25 Quotes by Doug Mirabelli

The biggest thing was not coming in here and getting swept. That would have put a damper on where we?re trying to get to. We play these guys three more times. We knew that as long as we didn?t lose six times to these guys out of the last 20 games, we feel confident in our ability to win the East.

It's definitely a grind. But that's how it's been set up for us.

His ball was darting in, it was darting away. It was effectively wild in the strike zone. I had a tough time today catching the ball. I hadn't had a game like that where I felt like I was going to have a hard time catching the ball.

I don't know if he gets the concept of a teammate or if he grasps that. People have tried to help him out. You've got to give him some leeway for language but at some point (you realize) he does speak more than he lets on. So at that point, you start to think he's making that choice.

He strikes out people with his movement. Obviously, the ball was dancing. He mixed in some other pitches when he needed to.

(General manager Kevin Towers) told me that I would start unless something fell into his lap, and Piazza will help this team. I'm just surprised that he couldn't find work in the American League (where he could be used as a designated hitter). Getting a hitter like Piazza for what? - $1.25 million a year (plus incentives)? You can't turn that down.

You want to come in here and sweep because you can extend your lead, but you don't want to get swept. By winning yesterday, there was a lot of pressure taken off this team as far as having to avoid a sweep today and leaving here with a one-game lead.