Oswalt:
“The way we’ve been scoring, instead of throwing to get around him and get to other guys, I was trying to get a double play and leave the game at 2-0 instead of maybe putting him on and making it 3-0 and try to get out of it from there. I did the same thing last year, first two games. We didn’t do well offensively and I was trying to be too fine and not give up one or two runs instead of just pitch.”
Berkman on Pujols:
“He’s the best hitter in the game. He continues to do things that are amazing. I don’t think anything he did would surprise me. If he homered in 10 straight at-bats, it wouldn’t surprise me. He’s that good.”
Wright on Pujols:
“He’s a tough out. You make good pitches and that’s all you can hope for. You can’t control whether he hits them or not. I think I made pretty decent pitches on him. The home run was a slider down and in, and he was able to get the barrel on it and get it down the left-field line.”
Pujols on Oswalt:
"That guy is just nasty. He knows how to pitch; he knows how to keep you off balance. Obviously, if you can see some other pitches he's got it can help you later on. If I'm starting an All-Star Game right now I take Oswalt from the right side. From the left side I'll take Johan Santana. They're unbelievable and so competitive. He takes the ball every fifth day. It's what I admire about him. He's not afraid to throw his pitch. He's going to challenge everybody, it doesn't matter who it is. From a short guy like that you don't think he's going to challenge you. But throwing 95 or 97, he's pretty tough."
Berkman on the offense:
“It’s frustrating whenever you keep getting guys on base and you can’t come up with any runs,” Berkman said. “It seems like we’ve done that a lot, but the good news is we’re getting guys on base against pretty tough pitching, and I think given enough chances we’re going to score runs in bunches. We just haven’t done it yet.”
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
