“I do look forward to keeping in touch with the guys because we’ll always be connected in people’s minds.”

I’m not trying to be cocky, but I set such a high standard for myself. I’m not happy when I pitch seven innings and give up two runs and get a win.

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.

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.

I need to set an example, which is great, and I look forward to doing just that.

I hadn’t focused on mechanics since I signed professionally.

I can relate to anyone. I can hang out with stoners, skaters, surfers, stockbrokers, lawyers, athletes, rappers. I feel I can hang out with any group of people and find common ground to talk with them.

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

I can count my friends on one hand.

I’m so secure in myself I couldn’t care less what people think of me.

The outfield is solid, so is the catching and the infield.

I was this 5-7 pudgy kid in high school… I wasn’t a popular kid. I was an outcast.

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.

I just write mechanical things.

When someone becomes successful or rich and famous, people perceive that person as being different. But I’m the same guy I’ve always been.

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 think in the bullpen you can tell during your warmups, if you have a good feel for it. But anything can happen once you get into a game. Sometimes you just wind up throwing it better than ever before one day without knowing why.