Quotations

«We're chugging along. Chugging along.»

«I don't foresee him here anytime before the All-Star break. If he could get better and give us a half like he did last year n the second half (in 2006) instead of the first half.»

«I don't [care] what he uses, as long as at the end of the night we've got six, seven, eight innings out of his [butt] with a chance to win the game. We've been picking it up as a staff. It would be great to get another little shot in the arm where, 'Hey, Garland is getting it going boys. Here's another guy on board.»

«All I know is if my family isn't there, I'm not the same guy. And I don't have to throw a pitch.»

«He became that guy in the second half.»

«He's a man-child. He's a man-child that got a man's save [pitching two innings] a couple of days ago.»

«[He talked the team's executives into letting him try to pitch out of the bullpen at year's end and then found himself on the playoff roster in place of young Brandon McCarthy, who pitched well the last month of the regular season after being called up in late August.] We took some heat for putting El Duque on the roster, but we had to go with our heads and not our heart, ... He told us he could do it. I don't know how old he is but he's got the mind and the body of a 25-year-old. He's been through this stuff before. He's been in big situations before. But I don't think he's ever been in [stuff] like this before.»

«He's got toughness, heart and he's pretty calm. He's been in some pretty big moments for a 24-year-old guy coming up from Double-A. And he's really handled it.»

«We're just like 'Boys Town,' ... We believe there's no such thing as a bad boy.»

«His confidence is where it needs to be.»