Quotes by Lance Niekro

“Its hard to believe were not out of this but we arent.”

“It was nice for me to go where some of my family had so much success, and to have so much family here.”

“Thats what we needed to realize -- we can do that on a daily basis.”

“I worked on my stance, and it felt good to get some good at-bats and a couple of hits off right-handers. Im trying to reverse it a bit.”

“Hed put me on his shoulders and let me try to rob home runs like he did. When youre a kid, you have that energy all the time. You dont realize how long the season is. But Kirby was like us. He was a big kid.”

“Its going well, but I have to keep working hard.”

“He always tells me every time we talk that this is the chance weve been waiting for. This is the year Ive got to go out and prove myself. Hes telling me things I already know. He just wants to make sure he etches them in my head and I take advantage of this opportunity.”

“It felt good to have two at-bats like that to start the season and move further along.”

“One ball moves this way, one ball moves that way.”

“Id love to get more patient at the plate. Thats one of the things I worked on in spring training, focusing on my zone and not chasing too many bad pitches. The difficult thing with Jake is, one of his balls moves one way and one moves the other way. It felt good to have two at-bats like that to start the season.”