It's a tough game to lose after the manner in which we came back.

It's going to be just another game to those guys because they've been given at-bats. That's why they've been given at-bats, so that in a situation like this, they're ready and not rusty.

It was a great game. We did everything we could to win the game to avoid being swept.

That's a tough game to lose, and obviously we're being tested early.

I know he wants to retire from the game knowing he did it physically competing at the end, ... You have to admire that.

He's the consummate professional. He plays the game only one way and that's to win. I really think the fans in Pittsburgh are going to love this guy. He's their type of player.

The kid has the pitches to be very good. This was definitely a game for him to build on.

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.

The ebb and flow of the game was how you'd like to see it.

Let me be very clear. When the decision was made that there would be no type of extension offer, I felt very strongly that it was time to move on. In the midst of (a conference call with reporters), the phone at the other end of my house rang and a message was left. Please call.

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 know that we'd be asking that same question ... he had a start in Milwaukee that was awfully good. He had a tough time today.

He had a tough time today, but that happens. You have to keep in mind that he's only 22 years old. He isn't going to be great every time out. I thought his mechanics were off a little bit.

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's the plan right now. But until we see how the leg responds in game-type situations, there is nothing that is completely certain. But there has to be a plan. And for the time being, that is the plan.

Wilson has got a lot on his mind, and he's trying to sort through a lot of difficult things. He's got to mentally take some time and sort some things out.

We have two kids there. Both are very competent kids -- smart enough to understand what we're talking about -- and they will figure it out. We've got to find opportunities for both of them. We'll take it a day at a time and go from there. As I've said all along, with these two guys on the club, I don't want to see either one of them sit for too long a time and not participate. It's advantageous to both of them to do it that way.

We've got to find opportunities for them. I don't want to see either of them sit for any period of time and not participate. We can't let these guys sit for days on end and then ask them to do something special in the seventh or eighth inning.

Exposure is the best teacher, ... It doesn't always work out the way you want it to, but with time and exposure, they grow.

There does come a point in time where reality sets in.

Every time he comes up in a situational at-bat, the job gets done.

Each and every time we creep back into the game, it's followed up by additional runs by the other side of the field. And when you're trying to play catch up, and it continues to go further and further away from you, you're trying to get back in the game three or four times a game that's tough to do.

Each time we creep back into the game, it's followed up by additional runs from the other side of the field. When you're trying to get back into a game three or four times a day, that's tough to do.

Is he a candidate to have an opportunity to make the club? I don't know the answer to that. We'll take it a day at a time and see how he progresses from a health standpoint. If he comes along quicker, that obviously creates more options for us.

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

Zach's doing what he needs to do to get his work done. It takes time -- that's all part of spring training.

This is about the time to get him going.

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.

It's been suggested to J.D. for the time being to back off as far as swinging the bat. Am I saying we will not see him for the rest of the year? I'm not saying that.

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.

Derek Lowe, for the fourth time in a row, was just phenomenal. Not good, not great, phenomenal.

It's important for Duffy to find a way to reach first base without getting a hit every time he's up.

Not all of our starters are 22 years old, but we do have four of them that are 24 or less. We have to allow a little bit of time to allow these guys to have the opportunity to stabilize themselves.

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.