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.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
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.
I want to be the guy that can go out there and go at least seven, eight innings every time out.
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.
Any time you can go out there and throw 12 pitches in any inning, you give your team some momentum coming in and get some confidence out on the mound.
You aren't going to stick around long with just two pitches.
The cutter has really helped me stay in the game longer and helped me get past the five, six innings a little more consistently.
I've pitched too many innings and pitched too many years - one game doesn't make or break my career.
I'm proud of the fact that I pitched almost 3,300 innings.