Quote: Billy, Willie and Brian on Maine
In last night’s win over the Nationals, John Maine allowed one run and three base runners in the first inning, but rebounded to allow just one run through the next six more innings while striking out four.
Billy Wagner on Maine:
“I think he came to camp thinking he needed to be so much better than he needs to be…I remember me and [Schoeneweis] talking to him and saying, ‘Hey, have fun.’…Don’t make it tougher than it already is, and put pressure on yourself to hit spots and stuff like that. I said, ‘Just go out there and try to make quality pitches, if you do good, if you don’t, move on to the next guy.’ There’s too much to try to sit there and worry about if you’re trying to worry about every pitch and every situation, just go out there and face them one at a time.”
Brian Schneider on Mane:
“I was worries, because he was getting his pitch count up early. But, he settled in to a pretty good rhythm. He got some quick outs, some nice double plays. Overall, I know he wasn’t happy with it, he was frustrated in the end, he couldn’t finish out the seventh inning, but overall, he got his first win and I was happy with the way things turned out. Obviously, we got the win and that’s all that matters.”
…no one asked, and he’d never say, but my best is that this type out of outing from maine is exactly what Willie Randolph had hoped to get from Oliver Perez earlier in the week, and didn’t, and is why willie was so upset with ollie…maine was on the ropes, but buckled down, pitched small, commanded the inning and then got back on track…ollie can do this, but doesn’t do it enough…
