Roy Oswalt Quotations

We had been busting (Edmonds) in with fastballs a lot through the years, and in key situations,

My legs got a little tired when I got around 90 pitches, but I was hoping if I could just keep it 3-2 after the second home run and get through the inning, maybe the bullpen could come in and pick up the last four.

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.

To get 20 is great, but to get to the playoffs is more. We've come a long way, especially the way the team pulled together and started playing.

To get 20 is great, but to get to the playoffs means more.

I was able to keep the ball where I wanted to, for the most part. I made some pitches when I needed them.

I think they made adjustments after the first two times through the lineup,

It doesn't matter who goes first, who goes last,

It broke the game open, ... You don't need to be so fine then.

I thought the way the team was battling and we had been seeing Maddux pretty well, if we could get something going with a hit or get somebody on, I had a good feeling we'd come back.

The 20 wins is nice, but it's a whole lot better that this team is in the playoffs,

Yes, I would classify it as one of the biggest games, just because of the history of the team of not getting to the World Series after so many years of getting so close,

This stadium has a lot of baseball memories in it, and to come back here and pitch in this stadium before it's gone is great. Hopefully the biggest thing with us is to get going early, get in a groove early and hopefully get some momentum going our way.

The pilot had a pretty good joke for us on the way here.

We came in here knowing they had to catch us and knew the game we had to play.

To get us a one-run lead gets you right back into the game for us, ... You don't have to be so fine as to throwing a ball around the plate. You can still be aggressive and make them hit the ball early.

To give it to him, that meant more to me than winning it. He didn't want to take it, but that's the way he is,

You have to go out and have amnesia and next day be the guy,

With him, you can make a pretty good pitch away or make a pretty good pitch in and he'll hit it out to either left or right field. You've got to respect that he can hit the ball out of the park, but you can't be afraid of him, for sure.

Brad, he's the type of closer that has amnesia, he won't thinking nothing about it next time he gets out there. He'll come out at the end of the next game, and I'm sure he'll be lights-out just like he always is.

Brad is the type of closer who has amnesia. He won't think about it the next time he gets out there.

They're trying to catch us, we're not trying to catch them.

I've faced these guys 50 times it feels like already,

I'm sure he didn't sleep too well Monday night.

I never go out there with the mindset I'm going to lose. I always go out there to win. Doesn't matter what happened yesterday. A lot of guys get caught up in what happened yesterday. You have to go do your job that day you're out there.

In the fifth or sixth they made an adjustment and were looking in, and if I threw away, they were letting the ball go. I didn't really figure that out till the fifth or sixth inning.

The biggest thing is that when I got the lead, I knew I could go right after them. Because of the frustration through the years for the franchise, this is special, a wonderful accomplishment for our organization and the fans.

The biggest thing, I think, for us to do is to keep their speed guys off base, ... Same thing with us - they're going to have to keep our speed guys off base for the big guys coming up behind them.

It's big, especially to beat them here, ... It's the first game we beat them here. It's big for us to build some confidence.

It's big in the sense that we don't feel like we have to throw every other day. Having the third guy is big.

But I like challenges. I always have. I've always been a guy who likes big games. All the way from high school or Little League or the minors, I always liked big games.

I love the pressure, I love it when it counts,

I love the pressure. I love pitching in situations where it counts.

Everyone knows I don't try to walk anybody.

It's key for us to go home with a split.

Those two starts in the Olympics were some of my biggest starts.

It's kind of special getting to pitch with those guys and behind them,

I've always been a guy who likes big games.

I grew up in a small town where you know everyone, .. I've been told all my life that I come from too small a town to compete with some of the guys that competed in a higher level growing up. And that kind of drove me through college and drove me in the minor leagues, because I got to face all those big 5- A [school district] guys in the minors.

They pay you to pitch and that's what I'm going to do.

I've been in the same place for 10 years and having to say goodbye and clean out the locker is the toughest part.

When you're from Weir, Mississippi, almost everywhere you go looks like the big city.

I don't like to be the guy that stands out. I like kind of sneaking up on guys instead of being out front.

I like a challenge. I always have.

I always heard that I was too small.

I'm just trying to stay aggressive and mix things up enough to be successful.

Guys think I'm staring them down, but they watch ME for signs. Why can't I do the same to them?

It doesn't matter who's in the box. You go after them and get them out the best way you can.

You have one good game or season, so what? You have to have a career.

On any given night, I can throw a shutout.

Every time I go out there I expect to win.

This is a dozer you can do anything with.

The pitch would normally be low, but my ball starts carrying and stays on a sustained plane. Everyone always complains - 'that ball is low' - but then you go back and look at the tape, and it's right there. My catchers tell me, and the hitters tell me, that the ball stays true flight the last five or six feet.