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Seven innings, three starts in a row, that's an improvement for me, and that's what I want to do: be out there in the game longer.

Six innings, you're doing your job. That's a good target to have, but I'm always looking to improve. There's three more innings of improvement left.

Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.

Just because you're down to your last strike, you're not out yet. You can always do more. You'll always have more at-bats to take. That's true in baseball, in rescuing animals, and in life, generally.

I might have a great game hitting, but if I'm not having a great game fielding, if I feel like I let a guy get an extra base that I could have stopped, that's something I've got to do better, got to get better at.

My pitching philosophy is simple - keep the ball way from the bat.

I'm a huge advocate of pitching. You have to have good pitching as the solid core, the foundation. It keeps you in every game.

It helps if the hitter thinks you're a little crazy.

I've pitched too many innings and pitched too many years - one game doesn't make or break my career.

When I hit, I felt I was in control of the home-plate area, and it was important that I felt that way. If I let the pitcher control it, it would give him an advantage.