Keith Foulke Quotes (39 Quotes)

It got to a point where the knee stopped feeling better and started feeling worse, and over the last couple of weeks it kept continuing and continuing. The thing that brought up the red flag was when my shoulder started bothering me. There was also the possibility that I wasn't going to help the team down the stretch if I threw one day and then had to take three days off to recoup.

I tell you guys all the time -- I'm a bullpen guy. I don't wake up in the morning and go to the grocery store and tell everybody I'm a closer. I'm here. I'm a Boston Red Sox. That's what I am. Go out there and win a World Series, that's all I'm here for.

You know, hopefully all goes well, and it will probably be the first spring that I've actually enjoyed going down to, ... We have a lot of work to do this winter. You know, after really struggling the entire year, I'm really excited about getting back and pitching the way I know how to pitch. Hopefully, I can get back to a dominating style of pitcher.

I don't know how I'm going to react to this. My first injection was pretty hard. That kind of kept me down for a couple days. Maybe when my body gets used to having it in there, it will accept it faster.

I'm excited. (After) six weeks of spring training, I'm drained. I can't wait to get on that plane and get it going for real.

My lower half was not there. At times it was like I was trying to pitch stiff-legged. Physically, I fell into some bad habits, and that hurt my arm. It got to a point where I wasn't even a big-league pitcher.

I made some better pitches today. I had a little better snap on the ball. I felt better today than I have in a long, long time. The velocity is back up in the high 80s. But more important, it was getting on the hitters pretty quick. That's what I need to do. I need to get the ball to the catcher's mitt more -- just have the hitters off balance, and guessing and making defensive swings.

I don't need to prove anything to opponents. Hopefully, if I go out and do my job and I'm the pitcher that I'm capable of being, I don't care if they take notice or not. They don't have to like me. They don't have to do anything. But they do have to face me and respect me.

I was a lot happier walking off the mound today than I have been in a lot of the previous outings this season, ... It's been a constant battle to work on mechanics and different things. I liked how I threw the ball Monday. I'm not where I want to be, but it was much better than it has been.

It's probably on a much smaller scale, ... I do everything off my right leg now, as far as bending it. It's still uncomfortable at times, but it's not what the left knee was.

I didn't get hit today. If I remember correctly in my last live BP, Trot Nixon drilled me. I didn't get hit today. I didn't blow out. I didn't pull anything. I didn't hurt anybody else. So that's a good thing.

One season I was to the top and the very next season I was Public Enemy No. 1, but I learned about myself. I'm going to fight. I fought all winter to get back. I'll continue to fight for the rest of my career.

I will be ready Opening Day, there's no doubt in my mind. I'm stronger now than I have been in four years. April 3 is a lifetime away.

Don't know, don't know. No way to tell. I'd like to say we'd be up five games and they'd be starting to chill the champagne right now, but I have no idea, ... There's no way to tell. That's why we have to go out there and actually do it. You can't write the script in this game.

I actually find baseball kind of boring. It's not my life. Pitching is something I enjoy doing and I'm probably going to get a lot of people that are a little chapped at me for saying that, but just don't take it the wrong way.

Maybe I'm just getting old. I don't know what the deal is. A few years back I was a 90-93 guy, consistently. That's when I was dominating. That's where I want to be. Hopefully, over the next month or so we can get back there and keep working toward next year.

The Sox won. That's always my first concern. It's one of those deals were, hell, when I get my stuff together and I go back and earn the spot, so be it. As long as we win, that's all that really matters.

I definitely feel better than what I have in the past couple years, but it's still kind of fine-tuning. The team comes first. We got to do what's important for the team, not for me.

I'm feeling good, and I'm here to be at the back end of the bullpen. If I'm back to where I want to be, you don't have to worry about my head.

It will probably be the first time I'll actually look forward to going down there. We've got a lot of work to do, but after struggling the entire year, I'm really excited about getting back to the way I know I can pitch and, hopefully, get back to being a dominating pitcher.

Now we just have to let the bone heal itself and quit irritating it on a daily basis, ... Before I got off the mound, it felt great. The bones constantly rubbing on each other, it didn't give it time to heal.

I'm probably not going to come back and be the guy I want to be right now, ... There might be some mistakes made from now until then. The whole goal is to maintain where we're at in the division and allow us to do some things like we did today. It allows Curt Schilling to go out there and get his work in. It allows me to go out there and get my work in.

My arm feels better now than it has in probably a couple of years. I can throw the ball now, and it's got some life and some carry and some zip behind it, and that makes me happy.

Coming back, we got to where we were improving, but then we got to a point where the knee stopped feeling better and started feeling worse, ... Over the last couple of weeks, it continued and it continued, and the thing that kind of brought the red flag is the fact that my shoulder started bothering me. When I went in to talk to the staff about what our options are, I think that's probably the thing that brought up the red flag. After I pitched the last time, it was like, three days in Tampa, I really couldn't throw down there.

I don't think about it. I'm worried about going out and getting my three outs. If we have a serious closer controversy on this team, that means the bullpen is pretty strong. That's all I believe that really affects me. I'm not going to play this game until I'm 45 years old. So, yeah, at some point I will be pushed aside.

It was definitely nice to pitch good today. Hopefully, I won't get booed Tuesday.

I'm a lot more focused this year. I got a lot of things off my mind. The personal life is kind of straightened out a little bit. Sometimes you see the dark side of life, there's only one way to go, and that's up. I feel a lot better right now. My body feels better, and I'm ready to go.

It's a hell of a lot closer than what I have been for most of the year,

I'm not where I want to be, but I'm better. It felt pretty good. We got some guys out today. Hopefully we can do the same for the next month and a half. I'm sure (the Red Sox) are as encouraged today as I was.

My shoulder feels really strong. I have zip on the fastball that I haven't had in a long time. This feels better than even last year on those days when, after rehab, I would come out and feel strong.

The big hurdle was after my last injections. Me being able to squat down and pick up my son with no pain, that's a big hurdle.

You need to talk to the guy in the other office about that. I'm sure they were just as encouraged about it today as I was. We'll see how the next couple days go.

Going out and getting people out on a regular basis is my main concern. I felt like I did that. Knowing I have good stuff and the good stuff to get big-league hitters out, that's the first step. And today it was a step in the right direction.

I was trying to shorten my stride up mechanically, and when you start taking the lower body out of it, you start putting a lot more strain -- the shoulder has to try to stop itself, instead of using the body to stop it -- and that's probably what happened,

I'm not going to brag, but I think I did a pretty good job in that series and I'll be selfish. Yeah, I think I do deserve that ball.

It's one of those things where a couple of more times on the mound will help, ... Saturday didn't go very well. (Sunday) I went out and made some major adjustments and I'm closer to where I want to be.

We finally got my legs fixed. I realized that you don't have to cover first 1,000 times to be ready for a season. I'm worried about pitching this year, and that's it.

That's what we're saying 'Let's make history,' ... We don't want to go down in history as losing this series. We have T-shirts that say 'Why not us'

If I said I struggled, that was the one thing I wasn't real happy with, was command.