Tony Russa Good Quotations

somebody good enough to get the outs in the seventh and eighth innings. We had Gene Nelson and Rick Honeycutt.

Since he's been a Cardinal, he has been outstanding to great. And last year, he was just good. I imagine he enjoys outstanding to great. But he was a good player for us last year. And if he's motivated to be better than good, that's good for us.

He is playing so good in every facet of the game. He's hitting fourth, and that's because nothing bothers him. He just plays. He's been as important as anybody we have; he's had an outstanding year.

He just didn't have it. I just don't think that it's a good idea to pat a guy on the back for getting to the sixth inning when he was ineffective for three innings. ... He's capable of so much better than that.

I don't think it's unorthodox. Whenever he does something it's just aggressive and makes good sense. I really respected him (as the manager) in Milwaukee. ... If they have a chance to win, he'll make sure (his players) are in the right place.

He's pitched with so much intensity and so much pressure for so long that when the pressure's not there, he lost a little edge, ... He had good stuff his last two starts, but his location was off.

He did a lot of really good things, and they had a good lineup.

He's been so clutch against good pitching, really good pitching.

He's been in good situations. Nobody wins by themselves, but he definitely contributes to a winning environment on and off the field. The first couple of weeks of September was like spring training all over again for him. Little by little, he got sharper and sharper, and now he's himself again.

He is a classic high-average hitter because he takes a relentless approach every at-bat. Every at-bat he's the same way. He battles the great pitchers, he battles the real good ones, the good ones, the ones that are trying to make it.

He'll be very good for the Atlanta Braves. He didn't quite jell in that Boston situation, but he can play anywhere. So many people have exaggerated that year.

He made a mistake pitch and a clutch hitter took advantage. He did some good things and then he made a mistake.

He had a good throw, and we're leaning towards him, but we'll wait and see how he feels tomorrow during the off-day. If he comes in feeling great, he starts. If not, we'll go the other way. But he had a good throw and we expect him to pitch.

He had a good throw. We're leaning toward it, (but) we're going to wait and see how he feels tomorrow during the off day. If he comes in feeling great, he starts. If not, we go the other way.

My point was (Saturday) that amidst all the runs, both of the guys did a lot of good things. (Sunday), Wainwright pitched well, but he made a couple mistakes that he got away with.

I think they're starting to feel good about how they're throwing. We've shown the kind of depth that can pay off for us.

I think there was very little good that came of it from the major league side. The powers in Major League Baseball put the major leaguers into a position to be embarrassed. Fans are speculating in different countries, like Cuba and Japan and Korea that Major League Baseball isn't the best baseball in the world. I think it is, if the competition is fair.

I think physically he feels good and I think the pressure of the postseason has got his concentration back to where it was a great, great majority of the season.

It feels good to win two games, especially since they out-hit us in all three.

That's a very good lineup. He pitched deep into the game and pitched well, too.

When Suppan throws that many pitches, he doesn't feel like he's got good location,

Whoever is feeding him, I'm going to talk to Wendy (Sanders' wife) and make sure it's the same breakfast and lunch that he's been having. Because what a lift he's given us, four games straight games now. He's been so clutch against good pitching, really good pitching.

What's different about this club, when you have this many setbacks, it's usually part of why you don't win or you barely squeeze by in the last week of the season with a good but not great record. To have this kind of run and play this quality of baseball for this long is why this club deserves a very different kind of credit.

When we've been in some kind of adversity, and we've had to go left or right or up or down, it's been good for us. Hopefully, it will be good for us today. It's better to think that than the other.

When we've got into some kind of adversity, when we've had to go left or right, up or down, it's been good for us. And the reason that it's worked that way is that these guys have been very strong-minded, very tough-minded about not conceding anything.

Well, I bet if they had their hand on a bible, they'll tell you they don't think we're really good because they beat us four out of seven, so I hope we throw out the regular season. We saw them play well, and they play well enough to win a championship, and that's really what counts. They're in the tournament.

Someone told me a long time ago a good test in situations like this, ... You ask the guy, 'If this was your free agent year, when could you play?'

I'm pleased he's here early. I think we have a real advantage with Jose (being) a very good infield instructor.

In the eighth inning, we missed our location three times, twice when we were ahead in the count. We almost caught a break -- Cabrera's ball was tagged, but it fooled Walker. That would have been an important break to catch. Matt got the ball up with a 1-2 count, and the pitch that Delgado tripled on wasn't where Ray was trying to throw it. Against good clubs in key situations, either you do or you don't, and if you don't, you get penalized most of the time.

I know it sounds like bull, but I don't care. If you get in, you've got as good a shot as anybody, five games or seven games. It's that kind of a tournament.

(Clemens) is tough enough to hit when it's over the plate and if he starts getting a big plate, that's going to be tough for us. I know in our ballpark, both Tim (McClelland) and Greg (Gibson), and I think Wally will, too, will call a good game and not get excited about the home crowd. You always worry when a guy has good command that he can get somebody excited.

They were really good together, and this is a tough lineup. If Marquis wasn't pitching, I probably would have waited till tomorrow.

And then the other stuff falls into place. As you saw there, that's what he's been doing all year long. I can't remember seeing a pitcher all the years that I've managed that has been so good every time out.

Any pitcher can make a mistake, and we're good enough to capitalize. But (Arroyo) did enough good things. He got a lot of outs in a lot of different parts of the zone. That's good pitching. If we pitch good, I always think there's a chance we're going to break through any particular inning.

Any way you slice it, he was outstanding. There were several times when there was some serious thump at the plate and he made good pitches.

That's the difference in the game. We fell behind by two and then we battled back, did a real good job of scoring the two, and then we had a chance for more. We got the two to tie it and we got a lot of momentum going.

They have done some really good things, mixed their pitchers or patterns up. I think no matter how good you pitch, we've got so many weapons, there's a way for us to break through and we haven't.

It wasn't good enough. It looked like he was kind of hurrying to get outs. He missed his location a couple of times, they've got a dangerous lineup and they made him pay.

It's good for you guys. Maybe you'll get off his case a little bit.

There's a way to win when the other guy is pitching good against you. You've got to pitch and defend well against them. We didn't defend that well today, either.

He's made some improvement, ... With all the treatment, he's got some relief. He's not as sore as he was yesterday, so that's a good sign. But I don't think anybody told me that means he can throw off the mound on a particular day. But I know he has improved.

I don't think the pitch to Ensberg was all that bad. I didn't see the replay. He had good enough stuff. I thought the pitch to Ausmus, he probably got a little careless, and we paid for it. He retired six guys. He had good enough stuff to do it, he just didn't get it done.