Roy Oswalt

My stuff's a little better than it was last year. Last year I was focused on getting another pitch going, a split, and I worked on that more than I worked on my basic stuff, so I kind of lost my feel for it the first two games of the season.

But I like challenges. I always have. I've always been a guy who likes big games. All the way from high school or Little League or the minors, I always liked big games.

I don't think they should step in and tell us what to do in our field, because it's our home-field advantage now. I think Chicago had their advantage there cold, windy. They've been playing in it all year we haven't. So let's bring it back home and give the advantage to us now.

They're not playing for anything, but they still give 100 percent,

To give it to him, that meant more to me than winning it. He didn't want to take it, but that's the way he is,

It ranks right up there with winning the gold medal,

Roger looked good, especially not pitching in two weeks (because of a strained left hamstring),

They all want to hear about it, ... Their day of hanging out was going to the mall. Mine was going hunting and fishing.

Last year is history this is a completely different situation. We just need one win, and we proved we could win at Busch Stadium already in this series. We just need to buckle down, play hard and get it done.

People don't see what we see. His leadership is something you can't replace. It's like a brother leaving a team.

I thought the way the team was battling and we had been seeing Maddux pretty well, if we could get something going with a hit or get somebody on, I had a good feeling we'd come back.

I thought we had good chances. I always thought we had a good chance when I was pitching and it was 4-0.

Brad, he's the type of closer that has amnesia, he won't thinking nothing about it next time he gets out there. He'll come out at the end of the next game, and I'm sure he'll be lights-out just like he always is.

Brad is the type of closer who has amnesia. He won't think about it the next time he gets out there.

They're not a bad team, ... Any time you go play them, they'll play you hard. It doesn't matter if they're in the race or out of the race.

We kidded him the whole time on the plane, ... We told him we almost got hit by the ball when it took off.

He's been doing a good job all year. They told him last week they're going to use him more and more down the stretch. He's up for it. He can throw two innings at a time. He did a good job tonight, especially the pickoff in the ninth inning.

I think they made adjustments after the first two times through the lineup,

I've faced these guys 50 times it feels like already,

Tonight it actually felt to me like I was throwing darts at different locations in the strike zone, ... A lot of times when you get long (in the motion), you kind of sling the ball in there instead of just throwing it.

Growing up, people used to come by and ask why he spent (so) much time with me out in the yard throwing the ball. Hopefully those guys see that on TV today.

It was good to get the sweep. Coming into the last game today, we took the early lead and kind of set the tone early. Having the runs early gives you a little breathing room.

We kidded with him the whole time on the plane today. We actually told him we almost got hit by the ball when it took off, ... The mood on the plane was actually pretty cool.

Everyone knows I don't try to walk anybody.

The important thing is you can't let an 8-0 lead go to waste. The biggest thing is us getting the win. It doesn't matter how we got it.