June 11, 2001

The Week in Quotes

June 4-10

by Derek Zumsteg

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ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING IT

"Teams not hitting are the teams not walking. All great hitters wait for their pitch to come to them--Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, [Barry] Larkin. That's why Larkin always hits .300 and why he always hits well in the clutch."
-- Bob Boone, Reds manager

"I think the main thing is on-base percentage. If you still have a good on-base percentage and drive in runs, the strikeouts don't really matter."
-- Jeromy Burnitz, Brewers outfielder

"Our hitters' patience was very impressive. Patience like that put us in a position to score some more runs."
-- Jimy Williams, Red Sox manager, on drawing 10 walks in an 18-inning game

UNDERSTATEMENTS

"I was not trying to hit anyone. And if I was, I wouldn't hit them in the foot. If they go back and think about it, they would know that I wasn't trying to hit them. Obviously, some pitches got away, but I am not going to apologize."
-- Scott Schoeneweis, Angels pitcher, on hitting four batters in one start, including Frankie Menechino twice

"He was a little erratic early, and a couple pitches got away from him. But he settled down and pitched a great game in the middle."
-- Mike Scioscia, Angels manager

"I'm looking around, but it's better to have a good player than a so-called 'veteran presence.'"
-- Terry Ryan, Twins general manager, on trade possibilities

OVERMANAGING

"The things I did may be overreaction by me. Hey, it's not like Bill Selby is chopped liver. It was just that we had the lead, and I wanted my best defense in place. I was wanting to win that one so bad. It was no harm, no foul."
-- Bob Boone, Reds manager, on switching Juan Castro and Bill Selby between second base and shortstop three times in one inning to keep Castro in front of likely balls in play

"I thought it was funny, didn't think anything bad about it. Hey, the second-base umpire asked me if we had a kangaroo court and that the manager should be brought up on charges. I was just wondering when I came to bat how they would announce me. Would it be, 'Bill Selby, second baseman, third baseman, second baseman, third baseman, second baseman, utility player.'"
-- Bill Selby, Reds infielder

LITTLE LATE

"When you're released and you're hitting .390, it's time to retire."
-- Ozzie Guillen, Expos coach, on his decision to retire after being released by the Devil Rays

"I don't plan on coming back until it completely heals. If I was 35 years old and we were going into the playoffs, I might suck it up and pitch. But I'm 29 and hopefully have a long career remaining. There's no use going out there and hurting the team."
-- Billy Wagner, Astros pitcher

BAFFLING NUMBERS

"If it's this way six weeks from now, we might have to make some changes. And even if we're getting better, we might have to do it. I think it will be a very active trading period."
-- Peter Magowan, Giants owner

"You get this guy throwing 99 miles per hour. How the heck do you throw a ball 99 miles an hour? And do it all game?"
-- Torii Hunter, Twins outfielder, on facing the Indians' Bartolo Colon

"Ten years? I've got 17 years."
-- Rickey Henderson, Padres outfielder, on being told he had tenure and could bump rookies from good seats on the team bus

THE REST

"I have to steal a line from Mark Guthrie. He asked me, 'What, are you guys the University of Texas? You have a college record.'"
-- Paul Abbott, Mariners pitcher

"If I was Pat Gillick, I would trade Ichiro [Suzuki], [Freddy] Garcia and Edgar [Martinez] and they might go undefeated next year."
-- Alex Rodriguez, Rangers infielder, on the Mariners' fortunes without him

"I'll tell you what. To get rained out and come in here, it's like a beautiful woman is in the room and my eyeballs [are] poked out. That's kind of what I feel like. You feel like, my gosh. You feel like you get something going. I was throwing the ball real well before then. It's been four of the last five starts I've seen rain. It's just the way it goes. I could cry my sob story, but we're 20 games under .500, so there's a lot worse things going on around here. It [stinks], but ... I could be in Triple-A."
-- Rob Bell, Reds pitcher, on doing well in his rained-out starts

"We just have to deal with our suckiness and go from there."
-- Jeff Kent, Giants infielder, on the Giants' current malaise

"If I'm going to miss, I'm going to miss that way. I want to die like a man."
-- Sammy Sosa, Cubs outfielder, after the Brewers' Jeromy Burnitz brought in a home-run ball in the ninth inning

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.