This is what you dream about. This is what you work for.
Spring training, nobody even blinked an eye at us. I think
we were picked to come in fourth in our division. To come
out and to play as well as we did, we had the best record
in the American League, and even after that it seemed
like people still were looking the other way. For the guys
to not let it get to them and for some guys to use it out on
the field, it was great to see.
We’re guys who like to compete.
You’ve got a closer, your setup man, your setup man for your
setup man. If your starter can go out there and give you a
good six, even a good five in the playoffs, he’s pretty much
doing the job they’ve asked him to do. For us to go out and
be able to do that1 and have the confidence from our manager
and our teammates, it’s an honor.
Anything I start, I want to finish.
There’s a lot to learn when you get to the big leagues. I’m
still learning. It’s something that you can’t really put into
words. It’s something that you have to go through in life.
You have to experience it. I’m still learning how to pitch.
I’m still attacking guys. I think that’s one big thing: me
attacking the zone with all my pitches. Instead of trying
to strike guys out and getting guys to swing at bad pitches,
I’m throwing good pitches in the zone.
You’re doing a motion that you’re not supposed to be
doing–coming over the top. It breaks me down. It’s not so
much while you’re pitching. It’s two days after when you
wake up that morning and your body, at least for me, feels
like you got in a car accident. It feels like somebody hit
you in the right side.
I was in a single-parent home with my mother. You know
what? She really didn’t want to push anything upon
me. She wanted me to want it. She wanted me to want
what I was going after. She didn’t make me go out and
play. She didn’t make me sit down and do my work. She
wanted me to be what I was. She wanted me to go
through it and wanted me to learn as a person and a man,
and that’s how it happened.
Back then, I might’ve been a little stubborn at times. Now
that I’m in the situation that I’m in, it’s something I can
look back on and know that she was looking out for the
best for me.
I was only with the Cubs for a year in the minor leagues.
I was drafted pretty high2. I just wanted to get out there
and play baseball. I wanted to show people what I was
capable of doing.
Then you get thrown into this big pot where there’s so
many guys playing and everybody’s good. It’s a matter of
getting a chance and making the best of it.
I had my own expectations–what I wanted to do, when I
wanted to make the big leagues, how I wanted to present
myself. But with the media and the fans, all they have to
go on is what they hear.When they hear someone has a
great fastball and a great curveball, they expect big things
right off the bat, and it’s a learning process. You don’t just
step into a new job and all of a sudden you’re CEO. It
takes time. You’ve got to work your way up.
That was a learning process for me3. I was a kid, 18. I was
out playing baseball, and to be traded, that’s where the
business part comes in. That’s where the politics comes
into baseball. It’s one of those things I learned the hard
way at a young age. I think it was good for me to learn
that young, see that side of it. If anything else came my
way, I think I was able to deal with it.
When you’re finally here you understand what it took and
how long it took and how much patience you need to have.
You’re playing in the backyard, playing with a Wiffle ball
bat and playing with your friends, that’s one of the situations
that you always bring up: Game 7 of the World
Series, two outs. It’s one of those things that you play out
in your head, but now that I’m here, it’s something that’s
better than expected.
We’re not done yet.
– – –
1: Four straight complete games in the American League Championship Series.
2: With the 10th pick of the first round in 1997.
3: Being traded from the Cubs in 1998.
