Manager Dave Trembley had nothing but good things to say about Brian Matusz after tonight's 2-0 victory over the Phillies.
"Doesn't matter who he faces, doesn't matter what lineup he's facing, he doesn't get out of his lane," Trembley said. "That's Brian Matusz, the way he pitches. He just has a feel for pitching. And he knows what he's doing.
"He's going to be real special. We saw it last year. He's picked up right where he left off in his last start of the year. He's got great...Manager Dave Trembley had nothing but good things to say about Brian Matusz after tonight's 2-0 victory over the Phillies.
"Doesn't matter who he faces, doesn't matter what lineup he's facing, he doesn't get out of his lane," Trembley said. "That's Brian Matusz, the way he pitches. He just has a feel for pitching. And he knows what he's doing.
"He's going to be real special. We saw it last year. He's picked up right where he left off in his last start of the year. He's got great poise.
"He just knows how to pitch. His changeup was better. The breaking pitch, he threw a few more of those. I thought the strike zone was a little tight early for him, but you don't see him walking around the mound, you don't see any emotion. The guy's zeroed in. He's got a feel for what he's doing. I sound like a broken record. Watch him. They don't come around that often."
Now it's Matusz's turn:
"I thought out of the gate this time it took me a little longer to get in a groove," he said. "Walking those two guys in the second inning, I wasn't very happy about that. I got a little amped up and tried to do too much instead of just attacking the zone. First inning I got three ground balls because I was right at the knees and I was getting them to roll over, and that was perfect. It was exactly what I wanted to do. A couple pitches in the second inning I didn't feel went my way. I was able to get out of it, get outs.
"My slider was a lot better today and I was throwing it down when I needed to do get strikeouts, and that was huge for me. I threw a couple great backdoor curveballs and a couple nice changeups. Overall my fastball in and out was great today. I threw predominately fastballs. I got better as the game went on. I was able to get ahead as the game went on."