Things we have talked about for three months, he has been able to put into play. He has had a challenging season. We've found out about his toughness. We've seen his competitiveness. He has become more coachable.

We were up there hacking like chefs at Benihana's the first three innings.

That was the result of a lot of work the last three weeks, in which (Francis) analyzed what had been happening.

In Philadelphia, they said three-quarters of the world is covered by water and the other quarter is covered by Garry Maddox. Every time you looked up, [Sullivan] was in the gap catching a ball, running into a wall, he was on the bases, scoring runs and doing things he's capable of doing when he plays within his skills.

We couldn't buy a hit when we needed one. We went three games where we got the hit when we needed it and we haven't been able to get one the last three games.

If he's made a better play in his life in a baseball uniform, I'd like him to tell us about it.