Dave Duncan
Dave Duncan
afraid aggressive ball bottom keeping pitch pitching strike zone
We're not afraid to use Hancock. As long as he's pitching the way we think he should pitch, which is aggressive and keeping the ball in the bottom of the strike zone for the most part, he can pitch in any part of the game.
facing ready seeing situations start
From here on out he's going to start seeing more situations like that and he's going to be facing big lefthanders. And he's going to have to be ready to start getting them out.
agreed difficult efforts games himself needs putting situations start talked thinks wants
I don't think (Looper) is where he needs to be yet, and I don't think he thinks he's where he wants to be yet. I know he's not because we talked about it. It's a long season. I think it's more important we concentrate our efforts into getting him into some games and some situations where it's not critical. That way he can re-establish himself before we start putting him into difficult situations. He agreed with me.
aware games hard hope influences presents situation win
You can't always do what you would like to do, so you just hope the situation presents itself. You're aware of how much they're throwing, how hard (the starters) are working. That influences what you do. But we're still going to play the games and try to win them.
adjusting defense good importance natural pitchers pitching placed
It was a natural progression. It was good for the pitchers to know how much importance we placed on defense. We're always adjusting ... defense as well as pitching strategy.
lets sees wants
He lets me do my thing. If there's something he sees that he wants done, then he lets me know that he wants it done and I try and get it done. I'm open-minded to what he has to say.
excessive fine
I thought it was an awfully big fine for what involvement I had. I thought it was an excessive fine.
chart people question stuff
I'll chart anything that I want to know that I think is important. I've had people question it. Sometimes, I've tossed out stuff that I've charted as being not important. Who can say one way is better than the other?
amount best certain exactly figure figured fit good people played quite six takes time
I think we have the makings of a good bullpen. It always takes a certain amount of time when you have new people to figure out exactly how they're going to fit in best with your club. We've played six games. I don't think that's quite enough time to have it figured out yet.
matter stuff swing
His stuff is there, it's just going to be a matter of time. He'll get into the swing of things.
easy game goes last needs nine somewhere starts talk trying
He's just trying to do too much. Is it because he goes 4-5 (in his last nine starts before the game)? Somewhere in there you do something different, and if you get off your game it's easy to talk about and not easy to get back on it. He needs to get back on his game.
associated award blue dominant guy
I think the only other guy I've been associated with who was that dominant was (AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner) Vida Blue in 1971. It's just no contest.
direction gone playing
As I told Flores, if we were playing a different team, we may have gone a different direction.
contribute expect game gets
If Looper gets his game back, which I expect he will, he can contribute as much as Tavarez, if not more.