Pavano Post-Start Quotes

Pavano told me that he did not know where his next start would be.  I asked, he said “no.”  Thrilling stuff, I know.

Here’s some of his other quotes…

“I feel pretty good.  That’s the most pitches I’ve thrown.  I felt like I was erratic.  These guys put some good swings on some good pitches, and I also gave in to some counts where I was behind.  You can’t pitch behind, that’s when guys are going to do their biggest damage.  They were battling, I threw a lot of pitches to a lot of guys.  There were quite a few at-bats that went deep, four or five pitches.  I left some pitches over the plate.  Obviously the results weren’t what I’d like, but I’m coming out feeling good and something to build off, which is what I’m really looking forward to.”

“That was quite a few pitches in the first inning, but I was just fighting myself a little bit.  I’d find it, and then I’d try to find it and feel for it, and it was just one of those starts where you’ve got to battle.  80 pitches should get me a lot further than four and a third, but I wasn’t that sharp.”

“I’ve been through injuries since the beginning of my career.  I’ve been through adversity.  So I learned at a young age that you’ve just got to keep working.  I’ve never stopped working or pushing to be the best or striving to have success.  I think eventually that turns into what you want, and that’s to have success.  Yes, I’ve had bad luck here and things happen here and an injury here, but that’s never really got me down.  Yes, it’s frustrating that you have to start from ground zero when you want to be out there helping your team.  I haven’t been able to do that, that’s the frustrating part.”

“I felt like I had a pretty good life on the ball and some movement, but it’s tough to tell.  I’ve had starts where I feel like I was working real hard and I thought the ball was coming out better than it was, so I try not to judge it until I look at the chart.  But you can’t put too much emphasis on that right now, especially after having the surgery.  Location’s the biggest thing, velocity is just a plus.  As your location gets better with better velocity, the results sometimes come.  But I can’t put too much bearing on that right now.”

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com