I view my pitching on how confident I was out there, period. And if I lose that confidence, I can become a prisoner of my own mind.

I looked up to my father when I was 7 and 8. I believed it was my calling to be in the big leagues. I'd been raised by a family that always told me I could do anything I wanted.

I refuse to be molded into some stereotypical ballplayer that has no interests, really, no life, no depth, no intelligence.

There's a part of me that wants to go streak and run outside and jump around and go swim in the ocean and do everything. The other part of me wants to bear down and repeat this kind of performance next year and in the years to come.

I'm OK being the veteran, but I'm still just a kid.

When I'm doing well, it's like I'm in a nice little ballet. Everything is going slow all around me. It's very peaceful.

Some people pray to a totem pole, some people pray to a sun, some people pray to a god. It all works for them. It all comes back to what you think.