August 13, 2001

The Week in Quotes

August 6-12, 2001

by Derek Zumsteg

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WOULD ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME SMELL HALF AS SWEET?

"I've been accused of everything. But I've never been accused of being a cocaine dealer and a drug seller before. All I can tell you is, you'd better have credible evidence if you're gonna write that kind of stuff."
--Pete Rose, in a Jayson Stark interview, on new allegations he funded cocaine deals to support his gambling habit

"Over the last 20 years, I can only think of one person who went through more stress than I did that year I was being investigated. And that's Bill Clinton."
--Pete Rose

ONE OF THESE TWO IS AN IDIOT

"[Scott Rolen is] satisfied with being a so-so player and he's not a great player."
--Dallas Green, Phillies senior advisor

"I don't feel as welcome here in the organization as I have in the past."
--Scott Rolen, Phillies infielder

"I'm disappointed in his lack of understanding of what winning baseball is all about."
--Dallas Green, Phillies senior advisor

"I don't think Scott Rolen has reached the potential that we think he should. He comes to play hard every day and exudes that to a degree, but there's something that's holding him back from being the player that I think he's capable of being. And part of it I think is his personality. Maybe that's just the way all ballplayers are today."
--Dallas Green, Phillies senior advisor

"But if you look at other facets of his game. As far as offensive production, leadership ability to drive a team, there's things that he could do to step it up."
--Dallas Green, Phillies senior advisor

"I'm not keeping score, but if I were, I would be way behind the Phillies on the negativity scoreboard."
--Scott Rolen, Phillies infielder

PART OF HISTORY

"I can't explain it. It was unbelievable. I've never been in a game like that in my life. My voice is gone from hollering so much. It was fun. Wow."
--Kenny Lofton, Indians outfielder, after his team came back from a 12-run deficit to beat the Mariners, becoming only the third team in baseball history to do so

"It's the turning point of the season,"
--Jolbert Cabrera, Indians outfielder

"We had them down with two outs in the ninth, and they came back and tied it. It's just one of those things that happen. It's almost impossible to do, but they did it."
--Lou Piniella, Mariners manager

"I told Omar [Vizquel] if he went up there and stayed patient, 'You can triple into the right-field corner.'"
--Charlie Manuel, Indians manager

"I didn't really buy it. I said, 'Yeah, sure, Charlie.' But it happened."
--Omar Vizquel, Indians infielder

YOU ARE MY DENSITY

"We're destined to do something special. We're destined to win it all. Yeah. I really believe it."
--Johnny Damon, Athletics outfielder

"We control our own destiny at this point. We haven't been able to say that since the first game of the season."
--Billy Beane, Athletics general manager

"We're a team of destiny."
--Johnny Damon, Athletics outfielder

"Two weeks ago, we were a team on the way out the door."
--Billy Beane, Athletics general manager

"A funny thing's happened. The pitching came around, and the hitting came around after that. It's somebody different every day. That's how you can tell this is special."
--Johnny Damon, Athletics outfielder

"It's amazing. A few weeks ago, the season wasn't going to be long enough [for an A's comeback]. Now, it can't get short enough."
--Billy Beane, Athletics general manager

CALLED SHOT

"I said, 'Come on, no way.'"
--Jesus Sanchez, Marlins pitcher, after teammate Luis Castillo declared he would hit a home run in his next at-bat

"What did I tell you?"
--Luis Castillo, Marlins infielder, to Jesus Sanchez after hitting his second home run of the season

THE REST

"I think Ben Petrick right now is a better catcher than Mike Piazza."
--Fred Kendall, Rockies bullpen and catching coach

"The TV people like it when you keep the game exciting. We don't want people to go home early. We want people to stay and feel the excitement. That way we can sell more beer and hot dogs."
--Tom Kelly, Twins manager, joking that he was intentionally keeping games close

"When we won the first two games of the World Series, the TV people came to me and said they needed the series to go seven games. So we lost three straight to accommodate them. CBS wanted seven games, we gave them seven games. Stocks go up, sales of ads go up--you have to think about all these things."
--Tom Kelly, Twins manager

"Half of them are dogs, and to tell you the truth, half of them may be released this year."
--Wally Backman, White Sox minor-league manager (Class A Winston-Salem), on his players

"At some point in time, we want to be good."
--Mike Hargrove, Orioles manager

"It was basically chaos, and I'm not even sure it was organized, but it worked out for us."
--Joe Girardi, Cubs catcher, who was tagged out in a bizarre game-ending rundown on which Ricky Gutierrez scored the winning run to beat Colorado

"I know for sure you don't spell 'smart' b-u-h-n-e-r. I'm going to try to be careful, but either this thing holds up or not. I want to be part of this team again, I'd love to be able to contribute something."
--Jay Buhner, Mariners outfielder, on facing his first rehab start at Triple-A Tacoma on Monday

"I can't remember the last time I was pain free. But if I can play, that's fine. I've got to find out if I can play."
--Jay Buhner, Mariners outfielder

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.