Valverde, who had been dealing with the sore back, on whether or not he should have pitched last night:
“Yeah, I have to pitch. It doesn’t matter what, because this is my team and this is my game. What happened today is over. I have to focus for tomorrow and do my job. “I threw my best pitch for this guy and he hit it. Tomorrow’s a new day. Everything OK. That guy made the home run. What am I going to do?”
Cooper, on Valverde:
“He’s fine. Jose’s fine. He told me before the game tonight (after) I said, ‘Do you want me to close in the ninth inning tonight?’ And he said, ‘No. I got it.’ He’s fine. No ailments at all.”
JJO, on Valverde:
Actually, he's not fine. Guys like Ramon Hernandez don't normally hit two-run homers off Valverde when he's fine.
Oswalt, on the Reds' approach:
“I thought they made me throw the ball over the plate. We had some quick innings. A lot of times it felt like I put my hat down and had to run back out. It’s a battle, you know? I threw some quality pitches when I needed it.”
Dusty Baker, on the outcome of the game:
“That would have been a real tough loss. They (The Astros) didn’t really deserve to win it.”
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
