Any time you face a pitcher the caliber of Chris Carpenter, you get one opportunity against him. He started quick and it took us until the seventh to get our opportunity to crack through.

That second run was the result of 100-percent effort that he's given each time he's on the field. It's a very noteworthy play and the difference in the game. You can't teach that, but winners do things like that. You have to want to do it. I'm impressed with this player. If his bat reaches its potential, he's an every-day Major League player, in my opinion.

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'm not advocating taking a ball on the first pitch every time up there. A couple of times (yesterday), the first pitch was there, and we swung at it. But I'm continuing to see these guys take smart approaches to hitting, and that's encouraging.

He's probably looking at a three-week time frame.

I don't think any of us should spend a whole lot of time being concerned with that. The way it gets better and becomes much more attractive to look at is to address (problem areas).

He's not a stranger to the Major League level, ... I've seen him play a dynamic center field. There was a time where his tools were absolutely electric. He was a very highly touted, talked-about player.

The main thing that I wanted to get across to both of them is to not feel compelled to force things, because the important thing for both of them to realize is that we have two very special Major League players here. We have to find playing time for both because they really kind of complement one another.

I don't want to have those guys out there feel like you're completely jumping the gun. I want to also make it perfectly clear that we are definitely interested in results. And we're going to get to the point where we expect to see very favorable results.

I do feel that way. And that's because I've seen some of the guys in this rotation be very good, even though I was looking at that from afar. What's more, I know that they know what they have to do.

What we're seeing right now is, in my mind, identical to what we saw last year, when it took him a few starts to get untracked, and then you see one quality start after another. His teammates recognize that's he gonna leave everything that he has on the field, and it's very easy to step up for a guy like that.

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.

He had two perfect pitches to bunt. That's the guy you want up there to get the bunt down. You get the bunt down, it makes them have to make decisions. And we had a guy coming up who's a contact hitter who can drive the ball to the outfield to drive the run in.

He may not have seen live pitching, but he's the type of guy who wouldn't take long to resurrect his hand-eye coordination. I don't think he hit 700-and-something home runs by accident. I think you would have to be aware of him.

He's a guy we'd like to get our hands back on so we can start getting him busy with some of the things we have in mind -- namely, stretching him out.

His record wasn't all that impressive, but I've seen this guy do very well at times. And I think the opportunity to acquire somebody in the Rule 5 draft ... it's not all that often you get somebody whose resume from the previous year shows 141 innings.

He's going to get the ball in the ninth inning. We'll see how it goes. We've got a guy who is a complete novice in that environment. But what I see is a player that an opportunity has been created for him and he's seizing the opportunity.

He's part of that organizational depth chart and you like to see a younger guy like that go out and perform well against major-league competition. His outing was very encouraging and it was obvious he was more comfortable this time.

I won't say where they are going to start. But he is the type of guy we are looking for to hopefully place in between two left-handers that have somewhat similar stuff and not give opposing clubs an opportunity to see the same type of stuff on consecutive days.

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.

Is he not a guy going into day one who is considered a Gold Glove candidate -- and a Gold Glove candidate that can go out there and get 200 base hits if he uses the whole field and hits intelligently with the situations that are in front of him?

Think about the ... significance of ... how many at-bats he takes this year with men on base because the guy (Casey) hitting in front of him is going to be on base. There's going to be a number of times that he's going to come up to the plate with people on base and have the opportunity to either extend the inning, put a game away or extend leads. All those possibilities will be there.

The one thing I noticed about this team while watching from the other dugout is that it swung and missed too much. The approach had to change collectively, in my opinion, as far as each and every guy approaches his at bats. You need a group of players that understand that in a given situation it's pretty important for them to try and put the ball in play, and not swing and miss.

As a two-hole hitter, this guy has the capability for doing great things for us offensively.

That's just how well that guy pitches. He just dominated the game.

You're not in a horse race with this guy either. For him to come out here today and do the things that he did, get his work in, I think he's going to go home today feeling like he had a very productive day.

This is about the time he should get started. You're not looking for this guy to be out there for two- and three-inning stints. It's completely unnecessary to do that with him.

You don't want to see a guy go 3-2 on a hitter all the time. (Perez) attacked (yesterday) -- that's what I want to see.

For a guy to come in here and work to improve his versatility, to put on that catcher's gear ... I admire that. I had a 15-minute talk with him, and I told him so. Like I told him, it takes a hell of a lot more than nine players to win. ... I appreciate the demeanor he's shown coming into this camp.

It's great to get him back in camp with us. I saw a guy on TV who really liked the arena that he was in.

In a perfect scenario, you'd have Joe hitting sixth. But if it's not perfect, I could see him hitting fifth, somehow behind Casey and Jason Bay. This is a guy who knows how to keep the offense moving, hit to all fields.

I'm very in tune with that. When a guy gets on a roll and stays on a roll for a little while, you ride that out.

I like what he's done, ... The guy can hit, there's no question about it.

He's the same Sean Casey I've watched over the last seven or eight years. We're talking about a guy that knows how to hit. It's just that simple - he knows how to hit.

He pitched like an ace today -- and he had the demeanor of one. I saw a guy who was extremely interested in wanting to be the ace of the staff.

This is a guy that as we go along you're going to find him pitching a lot of very meaningful games, games of major significance. That's who he is. That's who he's going to become. That's going to be a very easy thing for him to do because he's a person who's not the least bit shy about wanting that type of responsibility.

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.

People wondered was he ever going to 'get it? ... He got it.

He's a special player, a very special player. People know that in our game.

I think it'll put a few more rear ends in the seats. The fact Washington is still very much in it will add to the intrigue. Obviously people go out to see him, no doubt about that.

I think the mistake people made was, many thought he was a finished product. We wanted to back off for a while. We wanted to watch. We didn't want to attack him.

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.

(Playing the Dodgers) is kind of special. It was five years that I spent there. In my opinion they were five very special years. There were a lot of very special things we accomplished there. There were things that some people thought we were never going to have a chance to do, but we did.

I was fairly impressed. We couldn't do anything, and he was still out there in the sixth inning and still getting people out.

This says so much about the City of Pittsburgh and their support of their sports teams. You have a group of people who absolutely love this team.

This whole weekend shows how great a sports town Pittsburgh is. The people here really care about these teams.

There are a lot of very special people who are still there. You build relationships with people in this game, and some you build lifelong relationships with. There are a few over there I have done that with.

We were talking about four different people as possibilities for one spot in the rotation. It makes that situation that much more intriguing in my opinion.

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.

Think about the ... significance of ... how many at-bats he takes this year with men on base because the guy (Casey) hitting in front of him is going to be on base. There's going to be a number of times that he's going to come up to the plate with people on base and have the opportunity to either extend the inning, put a game away or extend leads. All those possibilities will be there.