It's a very big mental game, all day leading up to warm-ups. You're not sure if your curveball will break, or will you be able to throw it over the plate? It's all negative thoughts going into the game.
Al Leiter
You put deadlines on people you really don't want, because that's how you feel about them.
Pitches are like pages of a book; they're so important. The chess game; how I set you up early, and how I'll do it differently later.
For seven years, I was in this fishbowl with this intensity, with all the stuff that went on with the Mets.
I did not want to leave the Mets and I did not want to leave New York.
The pitcher setting up the batter. It's chess, and you play with it.
I look at this as a second life. Every game feels like an event. Every pitch matters. I need that. It elevates your aggressiveness.
But I'm still not 100% convinced that Roger Clemens took steroids. I'm not.
I think the World Cup is going to be bigger than what a lot of people are anticipating. At this stage in my career, when there is an opportunity, albeit a small one, of being on the team, what a great way to possibly end my career.
I love the game very much, but when you were a certain type of player for a few years, being a front-end starter, that's the way I still think I can pitch. But the body tells you no.
I like starting. It's pretty cool.
Announcers don't do enough of the cat-and-mouse strategy and all the work that goes into it. You watch a broadcast and guys get the pitches wrong.
