We did everything we could to get ourselves back in it. We were a base hit from tying it or a ball in the gap from taking the lead. You have to have a lot of good things happen to do that.

Obviously, he helped make us a good baseball team two years ago.

Only the one run wasn't going to be good enough, and we gave them two others.

I would be remiss if I said there were not philosophical differences as far as the club and how we put it together, what would work and not work. The disruption and focus loss with players is not good for anyone. That's where I felt strongly that it was important to wipe the slate clean.

If this kid maintains the same type of mentality and approach that he possesses right now, it's a matter of time before you start strongly talking about the fact that he is a candidate to come here and start a Major League game. I look at this guy as being a very good starting pitcher some day.

I don't care what the numbers suggest. I thought the life to his fastball was as good as we've seen all spring. I think there could have been a couple different choices he made in a few two-strike counts, but I'll tell you: He was throwing nothing but quality pitches in the strike zone. ... He was actually too fine.

I could sit here and talk about those things until I'm blue in the face, but those are things if you're going to become a good club you have to pick up on and capitalize. Thus far, we've not been able to do that.

Go ahead and take that gun. What was important was the life of the pitch when it's entering the hitting area. That was as good as I've seen him.

He got 13 ground ball outs, and that's good for a nine-inning game. That's an indication of how well he pitched. That's a very positive sign ... It's March 18th, and you want to see your pitchers starting to sharpen.

We threw a ton of strikes and we made some very good 0-2 pitches.

He's a good little offensive player. He looks like he belongs in the majors. This kid knows how to play. And he's a winner.

He's been terrific. He looks to me like a very good baseball player and a very good number two hitter.

He's going to have a lot more good days than bad days, because he gets it.

We made the most of three first-inning runs. The reason: Derek Lowe. For the fourth game in a row, he's been phenomenal. Not good, not great, but phenomenal. I can not say enough good things about Derek Lowe.

He was real good early, and then his command wavered some there in the fourth and fifth inning. The next hurdle that he needs to overcome is to maintain the consistency of his delivery throughout the course of his start. He's making strides.

He was fine. He was up in the zone early and pitched from behind more than I'd like, but he had good stuff.

It could end up being a good thing and relieve some tightness,

I thought he did a nice job; he battled and made some good pitches when he had to.

I thought Ryan caught a good game. He certainly will go back out there.

Pitching and defense has been the name of the game in baseball forever. I don't care what level you're playing at. My philosophy since I started managing has been that, before you can look at any other phases, you've got to feel fairly comfortable that you've got some people who can pitch and you've got to be able to catch the ball. If you can't do either one, your chances of being very good are slim.

It doesn't get any better than that. It's what we've been talking about all spring - we went up there looking for something good to take a swing at.

I thought he had a very good workout. ... I think it's a good one to build on. His next time out, you get him out there a little bit further, he's set up to go for Opening Day.

That was as good an at-bat as we've seen taken all year.

We have three good catchers. Our attitude is we're looking forward to seeing what they can do.

We had something going on in the fifth, it looked like we had a chance to get back in the game, but they cut the inning off. We took some good at-bats off him, we created some opportunity for ourselves ... but from watching him, he's got a crisp fastball and his breaking ball also is very sharp.

Tonight was, in my opinion, dramatically better than what we saw in Florida. In Florida, he battled, but his fastball command was erratic. Tonight, it was crisp, it was good to both sides of the plate. It's a big step forward for him.

This was a pretty good example of it.

We did a good job of coming back against a very good ballclub.

Every team needs people like that. It's not just what he does as a third base coach, and I happen to be believe he's very good at what he does. Having this guy as a buffer between my office and the clubhouse ... that's huge.

Did the starting pitcher give you a chance every fifth day to go out there and win? -- that's the biggest element I look at. (Santos) was pretty good at that last year.

First of all, I happen to think he was a pretty good player before he was selected to play for his country. I don't need to see him go play for Mexico to see that. But, absolutely, it can be a confidence-building experience.

Things are going to be done differently than they've been done in the past, I can promise you that. And it's going to be different in a good way.

I've never signed up for anything with the thought in mind that I wanted to be mediocre. I feel pretty good about it.

At some point in time you always face a little adversity. The good clubs overcome things like this.

As long as he keeps his focus and continues to realize there is no real opportunity to be satisfied and he maintains that hunger, ... he could wind up being a real good pitcher in the Major Leagues.

Zach Duke did a good job. He had to battle, obviously.

It's a good thing to see. You want to be cautious about where they are, not push too hard, let them work at their own pace, but you like to see them out there throwing a baseball.

It's going to be tough to score off us in the latter part of the game. If a starter has the know-how and capability of getting 18 outs with a slim lead, we're in pretty good shape.

Derek Lowe, for the fourth time in a row, was phenomenal, ... Not good. Not great. Phenomenal. ... I can't say enough good things about Derek Lowe the last four times he's pitched. Unbelievable.

I'm not sitting here suggesting that guys don't get hits on an 0-2 or a 1-2 pitch ... but ordinarily, on 0-2, you don't see balls get hammered. When you come up through a minor-league system, you know early on that when you get a hitter 0-2, a ball sitting right in the middle of the plate is not a very good location.

I'm not advocating we take the first pitch every time we walk up there. But, if you're going to take a swing at a first pitch, have it be a really good swing. If we keep preaching that, there won't have to be a whole lot said if you make a weak out on a marginally bad first pitch. It's not the way you play winning baseball.

I know the numbers didn't look too good. However, the thing I was very impressed is that he, for the most part, pitched ahead, threw a lot of strikes and threw some very good breaking pitches. He went after hitters, and that's something we are very interested in seeing.

If you want to swing off of live pitching, go right ahead. But recognize the fact of what a strike is and what a ball is. Let's get a good swing at a good pitch.

You want this whole environment to be fun for them. You want the game of baseball to be fun. You can have fun and also be involved in a businesslike manner and continue to utilize the techniques that we have been talking about over the course of these four days. You can get something done and have people going into the clubhouse with a good feeling about themselves.

One of the things that young players have to not only learn but gain an admiration for is the respect factor of the game and the people who have participated in previous years, and an understanding of the history of the organization they are playing in. It's an organization very rich in tradition.

We made the most of three first-inning runs. The reason: Derek Lowe. For the fourth game in a row, he's been phenomenal. Not good, not great, but phenomenal. I can not say enough good things about Derek Lowe.

He was terrific tonight. I certainly would hope that this is a game he can build on. He doesn't have anything left to prove in the Minor Leagues. He has to prove that he belongs here, and I think he started to tonight.

He was terrific. He looked like it was his third or fourth game of the spring, not his first. And I liked his approach at the plate, too.

Just giving him two or three days. Hey, that kid can fall out of bed and hit. The first game we played he had three hits and every one was smoked. I said right then, 'Let's put him in a humidor until Opening Day. Why does he need to be out here?

Pitching and defense has been the name of the game in baseball forever. I don't care what level you're playing at. My philosophy since I started managing has been that, before you can look at any other phases, you've got to feel fairly comfortable that you've got some people who can pitch and you've got to be able to catch the ball. If you can't do either one, your chances of being very good are slim.