As much as you love to finish games and all that kind of stuff, at the same time as a starting pitcher you hate to come out of a game where your closer has no margin for error, ... So at least with one guy on, Braden's got a little margin to make a mistake.

There is no second baseman in the game who can turn the double play better [than Mark Lemke]. Why are people always looking for offense at that position? What's more important is getting outs, and turning the double is a huge factor in getting outs.

Everything with me is normal except when I pitch (in Fenway Park). When I pitch here it's a little different. There is a little more anxiety to go along with the nostalgia because this is the park I grew up with as a kid. This is the park I dreamed of playing Major League Baseball in and no other ballpark has that feeling for me. There are a lot more family and friends here than in my normal starts and I want to pitch well here.

It gives me a sense of tunnel vision.

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

There's nothing better than a team that comes out of nowhere and finds themselves in the World Series.

Bobby Cox had the biggest influence in my career and probably the second- or third-biggest influence in my life.