June 4, 2001

The Week in Quotes

May 28-June 3

by Derek Zumsteg

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PEDRO VS. YANKEES

"I don't believe in curses. Wake up the Bambino and I'll face him. Maybe I'll drill him in the ass. Pardon the bad word."
--Pedro Martinez, Red Sox pitcher, on the Curse

"I'm starting to hate talking about the Yankees. The questions are so stupid. They're wasting my time. It's getting kind of old."
--Martinez

BEER LEAGUERS

"I think I had about nine beers. We almost ran out."
--Mark Grace, Diamondbacks infielder, on what he did in the clubhouse after leaving in the seventh inning of an 18-inning marathon

"If you grade out the tools of Jason Giambi and Mo Vaughn, they don't project. They're just MVPs. Look, the bat has to come first. We all love these athletes and tools guys, but if they don't hit, they can't play."
--Billy Beane, Athletics GM

"I went out to there and Jerry Layne told me the ball boy was in play. I told him, 'He's too damn fat to be in play.' I told him to get him out of there because he couldn't get out of the way of the ball. Layne asked me, 'Are you serious?' I told him, I'm as serious as a heart attack.'"
--Charlie Manuel, Indians manager, after outfielder Marty Cordova was unable to field a ball under the ball boy, who Manuel then wanted thrown out

"I don't feel I've hurt the team."
--Harold Baines, White Sox DH, on his terrible start

"If he's not hitting, he doesn't. And he hasn't hit thus far. But there is a calming persona, a clubhouse persona, you don't see. There are other things the man brings to the table."
--Ken Williams, White Sox GM

LAST BUNT QUOTE, I SWEAR

"I don't care what the score is. I don't want anybody throwing a perfect game against me. I don't care if the guy's got a 10-run lead, I'll do whatever I can to break up that perfect game. Are you kidding me?"
--Tommy Lasorda, Dodgers Senior Vice President, on outrage over Ben Davis's bunt single to break up Curt Schilling's perfect game

LINGERING ILL WILL

"Call it bitter if you want, or disappointed, whatever term you want. It felt like I got cheated out of something."
--Bob Brenly, Diamondbacks manager, on not getting a send-off from the Giants after working for them for more than 13 years

"I thought they hired a bad general manager who doesn't know how to put a team together or hire a staff to help a team win, and he went and got some veteran guys who aren't really leaders."
--Cory Lidle, Athletics pitcher, on the Devil Rays, his former team

FLEETING JOY

"It's always good to see Mark [McGwire] because he's good for the game. After he hit the home run, I was a little less glad to see him."
--James Mouton, Brewers outfielder

"After three days of managing, I proved to myself I can do it."
--Tony Perez, Marlins manager, on taking on his new job

WHEN EXCEPTIONS BECOME THE RULE

"The current Major League lineup does not effect the strategy we use in the draft much. Mostly we use the best player available strategy. The exception to this is if an aging player on the ML club has limited time left and the draft would fill a void quickly."
--Mike Rizzo, Diamondbacks Director of Scouting

THE REST

"With him every day, he probably means two to three runs defensively a game for us. He may not drive them in, but he saves them."
--Tony Muser, Royals manager, on infielder Rey Sanchez

"That's not an issue. What we need is players to start performing to their capabilities and not worry about the manager."
--Gerry Hunsicker, Astros general manager, on rumors manager Larry Dierker would be fired

"Jim Beattie is the general manager we want to be with for a long time to come. Jim Beattie does things that are not recognized in the media. Jim Beattie does not leak stuff to the media. He is professional, and the reason the media doesn't treat him well is because they only treat well people who leak inappropriate information."
--David Samson, Expos Executive Vice President

"You're asking a guy who swung at the first pitch a lot. I still got my 80 walks a year, but I think it's a bit of a misnomer. There are times when you have to work the count and try to get a walk. But there are times when you get your pitch and you have to try and do some damage. The important thing is to have a high on-base percentage."
--Davey Lopes, Brewers manager, asked about the importance of leadoff hitters drawing walks

If you would like to submit a quote, please email Derek and be sure to include both the quote itself and a URL pointing to the quote.