Kevin Millwood Quotes (32 Quotes)

It was quite amazing -- maybe not for the A's. He made life a lot easier for himself by doing that. How many people would've thought about touching the bag

We seem to always lose the close games to them, but we've got two left. We win them both and we know we've got at least a playoff on Monday.

It happens. You can't blame anybody. We did it in Oakland to those guys. It's part of the game. There's not much you can say.

I feel like I'm moving along pretty good. I wanted to make sure I could put my fastball where I wanted it, and I think I did that.

It means a lot to a team when you can match up against any upper-echelon guy and win. But these guys had a lot to do with it -- they put up good at-bats and scored some runs and that made it a little easier on me.

Cox gets thrown out of more games, ... but they're both even keel and keep their teams focused.

I feel like I'm right where I need to be. I finally got that long-term deal, and I've gotten it at a good point in my career. I feel like I can perform well through this whole contract.

Sometimes you don't surprise yourself when you do it so many times, ... You don't want to be in those situations, but if you get out of them, it seems to give you a boost. Today, it was a delayed boost.

It's been pretty frustrating. It's obviously not the start I'd like to get off to, but there are a lot of good things I can take from today and build on. After the first inning, I pitched pretty well. I felt like I was able to settle in and get a lot of guys out after that.

It's confusing. You watch the guys in front of you but you're also watching the guys behind you. You get here, and you keep forgetting you're actually out front (by a game and a half) in one of these situations. It's definitely a weird situation to be in.

It's amazing what they've done. Everybody in baseball starts the season just wanting a chance at it. They've had a chance for 14 years now. Nobody can say that in any professional sport.

I feel like I answer that after every game lately. There's nothing I can do about that. I have to worry about the things I can control. That, I can't control.

I was trying to get my mechanics straightened out and I think it paid off. I felt normal for the first season, even in Spring Training. Seeing it is not enough, I need to feel it and tonight I could feel I was in the right groove.

I felt as good last year as I did in '97 (as a rookie). I probably got more out of last year. Obviously, I wanted to show people that I was healthy, which I felt that I did.

I didn't give up any runs, but to pitch only five innings is unacceptable. Six walks are terrible. I put my bullpen in a bad spot.

And it's not like the game's only been around 20 or 30 years. For him to be doing something that nobody's ever done before ... yeah, it's legitimate. It's very legitimate.

I'm not angry by any means. I know the guys are trying their best. They want to put runs up on the board, but we ran into a guy that was on today.

Everybody always talks about being consistent. Consistency is the key to the game. Well, to do what he's done is the epitome of consistency.

It's fun, man. I think it's better before the games than after the games. The guys are relaxed, they're having a good time. It's just like it was in spring training, in March, April, May. We're the same team we were then. We're playing better now than we did then.

Hank was awesome. He made all the plays and got a big hit. It's almost what you expect of Hank Blalock. He's a good player and, with a little confidence, he could take off and do some special things.

There is no pressure. I put enough pressure on myself anyway. You can number your starters one through five, but every guy that goes out there feeling like you are the number one guy. If you don't you are in trouble. The number in the rotation is there so you can know what day you are going to throw.

It's probably our biggest win to date. This is fun, man. Everybody around here is having a good time.

Facing batters who are swinging the bat gave me a chance to see whether I'm being deceptive with my pitches. The best thing was having an umpire behind the plate for the first time. It gave me a better read about what I'm doing instead of having coaches tell me my pitches look good.

It felt good today. It was really windy out there. That was a crazy home run. ... The only bad stretch were the two walks.

If there's a time when a guy comes up and asks me a question, or wants my input on something, I'll be happy to tell him what I know or what I don't know. Like I said, I'm not the coach, but I'll do what I can to help.

They seemed a little bit louder today.

You can number your starters one through five if you want. But every guy that goes out there has got to pitch like a No. 1 guy. If you don't, then you're in trouble.

I felt as good last year as I did in '97 (as a rookie). I gained a ton of confidence, and I let myself and other people know I could pitch in the National League or the American League. ... It turned out to be a great move.

I wanted to go somewhere that wanted to win. It's nice to see that they are doing a lot of things to make the team better. They are committed to making this team better, and that attracts you even more.

I was tired of being on one-year contracts. It was nice to have a good year in a free-agent year and be able to get a longer deal. It's made me more confident and mentally got me back to where I was a couple of years ago.

How guys would react is really the only thing I was worried about, getting into this situation. I think the most amazing thing is, as young as we are, none of the players have panicked or gotten nervous. Everybody's as loose as we were when spring training was over. You'd think guys would be trying to squeeze blood out of the bat. But they're not doing it. They're just going out and playing and having fun. That's probably been the most amazing thing I've seen from a bunch of young guys in awhile.

Being No. 1 only counts in the first round. Everybody has to believe they're No. 1 when they go out there or you're in trouble. ... It's all about giving your team a chance to win and avoiding long losing streaks.