I had a long conversation with Steve Carlton. He told me that on the days he pitched, he felt it was his responsibility to make everyone around him better, to lift his teammates. That's what I try to do.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Mental attitude and concentration are the keys to pitching.
It's very important to go pitch-by-pitch and game-by-game and not getting too far ahead of myself. In the past, it was trying to make up for a bad game and thinking ahead and what do I have to do to fix this.
I set myself high standards on the pitch and I know I have not always lived up to them this season.
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.
It's not just what you do on the pitch, it's what you do off the pitch.
If I'm playing higher up the pitch, it's important I don't get carried away and start dropping too deep and I stay in my position.
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.
I pitched and I played the outfield.
Baseball is all about pitching, and we know we have to improve our pitching.
My pitching philosophy is simple - keep the ball way from the bat.