Postgame Quotes
April 21, 2010
Postgame Quotes
Kansas 1, Missouri 0
April 21, 2010 – Kansas City, Mo.
Kansas head coach Ritch Price
On the low score of the game:
“It’s a lot better to be on the winning side than the losing side. I didn’t think it would end in a 1-0 baseball game, so we tried for a run there late. I thought the one (Missouri senior Aaron) Senne hit (in the sixth) was a home run. At Hoglund Ballpark it would have been.”
On the performance of Thomas Taylor:
“I was really pleased with him. His command has improved since the start of the year. He’s improved his slider. He’s right on the verge of becoming an impact guy, and that’s what we expected him to be when we recruited him.”
On Taylor pitching in Kauffman Stadium:
“I think one of the great things about coming here is that for pitcher from Overland Park, Kan., who is a Royals fan, you can’t walk into a better environment. You dreamed about this your whole life and you can be pretty jacked. I think he showed some adrenaline. He actually gave a half-fist bump which, for him, is a lot of emotion.”
On the line-up change:
“We’ve been struggling at the back end of our line-up. Now, because (Jimmy) Waters has been hot, guys will start to pitch around him until the people behind him are productive. We have not been doing that, so I moved Casey Lytle into my sixth hole so I have my six best hitters in a position to knock runs in. I moved Brandon (Macias) to the first spot because when we get guys in scoring position, we’re going to move people on and set the table for Robby (Price) and Brian (Heere). We’re going to see if we can start manufacturing runs with those four in our line-ups.”
Kansas junior outfielder Jimmy Waters
On the lack of offense:
“I guess that it was just one of those games. None of us were expecting that, when we put up that first run, I thought that we were going to score eight or nine runs onthese guys. It did not turn out that way. We just did not get clutch hits and we are glad to get out of here with a win.”
On Thomas Taylor’s performance:
“I told Thomas that I would like to see that guy pitch every time. That was a big-time performance for him. He was just dominating them. We got him in trouble one inning with Tony Thompson’s error and he pitched out of it. He is not pitching like an inexperienced freshman anymore. It was big for him to go out there and get a solid start and for our bullpen to come out.”
On beating Missouri:
“It feels sweet. I do not want to put any locker room material out, but obviously after last year we had a pretty bitter taste in our mouth after the way that series ended. We need to take care of business in the (Big 12) series in two weeks.”
Travis Blankenship
On pitching well at Kauffman:
“The Royals are my team, so it felt good. Anytime you are playing in a major league park it’s just a great feeling. It’s fun just to be out where major leaguers are throwing. I just had a lot of adrenaline going. It was fun out there today.”
On if he thought that KU would score more runs:
“I figured that since we had been swinging the bat well, that we would score some more runs. But our guys did what they needed to do and they battled. That is the good thing about our team every time they get two strikes those guys are battling for it. We just try to do the same as a pitching staff.”
