The main thing is I worked on keeping the ball down in the zone, and 75 percent of the time I did keep it down, instead of 50-50.

If I had to go (into the season) with that, I would be (ticked). Going into the season with this start - you know - not that happy about it.

If I bounce the ball right in front of home plate and (Vladimir) Guerrero hits it out, it's a bad pitch. So, it's not a good pitch.

If I can do that during the season without giving up the home runs and stuff, I'm happy. I look for one- or two-pitch outs. I don't like to strike people out.

He told me from the get-go to win a job as a starter I was going to have to come in and work hard. The only thing I can do when they give me the chance is to throw strikes and get people out. In the end they'll choose who's best suited for that spot and we'll see what happens.

I just leave the ball down the middle for Schneider and he did what he was supposed to do. I'm glad he didn't hit a home run.

I just missed off the plate. I'd rather that than miss over the plate and them hit it over the wall.

I'm pretty happy with the way I threw. In Baltimore, I pushed the envelope a little more because I was a veteran. Over here, I'm fighting for a spot.

I'm looking forward to this. I'm looking forward very much to pitching.

I knew why I was there. I could've tried to do it by myself and suck it up. But why do that if I could go get more help from capable people and see different ways to handle it? If anybody wants to talk about it, I'll talk about it. If you want to do it, you do it. If not, you won't do it. Some people sit there 30 days, walk out the door and start drinking again. It's all about what you really want. Do you want to change? I did.