DUNEDIN, Florida – The Yankees roughed up R. Youth Jamaal Charles Drift Red Jersey .A. Dickey on Wednesday afternoon at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium, Dickeys final appearance before he throws his second consecutive Opening Day for the Blue Jays. Dickey met with the media to preview the season, discuss the clubs decision to keep Josh Thole over Erik Kratz and outline his plans for the next few days. He will not travel with the team to Montreal. Here is a transcript of the conversation: QUESTION: R.A., kind of one last chance to work a few things out as opposed to looking at it as a regular season game? DICKEY: Oh yeah. Today was not a day about results for me. I mean, ideally, it would be great to get out of there with some clean innings but what was paramount for me was to exercise my arm in a way where I felt good and I was able to use a large range of velocities and mix in pitches that I would never throw during the regular season maybe to put it in their head that thats another weapon that I might use on them later. So I did exactly what I wanted to do. I got my exercise. I came out of spring feeling good. It was a good spring for me. My velocity is there. Now its just a matter of going to work." QUESTION: Not to say anything bad about Kratz but with Thole now being named your guy, I mean he has more experience with you than pretty much any catcher. Is that a good feeling to know that Tholes going to be your guy this year? DICKEY: Yeah. Look, Kratz did a great job. He improved every time out. There is, obviously, no replacement for experience and I think thats probably the angle that the leadership was coming from in making the decision to stick with Thole. Its important for us to get off to a good start, I think, this year and whatevers going to help us do that, so to take that doubt, even if it was just a miniscule doubt, out of the equation completely is good for me. Its good for everybody. QUESTION: But they didnt ask you personally what you thought? DICKEY: No and I didnt want them to. I wanted them to evaluate it on their own. They have enough baseball people in place to be able to see with their own eyes and make the decision accordingly. Thats a tough position for a teammate to be put in and I didnt want any part of it. QUESTION: Are you comfortable throwing to (Kratz) if that happens later in the season? DICKEY: Absolutely. I thought he did a very good job of improving every time out. QUESTION: Are you as ready as you think you can be for your Opening Day assignment? DICKEY: Yes. I feel prepared. I feel confident, which is great. Last year, I didnt feel very confident simply because I didnt feel as prepared. Im really looking forward to getting started and being able to adjust my schedule this year in a way that really maximizes my preparedness has been great. To have the two games where I pitched eight innings and then to have this taper down outing is great. QUESTION: R.A., what are your plans for the two or three days the team is in Montreal? DICKEY: Well, Im going to be hanging back and staying with Josh. Josh is going to stay back. Well throw a bullpen on Friday and then well probably head over together on Saturday, meet the team and it will become regimen after that. The season will begin and Ill just be working out at the minor league complex until its time to go. QUESTION: At the beginning of camp, you were talking about how hopefully somebody steps up and becomes that surprise guy. Now youve got McGowan and Hutchison making the rotation. Has camp pretty much gone as you expected that, you know, you get some kids that come out and maybe a McGowan that no one expected? DICKEY: Yeah, I dont think it ever goes as you expect it to. Theres always a knuckleball thrown in there, you know, for lack of a better word. This year, you know, some guys have been called on to step up that maybe werent expected to. McGowan probably didnt come into spring training thinking he was going to be a starter. He may be our fourth guy in the rotation and great, hes got the stuff for it and I think he wants to do it. Like I said early on, its going to take one or two guys that you dont really count on when you come into camp stepping up and doing something special and weve got those guys in place right now. QUESTION: R.A., the routine you got back to this spring, was it very similar to what you would have done in New York or were their adjustments? DICKEY: No, its almost exactly like 2011, 2012 for me where I was able to pitch a lot early on and then get to a place where I felt comfortable with my stuff and could just go out there and get my exercise that last outing. Again, this outing in particular for me was not at all about results. It was much more just about conditioning. QUESTION: You had that upper back and neck issue, obviously, last year. Was that something that was even bothering you at the end of camp or was that something that didnt really pop up until later? DICKEY: No, I was having to kind of step on the gas. A lot of times you labour to get to where you want to get to and I was labouring last year. This year, I feel like its just coming pretty naturally for me so thats a big encouragement. QUESTION: Is there an overall different feeling with the team as you get set to break camp compared to last year? There was so much going on, expectations were different. Whats the difference in feeling this year? DICKEY: I think the heartbeat is a lot different this year. I think, one, were very comfortable. If I had a word to describe what this camp has been, its been comfortable. Guys really know that this is a big year for us collectively. Were kind of getting a mulligan this year. Last year, a lot of things went wrong. This year, were pretty much all healthy, were here, weve been here all spring, weve been able to do relationship with one another and now were in a much different place than we were last year and its a much more comfortable place. QUESTION: So does that mean it was uncomfortable a year ago? DICKEY: It was for me, sure. I mean, coming in and out of camp, WBC, people flying all over the place, people getting hurt, yeah it was uncomfortable. I dont think it was what anybody wanted last year but every team has to deal with adversity throughout the season. We just were forced to deal with it very early on. Hopefully, this year, we will not have to do that. QUESTION: Your thoughts on pitching Opening Dday. You got to do it last year but theres got to be something special about taking the mound in that first game? DICKEY: Yeah, Ive worked my whole career to try to be trustworthy. I think thats something Ive always longed to be for a team is a trustworthy component. When you get the ball on Opening Day, the manager is saying, We trust you. Thats a special thing and its not something I take lightly at all and so Im very excited and very honoured to have the honour. QUESTION: Getting back to the health issues, did you do anything differently in the offseason to change your conditioning regimen in