I caught an inning in spring training. I was their third-string catcher.

He threw a lot of strikes, which is the main thing as a young kid. Make sure you pound the zone and get ahead of the hitters.

It's not a lot of fun losing. Coming to the world champs is about the best situation you could get into.

It was a good friend of mine, actually. It's always a little extra incentive when you're playing against your friends out there.

It's more frustrating that we didn't get the job done. You can see the frustration with people walking in (the clubhouse), myself included.

It was always good to get one out of the box. It's one you think about forever, to get the first one out of the way. That was kind of surprising (starting in left field). It was great. If it was left, third, right, I was happy to be there.

I've played enough where I don't get caught up in the emotion. It's nice taking the field with the World Series champs and lets you know what an accomplishment these guys had last year, but I definitely think that opening day in Chicago will be the real emotional hurdle. It will be one of those things you're really wired up for.

I've probably played over the last three, four years about 30 to 40 games per season. Day to day it's different, it's unpredictable in the field.

There's no shock, there's no surprise, but it's just an unfortunate day.

We opened in New York in 2002. So that was an emotional time especially after what happened in 2001. This was extra special -- you're home in front of your family.