Jason Varitek Quotes (44 Quotes)

I think he's been working his way to health and strength and being a pitcher again. He had a major injury he had repaired this offseason. He's real close. If he throws the ball like he did today, it gives us an opportunity to win a lot of games.

These guys can hit a little bit. Actually, they can hit a lot, ... (Schilling) is playing catch-up while the hitters are in the prime this time of year.

It was big. We gave away the first one and got pounded in the second one, so it was good to get out with a win today.

He was good. Ive said all along, hes been taking steps. Each time, hes been able to add a little bit and make adjustments.

They do a lot of little things. We have to execute well to beat them. They have a good bullpen and good starting pitching. They can create things offensively. They'll take the extra base. If we're all aware of our surroundings and what's going on, we can contain it.

It's time. It's our time. Just play our game. Play hard and leave it on the field for 13 games.

We have to come out and bounce back and be ready to play tomorrow, period. We're right there, we're right in it, that's a good thing.

I don't think we had any anxiety. We didn't pitch well those two games, we didn't pitch well at all.

He's got some exceptional late life.

I'm very upset we're losing a guy like him. We also lost our assistant GM (Josh Byrnes), who's a very good baseball man. We seem to have a lot of that going around.

I thought it was a very, very good outing. Maybe I saw something different than he felt. But I thought it was definitely a very good start for Curt. Today for me was definitely a step up. We just didn't get it done offensively.

Today was about how much courage Matt had to go out there. I couldn't even fathom what he had to go through.

I'm not answering that either way. I will in the end, but no, I'm not answering that either way. No excuses, no blame, not saying anything either way.

We havent quite got going offensively as a unit yet, thats obvious. Its nice to win games that way when youre not rolling offensively.

It's going to be very difficult seeing him in a different uniform, to be honest with you. We didn't want to see Johnny play for another team. I know I didn't want to see Johnny play for another team.

Like every year, the personality of the team takes hold over time. It's something you develop as the season goes along. You don't have a personality that is set going into the year, because every year there's a different mix.

He had some rough times last year. Is he probably in his tip-top precision He threw the ball well. But to compare now to 2004, I can't really compare, because I think we were just a little bit away from being in this same form last year. We had little things happen here and there. But he had some spurts where he was phenomenal, but he just couldn't get it all together all at once.

I'll have to do a lot of catch up. Hopefully, I can get with first-base coach Bill Haselman, and he can keep me in the loop of what's going on. That's something I hope to do just to keep up-to-date with how guys are throwing.

We've had a lot of changes in this organization for a team that has just come off a world championship and was able to work its way back into the playoffs,

He was electric. His ball had some serious giddy-up on it. He gave us a 1-2-3 inning and we were able to shut the door.

What am I thinking The guy on the mound was pretty frustrated. He was just frustrated with the strike zone. He had a tough time throwing strikes. That's all. I don't think he threw at Trot, by no means. I think he had a frustrating day.

Like I always say, we handle things in here. In no way, shape or form are we going to play a media game with our teammates. I think that people look to pick on things on Manny because he's Manny Ramirez. We'll take care of things and we take care of things in here.

He just kept us in the game, plain and simple. They were taking good swings early, but not as good of swings later. He settled into his game real good. His stuff was electric, there's no question. I'll take one run every time someone takes the ball.

Keith threw the ball really well, also. He threw some really good changeups. And his location of his fastball was pretty good.

What I think and what goes on is not public knowledge. Good or bad, it's handled in here. That's all I can really tell you without telling you too much.

I've played with these guys for a very long time and won a championship with these guys, so they're very special to me. Doug, Kevin, Johnny and Bill brought intangibles of playing hard, getting dirty and grinding out games. You appreciate playing with people like that, and you hope that it isn't lost by whoever they do bring in.

That's what makes our lineup good. Different people contribute on different nights. There will be times the big dogs will carry us, but when different people contribute that's when we're at our best.

I think that's what makes this lineup good is that different people contribute on different nights. We're going to have our times where our big dogs are going to carry us. But when different people can contribute, that's when we're going to be our best.

As heart-wrenching as it was on us Saturday, to blow that lead, to come back, this team just plays with round shoulders and goes out the next day and battles. It's big. It's big that we're still able to do and believe that we can still do that.

It leaves a lot of gray area right now, because we don't know. We've got to take a step back, but not too far back, because we've got a lot of important people to be dealt with right now.

When he walked back to the dugout like that, you knew it hit him good. Those bones are delicate. They break easily.

He was pinpoint with his heater and his changeup. He didn't leave very many pitches over the middle of the plate.

He's done such a good job trying to make the organization better and the team better at the big-league level. It's going to be very tough to see a guy like him go, especially at a time like this.

The most important job that I have is to work with the pitchers to help them be the best that they can be.

I'm very upset Theo's gone, ... But on the flip side, it isn't the first time a general manager has been gone, and we need to find a way for the organization to get things done and see what the team is doing.

He seems upbeat and he's here so I'm not going to make a big issue out of it. I guarantee you, if he's here in uniform, he's going to compete because he's done nothing but compete throughout his career.

I think his personality in the clubhouse and his ability to communicate with the pitchers will be good. That's not taking anything away from Josh. Josh brought a ton of communication with the pitchers and he did an excellent job with that, communicating back and forth. I know Dougie really well. He's a very good friend a great teammate.

Those games are great. They are great for the organization and the publicity of your team. The only downfall is that sometimes you are playing in Texas and you turn around the next day and you are playing in Boston. We've had the bottom half of some of those results.

He's had to deal with it an awful lot. Sometimes you can't really tell because he's gone out there and pitched so well. Today he maintained his focus. It didn't matter how he felt.

It can't always be in his hands. It was great for Loretta. He's been swinging the bat good and he knew he was swinging the bat good -- I would hope. Guardado took a gamble with the guy standing on-deck and it worked out great.

We have to be concerned with ourselves. We have to take care of what we have to take care of. We haven't played awful. But we haven't had everything over the last couple weeks, where we're pitching well and hitting well at the same time. They've kind of alternated a little bit.

Yeah, that's a testament to our pitching. I think that's what's going to matter in the long haul. It builds momentum to win those one-run games.

For the most part, Schilling threw the ball pretty well, but they just capitalized on one mistake.

We played motivated baseball.