It's a very big mental game, all day leading up to warm-ups. You're not sure if your curveball will break, or will you be able to throw it over the plate? It's all negative thoughts going into the game.
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Pitching is what you have best on the day you work, and if you can't get your fastball over the plate, then maybe you can win with your curve.
I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn't throw it past me, none of them.
Baseball calls it a curve ball for a reason: you just don't know where some pitches will land. Your ace could get injured. Your golden glover could err. Your team could sit through a rain delay. Your manager could get ejected. Your bench must be broad and deep enough to overcome.
It's always a danger when you've got a great quarterback that throws the ball well, that scrambles well. You may push him into his asset. You may force him to do what he does best. So you've got to be able to throw curveballs and stop the pass as much as stop the run.
I like the ball in a big game. I'm not afraid to take it.
Sometimes if you want to achieve something great, there will be curveballs. You just have to dodge them every once in a while.
People like us are afraid to leave ball. What else is there to do? When baseball has been your whole life, you can't think about a future without it, so you hang on as long as you can.
I think anytime that you can eliminate the big hit, it's obviously not only going to be good for your team, but it's going to be good for yourself.
When you can throw 97 miles an hour and put the ball over the plate anytime you want, it's fun.
I've been shooting the ball and running a little bit. It's just going out here now and forgetting that I've been out and try to get back in and make sure I know what's going on out there on the floor and that we're just not lost as a team.
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