Roy Oswalt Quotes (56 Quotes)

It was key there. It may have cost them.

I don't think they should step in and tell us what to do in our field, because it's our home-field advantage now. I think Chicago had their advantage there cold, windy. They've been playing in it all year we haven't. So let's bring it back home and give the advantage to us now.

The biggest key of the night was keeping my pitch count down to get into the eighth. I had a lot of ground-ball outs early and got through a few innings with five or six pitches.

They had the same game plan as the last three years. The only difference was instead of coming back over the plate I was able to throw the ball where I wanted. I came in here and I haven't won here. I thought about it today.

The important thing is you can't let an 8-0 lead go to waste. The biggest thing is us getting the win. It doesn't matter how we got it.

We kidded with him the whole time on the plane today, ... We actually told him we almost got hit by the ball when it took off. That's the thing about baseball. Once it happened last night, it happened last night.

To get us a one-run lead gets you right back into the game for us, ... You don't have to be so fine as to throwing a ball around the plate. You can still be aggressive and make them hit the ball early.

I knew in that inning I needed a quick out. With a man on first and second and no outs, I needed a double play there to face the last guy with just a man on third and not give him a whole lot to hit. It worked out great. I took some of their aggressiveness to my benefit.

Last year is history this is a completely different situation. We just need one win, and we proved we could win at Busch Stadium already in this series. We just need to buckle down, play hard and get it done.

I never go out there with the mindset I'm going to lose. I always go out there to win. Doesn't matter what happened yesterday. A lot of guys get caught up in what happened yesterday. You have to go do your job that day you're out there.

It's a place where no one really cares what you do, ... You can be a ballplayer. We have a lot of guys that just have regular jobs. Everyone is treated the same, that's the reason I like going home. I can go to a Weir football game and everyone comes up and speaks to me just because they haven't seen me in awhile. They don't come up and speak to me because I was on TV the night before. That's why I like going home.

Roger looked good, especially not pitching in two weeks (because of a strained left hamstring),

It's big, especially to beat them here, ... It's the first game we beat them here. It's big for us to build some confidence.

I grew up in a small town where you know everyone, ... I've been told all my life that I come from too small a town to compete with some of the guys that competed in a higher level growing up. And that kind of drove me through college and drove me in the minor leagues, because I got to face all those big 5-A school district guys in the minors.

People don't see what we see. His leadership is something you can't replace. It's like a brother leaving a team.

He tries to make things happen. Anything to produce havoc on the field.

All I can think of is that I wish I was 5-0. I got that no decision and I keep thinking about (how) I should have been able to keep that lead.

It's just a matter of feel. After the first inning the other night as far as location, it got better as I went on. That first inning, I didn't know if I loosened up enough in the bullpen or what.

He's been doing a good job all year. They told him last week they're going to use him more and more down the stretch. He's up for it. He can throw two innings at a time. He did a good job tonight, especially the pickoff in the ninth inning.

I think they made adjustments after the first two times through the lineup,

We kidded him the whole time on the plane, ... We told him we almost got hit by the ball when it took off.

Everyone knows I don't try to walk anybody.

With him, you can make a pretty good pitch away or make a pretty good pitch in and he'll hit it out to either left or right field. You've got to respect that he can hit the ball out of the park, but you can't be afraid of him, for sure.

I don't give in, (so I) throw fastballs in the zone and make him hit it. I figured if I can start a slider a little bit out off the plate that he'd give up on it, and (I) was able to do it. And it came back over the plate for a strike.

Going into the second or third inning, I knew it was going to be a battle all night. I just never got in a rhythm. It was one of those battling games.

They're not a bad team, ... Any time you go play them, they'll play you hard. It doesn't matter if they're in the race or out of the race.

My back foot slipped off the back of the rubber, and once my feet gave way, I started to throw the pitch anyway, and my mind said, change real quick, don't lob one up there and let the guy hit it out, ... I went ahead and took that one on the chin.

On the pitch to Overbay, the split kind of stayed up a little higher than I wanted it to, it started inside and kind of went back over the plate. I wanted it to start out over the middle and kind of go inside. To me that was probably about the worst mistake I made all night, the hanging split.

Growing up, people used to come by and ask why he spent (so) much time with me out in the yard throwing the ball. Hopefully those guys see that on TV today.

I've faced these guys 50 times it feels like already,

But I like challenges. I always have. I've always been a guy who likes big games. All the way from high school or Little League or the minors, I always liked big games.

Just look at the track record and you'd understand why. Go back three years or go back the first year and see where I've placed against the other pitchers on the team.

I thought it was a key situation of the game, especially 2-1, ... That, and two innings before, when they had guys on, could have blew it wide open with a base hit and I was able to make a quality pitch at the time needed.

To give it to him, that meant more to me than winning it. He didn't want to take it, but that's the way he is,

Tonight it actually felt to me like I was throwing darts at different locations in the strike zone, ... A lot of times when you get long (in the motion), you kind of sling the ball in there instead of just throwing it.

This stadium has a lot of baseball memories in it, and to come back here and pitch in this stadium before it's gone is great. Hopefully the biggest thing with us is to get going early, get in a groove early and hopefully get some momentum going our way.

I thought the way the team was battling and we had been seeing Maddux pretty well, if we could get something going with a hit or get somebody on, I had a good feeling we'd come back.

It ranks right up there with winning the gold medal,

Brad is the type of closer who has amnesia. He won't think about it the next time he gets out there.

That's a pretty good gift for Christmas, for sure.

They all want to hear about it, ... Their day of hanging out was going to the mall. Mine was going hunting and fishing.

I love the pressure. I love pitching in situations where it counts.

My stuff's a little better than it was last year. Last year I was focused on getting another pitch going, a split, and I worked on that more than I worked on my basic stuff, so I kind of lost my feel for it the first two games of the season.

He's a classic, what I'd liken to an old-time baseball player. In the old days, it wasn't so much around power, it was about getting the bat on the ball and creating havoc on the field and getting on base.

It was good to get the sweep. Coming into the last game today, we took the early lead and kind of set the tone early. Having the runs early gives you a little breathing room.

I'm sure he didn't sleep too well Monday night.

I felt OK. My command was pretty good. That's the way it goes.

We had been busting (Edmonds) in with fastballs a lot through the years, and in key situations,

The way the game is now you can't take care of business on the mound,

Yes, I would classify it as one of the biggest games, just because of the history of the team of not getting to the World Series after so many years of getting so close,