I've got four pitches now. I don't have to use them all the time, but I've got them in my pocket now for when it's necessary.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When you don't have one that you throw for strikes - they are good hitters - they can cancel out one pitch and go to another. Now I have four pitches. If one's not working, I've got three others. It makes the game totally different.
You aren't going to stick around long with just two pitches.
Later, I could take something off my slider and I could make my fastball sink, so I really had four pitches.
I wanted to make a lot of good pitches.
It's tougher when you're established. Before, I'd see 13, 14, 15 pitches that I could drive in a game. Now, I see one, two or three, so I have to be better.
In the minor leagues, previous to 2008, I took a lot of pitches. I prided myself on on-base percentage. I made sure that I made the pitcher work.
If I get two strikes, I'll go to a pitch maybe that will help induce that a little bit.
The three most important pitches I threw in my life were all fastballs.
Pitches are like pages of a book; they're so important. The chess game; how I set you up early, and how I'll do it differently later.
I've got a fastball, change-up, forkball, curve, slider, knuckle-slider, knuckle-curve, I had about seven pitches I could have used at any time.