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Jeff Locke Explains Missed Start & Evaluates 2013 Performance

BRADENTON (93-7 The Fan) – Pirates pitcher Jeff Locke sat down with "The Fan Morning Show" at Spring Training this week to chat about his offseason and the team's preparation for the 2014 season.

Here is some of what he had to say:

On his pitching coach Ray Searage saying that him missing his last start was simply a precautionary measure:
"I'm doing well. Ray hit it right on the head right there, it is precautionary. I was in a bullpen session a few days back, felt a little pull on my right side, kind of unsure of really what it was, but just knew that it felt a little different and uncomfortable. So, we shut it down, and I've been getting treatment every day, but it has been diagnosed as that's the area of the oblique. But, it's not an oblique strain, or pull, or however you want to categorize it. It's just something that we need to keep an eye on for a few more days. Definitely not serious-serious. I've seen guys go down before where they can't even take a deep breath, can't swing a bat, can't rotate left or right. That's not the case with me. Still throwing every day, still going through activities every day, still very functional, just taking a few days before we really get back off that mound again and start really pushing downhill."

On his feelings about last season:
"I've put everything that really happened to me in the past, everything negative that happened to me in the past- and to be honest with you, I don't really think there's as much negative as the fans, or as the people, or as everybody likes to really look at sometimes. You know, let's say we switch my season around, and, you know, the first 60 innings were kind of iffy and the last 110 were as good as the first 110. Maybe we don't have the same conversations anymore. Really, for me, just the way everything ended last year, the decline on the way down, as the more meaningful the games became, the less contributions I was making to the team, and that was what was frustrating."

The interview can be heard here:

Jeff Locke 3-6

The Fan Morning Show will be broadcasting live from Pirates spring training in Bradenton every day this week. Listen to them live 5:40-10 a.m. and visit 937thefan.com to get interview summaries and audio after the show.

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