response or in a way that might curb the possibility of a recurrence? DICKEY: Yeah, I started earlier. I started earlier in the sense that last year, at the World Baseball Classic, I had to be game-ready a lot earlier in the spring than I did this year because youre competing in, basically what it came down to, an Olympic event. You just had to really step on the gas and my body just wasnt ready for that. This year, I didnt have that. I could really take my time and I did take my time. I started a little bit earlier and I was able to pump the brakes a little bit when I needed to and get to a place where I felt very comfortable taking the next step and then the next step. Youre always trying to eliminate excuses. You dont want to have to say, well I dont feel great, or I have a WBC or we werent together. Now were starting to eliminate all those excuses out there that you could hold on to that could make you less than who you should be. So for me, being prepared and being healthy, those are not excuses for me. Ron Parker Jersey . JOHNS, N. Jamaal Charles Jersey For Sale .B. -- Canadas Rachel Homan had ideal preparation for the playoffs at the Ford World Curling Championships with a pair of hard-fought wins over tenacious opponents Thursday. WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Marcos Ambrose missed his daughters first day of school. She probably wont mind. The snakebitten Ambrose, deprived more than once of a NASCAR victory, beat Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch on a two-lap dash to the checkered flag Monday to win the rain-delayed Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International. It was his first victory in 105 starts in NASCARs top series and atoned for a slip-up a year ago on the road course at Sonoma, when he stalled his car under caution while leading with six laps to go and finished sixth. "Ive tried for 2 1/2 years," Ambrose said. "Were going to onward and upward from here. Its a proud day." Ambrose has won all three Nationwide races hes entered at Watkins Glen, and in three Cup starts here, hes notched one second and two thirds, including an impressive drive from last to third in 2008. Finally pulling into Victory Lane was a feeling like no other. "This is almost surreal," the affable Australian said in his No. 9 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports after crossing the finish line. Ambrose signed a multi-year deal with struggling RPM a year ago to drive the No. 9 this season. That capped a tumultuous summer in which he opted to leave the No. 47 at JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of 2010 with one year left on his contract, even though he knew he was taking a big risk in difficult economic times. "There were days, weeks when I was anxious," Ambrose said. "There were times I was sitting around the boardroom table and there was nobody else there. But youve got to roll the dice sometimes." It was Fords first victory at Watkins Glen since Geoff Bodine won here in 1996 and the 15th different winner in Cup races this year. Busch, trying to win a second time from the pole at Watkins Glen, led the field to the green flag for the final two laps. But Keselowski, racing with a broken left ankle and trying for his second straight win and third of the season, dove from third to the lead entering the first turn with Ambrose also streaking past Busch. "Those guys didnt care to give me any room," said Busch, who finished second to brother Kurt here in Saturdays Nationwide race. "Theres only one corner youve got to make, and as soon as you make it through that corner and can keep everybody behind, its smooth sailing from there." Ambrose then closed on Keselowski in the chicane after zooming through the high-speed esses and passed him for the lead before the final lap. "I wanted to win," said Keselowski, who has the first wild card for the Chase and moved up four spots in the standings to 14th. "We had a shot at it, and thats all you can ask as a driver." Busch finished third, and Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano rounded out the top five. Kevin Harvick was sixth, followed by defending race winner Juan Pablo Moontoya, AJ Allmendinger, Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson. Husain Abdullah Jersey For Sale. Kurt Busch, who won at Sonoma in June, crashed early and finished 38th. He wasnt alone: Denny Hamlin, who entered the day 11th in points, also crashed and finished 36th; five-time Watkins Glen winner Tony Stewart, who ran up front all race, was taken out on the final lap in the chicane and finished 27th; and Paul Menard, also in the hunt for a spot in the Chase, brought out the race-changing caution when he crashed on the 86th lap and finished 32nd. The top 10 drivers in the standings and the two drivers with the most victories in 11th to 20th place earn spots for the 10-race Chase. Keselowski never got the chance to challenge for the win on the final lap. The race ended with a caution as David Reutimann and David Ragan crashed violently entering the second turn, with Ragan slamming head-on into the guard rail and Reutimanns car bouncing hard off the barrier and sliding upside down across the track. Ambrose was on a conservative pit strategy all day despite threatening weather -- the race was postponed by rain Sunday and more was in the forecast. He passed Truex for third on turn one, a 90-degree right-hander, of Lap 73 and moved up to the bumper of Keselowski. Ambrose then outbraked Keselowski going into the first turn on Lap 76 and set his sights on Busch. He moved within three car lengths on Lap 80 as the two encountered lapped traffic and closed to Buschs back bumper in the chicane with eight laps to go. "Plenty of time to get him. Go get him," said Ambroses crew chief, Todd Parrott. Ambrose got the chance he wanted when Menard, running 14th, blew a tire and crashed on Lap 86, bringing out the final caution. That set up the frantic dash to the finish of what turned into a 92-lap race and spoiled the day for Kyle Busch, who led 49 laps. He was in the catbird seat for 18 straight circuits when Menard crashed. "The last couple of laps I was getting away from him (Ambrose)," said Busch, who moved into a tie with Carl Edwards for the top spot in the standings. "The last thing I wanted to see was a caution -- knew it was going to come down to one corner and I messed up." Hamlin brought out the third caution of the race on Lap 67 when he zoomed at high speed straight through the first turn and slammed head-on into the tire barrier that borders the paved runout area. Hamlin, who started at the rear of the field after a crash in qualifying and was all the way up to 11th, was not injured. But the stoppage jumbled the running order as Jeff Gordon gave up the lead to pit for the final time, giving Kyle Busch the lead again with Keselowski alongside him in the front row and Ambrose and Montoya in the third row. "I had no brakes," Hamlin said. "I was trying to do everything I could. Just nothing you can do." ' ' '
