Paul Byrd Quotes

"I started crying — I hate to admit it, ... I didn't ask for that. It blew me away."

"I'm honored, excited and glad they're giving me the ball. I'm ready to go."

"In my mind, you can only keep Vladimir Guerrero down so long."

"I love the pressure and I love that every game counts. I've been on last-place teams and first-place teams, and this is what it's all about. Coming down to the wire, every pitch means something and you can't take anything for granted. It's very exciting. I think all of our guys have really turned it up a notch."

"I love the feel of it, the big wall. It has its own unique feel. I like seeing some of the skyline in the background."

"That's not something that's gonna happen a lot with me. I pride myself on making you earn first base."

"It gets you fired up. I know they don't do it on purpose, but it brings you to another level."

"It feels good to go out and give a good performance, ... Our team did a good job scoring for me."

"I feel like because of my performance, we were never really in it."

"I think I figured it out, ... All teams that start with T give me trouble. Tampa, Toronto, Texas. But in all honesty, it's the way it goes. The balls I threw on the corners they hit and the ones over the middle they crushed. It's just one of those nights."

"It was phenomenal to get that type of run support. You only get that two or three times a year, so it was nice that they were able to pick me up. I appreciated that."

"He's a talented player, a fun player to watch. You don't want to miss any of his at-bats."

"I just wanted to throw strikes and give a good performance. If I get beat, I want it to be throwing strikes, not walking people. After the Shelton home run, I was able to stop overthrowing and get my control settled."

"I'm the Rodney Dangerfield of parents. Last year, Colby said, 'Why do they want your autograph? You're only average."

"He's a big-game pitcher and a big competition pitcher. He pitches well against everybody, and not just the smaller lineups. He had some guys at the plate tonight with a lot of RBIs, and he made them look uncomfortable."

"I was just glad that Mike had given me the ball. In Game 1, they had a lot of confidence in me. Even when I struggled in New York he had a lot of confidence in me even though I was losing velocity. So I felt honored that they trusted me and gave me the ball. That doesn't change even though the situation is different."

"It came down to a few plays of execution. We were able to execute. It's not a situation where they failed. We just executed well."

"That's me, contact all over the place. Ground balls, fly balls, that's my game. More times than not, I'll take that. I'll definitely take that with the defense I have behind me here."