Leadership comes by the example you set through your work. It begins from the way you are perceived as a worker and the respect that comes with it.

I throw better than anybody in college and I can throw with anybody in the pros. There, that's what I think.

I know I've got to just keep throwing the ball. That's what I do best.

You get into feeling like you are in a zone. You can't be stopped. It's a good feeling but it never lasts.

You need to feel that the game is important to you. Lose that feeling and you lose your edge. There's no faking that kind of emotion. You can't invent the feeling. It's got to be natural, real.

I've tried, at every step in life, to find a lesson. And accepting criticism with the same grace that you do the applause is something every young athlete needs to learn. ... I think it served me well to learn how to handle everything that came with the game's ups and downs. Some people call it growing another layer of skin. I just call it growing up.

I look at it this way. I'm not putting age limits on what I can do. As long as I can do the job to help the team win and feel like I'm playing at a high level, which I feel I can do for a long while, I'm going to play no matter what my age is.