I never like to lose a ball game, but the degree of care in spring training isn't the same. You never want to be at the bottom at any point in time.

You don't make the third out at third. You've been taught that since you're six years old. We talked about this the other day. We've done this twice now in the last three ball games.

With production comes entitlement. If you play better you get more playing time, which means more opportunity. Cory has been on a successful run of late. He is stroking the ball well and playing great defense.

He's exhibited major-league power in the minor leagues and we've seen some flashes of it at this level. He's working hard in (batting practice) and he's working hard in the cage and hitting the ball hard where it's pitched.

He's got skills, but I told him they weren't playing out. And if the skills he has don't play out here, he would have to play Triple-A next year. It's very black and white. And maybe the idea of winter ball spurred him to have a good September.

He came in and helped Band-Aid things together and put himself in a good position for what might happen later on down the road. He built his confidence up. He pitched a lot better than he did last spring. He hit his spots, threw all his pitches for strikes and got the ball down.

He pitched a good ball game. He was very efficient, threw strikes and changed speeds. We've seen him in a Pirates uniform and he's a no-nonsense guy who comes right after people.

It's Jason's time to take the next step, and sometimes when players can't get to certain places, it's up to a coach to take them there. I want him to know going in that I've got the confidence in him to do that. By giving him the ball Opening Day, I can't make a bigger statement than that.

We got enough mileage out of our long ball tonight before the marine layer hit. That's the latest I've seen the ball travel here in a long time.