Paulie on Freddy's close to perfect game:
[AP]
"I thought he was going to get it. I thought it was going to happen. When he got through the seventh, I really felt he was going to do it. I think everybody was a little heartbroken. I've never been a part of one, so you were just hoping to see it. And he had a perfect game going, so that's a little different from a no-hitter. So everybody's dialed in. ... One thing about Freddy, he's as relaxed as they come. I mean, knowing Freddy, with the score the way it was, he was probably like, 'Ah, the heck with it. Let me just throw some balls over the middle of the plate.' He has kind of the attitude that, 'Hey, I'm out here to get the win and I don't care about my personal numbers,' which is a great attitude to have for a pitcher. But we wanted him to go for it, and he did go for it."
Freddy:
"I knew I had a no-hitter going, but I was trying not to think about it and keep making my pitches. I've been facing those guys for a long time, so I know they're aggressive and they like to swing the bat. Kennedy hit a good pitch, so there was nothing I could do about it. But who doesn't want to throw a no-hitter?"
About the pitch that resulted in a hit and broke the perfect game:
"I threw the right pitch. That's what I want, and that's what [catcher] Sandy [Alomar Jr.] called. We were on the same page all day long. It was a good pitch and there was nothing I could do about it."
"I was, 'The no-hitter is gone, so I've got to go make my pitches to the next hitter and get out of the inning,' That's what I did. ... I gave up a hit and that was it. We scored a lot of runs, so that's what we need. ... You can throw one hit, lose the game, and the next day you're the losing pitcher. Today's, it's different. Tomorrow, I'll be the winning pitcher. It's all about winning."
Ozzie on changing the rotation:
"We thought about moving somebody from the rotation, but unfortunately it's going to be Javy [Vazquez]. But the way Javy's throwing right now, we can't. We thought about it, the pitching coaches, all the coaches looked at it, but out of the rotation would have been Javy, and Javy is the one throwing the ball the best. I don't think we're going to make any [changes] because that situation comes to Javy, and right now Javy is throwing the ball really well. We have so many different things on the table that we're looking at. But I don't want to bring Contreras early or late. I try to keep him in the same spot. I have a good feeling about my rotation; that's why I don't want to do anything different."
When Matt Thornton heard the Twins saying Liriano would return, Thornon, who experienced the same thing in 2002 and had Tommy John surgery, said that Liriano would be out of the game in two innings and do further damage to his elbow:
"You hate to see it happen, but I could tell that it probably would just because of what I went through myself. I could tell by his motion, by the stress he puts on his elbow, that it was a recipe for disaster. You can rest and throw on the side all you want, but you will never truly test it until you get out there and throw at game speed."
Matt didn't knew about the status of Liriano's injury, but wasn't "very optimistic":
"Once the muscle starts wearing down, the stress goes on the ligament, and that can only hold it for so long. I hope it's not the case, but if it is, we'll next see him in 2008 and he'll be throwing 105 because I came back with an extra 5 miles per hour on my fastball."