Brad Mills has some encouraging words for his young team regarding the pleasure of watching the Reds dance around like it's Lord of the Flies in front of them:
"There's no doubt. Any time you experience something like this and go through it, you become better off for it. You'd like to be on the other side of it, but at the same time it's good for these guys to go through it and learn to go through it like they did."
Byrdak:
"You never want to see that. We wanted to come in here and win all three of these games and force them to win a game against somebody else. You never want to see that. You want to be in the playoff race. That's why you play this game, to go out there and win. It does [stink] today."
Wallace:
"It was a great atmosphere and the fans were loud. The biggest thing for us is it can serve as motivation. We want to play in games like that when we're at home with an opportunity to clinch. It's one of those things -- we'll keep our heads down and keep playing hard. We played well the whole time and they got a big hit at the end. It just shows us what we're capable of and what we can play for."
I envision the Astros' rookies working out in a dank weight room, wearing a German swimsuit, crying while lifting weights, and looking at the Cincinnati Enquirer's front page taped to the ceiling. Trust me, I don't want to envision it. But I do.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
