When we saw him in Spring Training, we knew he had some thunder in his hands. But he's been really good for us all year. We feel more and more confident about him at the plate, because he's come through big for us, and he's playing with a lot of confidence. Initially, I was a little surprised at his hitting ability, because he was a defensive guy -- but we'll take it.

We've still got a lot to learn about each other, a lot to learn about winning. It just feels good to get that first year out of the way. It feels good knowing coming into this camp that you know your personnel better and feel more comfortable with what you expect.

We're right where we want to be, ... I'm positive, man. I feel good about my guys. No gloom and doom. ... Big 10 days coming up. I feel fine.

The Cardinals have a fine team, a real good team. We'll come out next year and try to get the lead or at least stay close -- and stay healthy. They're No. 1 or 2 in pitching, and that shows you how important pitching is. We get our starting pitching healthy and we'll be all right.

These guys are getting a chance to play that they wouldn't ordinarily have. If nothing else, they're impressing us and everybody else who has seen them. In order to have a good team, in order to have a good organization, you have to be deep in certain positions.

He's one of the premier leadoff men in the game. Anybody that follows baseball knows it's tougher to find a good leadoff man than a good power hitter. We're very, very excited to have Juan Pierre.

He still has a shot, but it's not nearly as good as it would have been if he was healthy.

I had Bo. I know Bo has good stuff, especially if he's healthy. He said his arm is good. The guy knows how to pitch. He can throw every day, he'll never complain, you won't know he's around. He was a pleasure to have on my team. He's looking for an opportunity, and that's what will give him an opportunity.

I'm seeing a fresh start to me. I've got a pretty good idea, watching him hit, of his strengths and weaknesses. When the games start, I'll get an even better idea. The thing I don't know yet is, is he a fast starter? Slow starter? It's like with D-Lee -- how many at-bats does he need?

I'm looking for health, I'm looking for bat speed, I'm looking for leg speed. It's hard to compare a youngster to a veteran player in Spring Training. The advantage always goes to the young player. There are some things I'm looking for. You want to see progress as spring goes on. I've got a pretty good idea of what he can do. I'm looking for what's left.

I like his speed and his attitude, and he switch-hits and plays all three outfield positions. He asks good questions. He's hungry to learn.

I like a lot about him. I like his speed, like his attitude, he switch-hits, he plays all outfield positions, he asks good questions, he's hungry to learn and he enjoys playing.

The last few days, we haven't been as sharp. Baseball players aren't used to getting up at 5, 6 o'clock every morning. You have one day off in six weeks, that's a pretty good grind.

That's a real good sign. It shows the kind of guys we have here.

New York hasn't been too good to us. It hasn't been too good to a lot of people.

It's good for us because we're counting on them. They're on the team, and we feel they're ready to handle it. The more success they have, the more comfortable they feel, and the more comfortable all of us feel.

For a while it didn't look too good because we were hitting the ball hard and on the nose, but right at people. We scored when we had to and the bullpen did a good job.

I told them what we're looking for. Hopefully, start the season injury-free, you build it up through the season, you'd like to get off to a good start, and we're looking for a championship -- the same thing we're looking for every year.

It's a good experience for your confidence, especially for Michael, to feel like you're an All-Star. D-Lee's been an All-Star. When you're on a team like that with other stars, that builds your confidence. 'Hey, man, I'm a star.' I think it's better for Michael in that situation confidence-wise and psychologically than D-Lee.

It was a very good meeting. We covered some good areas, we covered some problematic areas, and we realize the possible risk and I explained that to him as well.

It was supposed to be a promotional thing, but it's hard to be out there and be good at it and not do something. It's too late now, but I'm sure they won't have any other promotions.

It's just not playing good defense. They're playing hard. Playing hard isn't good enough. You have to play to win and play to win every day, and that's what we're here for.

A couple balls caught too much of the plate early, ... We were still in the ballgame, and we ended up giving away like four runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues. We didn't play very good defense today.

A couple balls caught too much of the plate early. We were still in the ballgame, and we ended up giving away like four runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues. We didn't play very good defense today.