I've learned over the years that it doesn't matter where you pitch in the rotation. For me, preparation is everything.
If I don't make the team out of spring training, I'll keep a good attitude. I'll just go polish up the parts of my game that made me not stay in the big leagues.
Sometimes I felt I got caught up kind of going into the clubhouse non-chalantly sometimes, because all of the other guys in the clubhouse didn't go there with one goal in mind.
You can go up in the air and everything is gone. You know, you don't think about baseball. You don't think about anything. It's just something that takes you away from everyday life. I love being in a plane and looking down to see traffic on the freeway
Since the trade, I was just thinking about this day and mentally preparing to not get too excited. I knew I was going to have some extra adrenalin out there so I was really doing what I needed to do just to stay calm, you know, just try not to do too much.
Ninety-nine percent of pilots that go up never have engine failure, and the 1 percent that do usually land it. But if you're up in the air and something goes wrong, you pull that parachute, and the whole plane goes down slowly.
On the days I'm pitching, it's almost a coin flip as to know if the guys behind me are going to be there to play 100%.
I made a lot of good friends in Philadelphia and the last thing that I would want to do is dog anyone in that clubhouse. If I made it sound like that, it was a mistake.
The flying? I'm not worried about it. I'm safe up there. I feel very comfortable with my abilities flying an airplane.
I want to win as much as anybody. But what am I supposed to do? Go cry in my apartment for the next two weeks?