Zitat des Tages von Jon Lester:
You still have to pitch the same game, execute your pitches as best you can. If the shadows end up helping you out, then great, but you can't really worry about that stuff.
Once you make the majors, it's never a great feeling to go back to the minors - no matter what the circumstances.
My dad has ingrained that in me: 'Be accountable.'
Growing up, it was mainly just players I followed more than teams, with the exception of the Mariners. I never really had time to follow a team throughout a season.
The two biggest things that translate from the pitching mound to hunting and fishing are patience and perseverance. When you're on the mound, you have to take the game one pitch at a time, regardless of the score, and that approach helps when I'm in the woods or on the water as well.
Pitchers really don't deal with the managers a whole lot. When we come in the clubhouse, we see him, we say, 'Hey.' That's really it.
Usually during the regular season, if you're starting pitcher, you're kind of walking back and forth from the clubhouse to the dugout and not really paying attention to what's going on.
It might be hard to believe, but as difficult as cancer was, in some ways it was good for me.
I'm a competitor.
As I travel the country for away games, I meet kids fighting cancer in almost every city. They visit the ballpark, and I invite them onto the field so we can chat and then watch the game.