One game, one pitch can change everything for a hitter. The way I like to approach it is that every at-bat is its own unique opportunity to go out there and do something really good.
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.
My pitching philosophy is simple - keep the ball way from the bat.
The hits and the misses. I just want to keep the at-bats solid.
You play your surroundings. You pitch accordingly. Not that I drastically try to change my game plan based on the score or the team or stadium, but you have to take everything into consideration.
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.
Balls and strikes are the basic tenet to everything in baseball. From the perspective of hitting, pitching, offense and defense, it's all about the strike zone and how the battle is waged there between the pitcher and hitter.
There are certain things I can't do, certain pitches I can't hit. You stay away from them. You try to wait for pitches you can hit. The bat speed isn't what it used to be. You make up for it by using your head, working counts, getting ahead in counts and getting pitches to hit and hitting them hard.
I've pitched too many innings and pitched too many years - one game doesn't make or break my career.
What I need as a player is just to get at-bats, I think.
The bigger the game, the better I liked it. Not that I was about to let anybody know I was excited. I approached every game the same way. One pitch, one hitter at a time.