Tony Russa Year Quotations

I feel like in that series, just like all year long, when things got tense, each of those guys made pitches, and we kept the lead,

He definitely has five tools and every year I've seen a more consistent guy.

I always say you don't just win with homers. You need a bunt, you need a hit-and-run, you need a steal. Those are the little things that helped us out to win 105 games last year and those are the things that are helping us out this year to win some games.

I think we understand we're officially in October baseball. But we discussed it last year and again this year. It just doesn't seem right to celebrate it when the magic number is one. You're watching the number go 10, 9, 8 ... and it gets to one so you celebrate? When it gets to zero, you celebrate. That's what we're going to do.

That's the way we played all year long, ... Our pitchers are not afraid to pitch to contact and get the groundball.

That's the way we played all year long. Our pitchers are not afraid to pitch to contact and get the groundball.

To me, 2002 was so personal and emotional. I believe that you create your own destiny, but it was almost like there was a plan for us. I don't feel that this time. I feel this is more normal. The reason we've won is because we've played the best. If we play the best in the postseason, we should win. And if we don't, we'll get beat. But 2002 was the only year I had the feeling it was inevitable.

This is how he pitched earlier in the year. He just got into a funk. It happens to pitchers, it happens to hitters, it happens to defenders. And in the middle of that funk, he had a couple of games like this. Against Washington and today, this was the way he was earlier in the year. This is just his second year in the rotation; he's still learning.

If you look at last year, we had Scott playing and he had some really big hits, but overall he was really banged up, he wasn't the same the last two months, ... This year we lost four regulars, three of them are boppers, and the guys that took their place did a terrific job of handling the bat, so we played a little different game.

If you return a lot of the strong nucleus, year to year, for two or three years, I think that'd be an exception. There's too many free agents, there are times money forces you to make decisions to not tender (contracts to) guys who all of a sudden become too expensive. You're trying to prioritize how to spend your money, and everybody faces it.

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.

It's been a great story all year long, how we've been able to compensate for some really important pieces that have not been available, ... He's an important piece and we're still hanging in there.