody thought they were where they needed to be.

He's pitched very well. He hasn't done anything to prove to us that he shouldn't be (in the rotation). I think common sense tells you pretty much where it is.

He's pitching like a man on a mission on the mound.

He was okay. When he got out of whack, he made a few adjustments to get back in the zone. We like the way the ball is coming out of his hand.

He wants to play. But I'm just going to give him a day break.

Have you watched us bunt? Does it look like we have it down now?

He was restarting his life out there. He was thinking about getting married again. We were trying to convince him to come back and put the uniform on again, and we were getting close.

He was restarting his life out there. We were trying to convince him to come back and put the uniform on again, and we were getting close.

He was the best player on the field I ever saw.

He was ready. He stepped into a good situation. It was fun to see.

We have time, but if we push it another week, it's going to be iffy. I'm starting to worry a little bit.

He didn't exactly light it up in spring training. We didn't know where it was going.

He didn't go after the ball. He didn't even move.

He didn't live and die with every play and every at-bat. He kind of learned to take it as it was. Go out and play defense, separate the two and he did very well at that. He played offense and he played defense and he was more confident.

He didn't play well here. He didn't hit the ball great, he didn't play great defense, but that's not the Bret Boone that we all know. He's a very classy young man. I have a lot of respect for him.

He did a super job. That'll be a plus for us.

He didn't even move. He just stood there at second. I talked to him in the dugout and he said he thought the ball was going to go foul. You still would be running. To me, that's not a good enough answer. So I just put the other guy out there and we move on.

He didn't separate people. Everybody had a chance to be his friend. He always made you feel welcomed. Not too many people like that.

He understands that this is what we have to do to get ready for next year.

He was breaking a lot of bats early in the game. His cutter was getting in there. He had good stuff tonight. The ball was jumping out of his hand.

He had good deception tonight. The ball was going in there pretty good, he made some pitches. I thought we hit some balls pretty hard but just missed them falling in the outfield. But he pitched good enough and mixed it up good enough to beat us.

He hurt his wrist swinging in the world games. We're not for sure where we're at right now. That's part of baseball. He could've gotten hurt here, too.

He was a little out of whack before, but he's not out of whack anymore,

He was a little out of whack before, but he's not out of whack anymore. This guy is making a case for himself. You get down toward the playoffs, you start looking at who can do it and who can't. It looks like he can do some things.

He was apologetic and that's all that I cared about. He understood that you have to handle situations a little better, and that's part of the growing up process too. I'm happy with it. I feel better about the whole situation. That's really all that matters.

He's got velocity and he has a breaking ball, it just didn't work out for him today. He got beat.

He says, 'We've just got to get him through the first couple innings,'

He has no strength in it, ... We were hoping that he would be a little better, and he's not.

He was up a little bit, 75 pitches in less than five innings is getting up there. He battled OK, but we had some ugly plays out there.

I'm a little biased, but I think he's the best. There's other guys that have better numbers à but to me, it doesn't get much better than Johan in this league. Not much better than him.

He's going to play the game the way he always has. I did tell him, 'Yes, let's take it easy and let's try not to kill yourself.' But the bottom line is he's an athlete and he's going to be an athlete. You can't control that. He's going to play the game the way he knows how to play the game.

He's going to run around in the outfield and see if his knee swells up. So we're guarded. I'm just in a wait-and-see to see how he does.

He restarted his life. There were some differences (with the Twins).

He's got the contract thing, the whole package. When you're in your contract year, you start thinking about it. Guys that can play a little bit usually get after it pretty good. We figured he'd be on a pretty good mission.

He's handled himself pretty well. I don't think he's going to just suddenly fall apart.

He's hasn't told me he needs to be shut down yet. We're playing him. As long as you can play. Everybody has issues this time of year -- believe me. Everybody is hurt. Everybody is playing hurt. If you're not, you probably didn't play very hard.

He's having a little bit of a rough time swinging right now, and we'll see if he can put some good swings on the ball tomorrow and go from there.

He's healthy now. His knee got checked out at the end of the year. No problems. It looks great. Everything is fantastic. He's a stud. This young man is a real deal.

He seems to be on just about everything. We're making some mistakes and he's creaming them.

He's just got to learn to control everything a little better. He did a lot better last year, they told me, but he had the arm injury and it's just got to keep improving. He has a chance to be a great pitcher in this organization, whether it is as a starter or a 'pen guy. We haven't really decided. He will dictate that.

He's just rushing. He's not being patient enough.

He's just rushing. It looks like to me he's not patient. I'm just letting him play and not think about it, see if he can work his way through some of these things.

He's a little bit behind some of the other people, but the quality of his pitches are there. Now, it's about mechanics and not rushing.

He said he was a little sore with his foot today.

He said he was doing better. He talked about being on a diet, working out, getting to feeling better, and talked of getting married in June. It was fun to see him again.

He said he was working out, on a diet, and was going to get to feeling better. He was talking about getting married.

Hopefully tonight is the start. We'll have to see what the other guys do behind it now.

He's done OK. But the expectations were really high after the second half and what he did last year. He hasn't lived up to that. Scouts are up there and people see things. He hasn't been able to make the adjustments as quickly as a couple of guys. That's something he'll have to do to get better.

He's fighting everything. He's really pressing. We need to figure out how to help him get through this thing.

He's getting an MRI. If that comes out OK, he can start hitting again next week.