July 22, 2002

The Week in Quotes

July 15-21, 2002

by Derek Zumsteg

THIS WEEK'S MOST-SUBMITTED SET OF QUOTES

"Whack it. Hack it. Stay aggressive."
--Bruce Kimm, Cubs manager, on his hitting philosophy

"I want my big boys swinging. If they feel comfortable swinging at first pitches, I want 'em hacking, because they're the guys who can do the damage."
--Kimm

"I want an offense that feels that not only [Sammy] Sosa, [Fred] McGriff and [Moises] Alou will drive in runs. I want Mark Bellhorn and Bill Mueller and everyone on the team to think that that run is theirs to drive in. I don't want Bill Mueller taking pitches to try to draw a walk so Sammy Sosa can drive him in."
--Kimm

"We're going to stay aggressive. There will be times when a guy is wild and you'll say, 'Boy, he should have them taking.' But I'm going to let them whack. I want us to control the at-bat."
--Kimm, on what his hitters will do facing a wild pitcher

CONTINUING ON THE WRONG FOOT

"I thought of [starting the ninth] with Alfonseca, but I wanted to run Wood up to 120 pitches. I want our starters to go 120. I wanted to give him a chance to close it out."
--Kimm, on leaving Kerry Wood in during a July 17th loss to the Phillies

"Ideally, you don't want to go past 110 a lot of times. But up here these guys are good athletes, and there's no reason they can't go 120, 125. It's not a set thing. But if they are really throwing well, I'll push them up to 120."
--Kimm

"To be honest, when things are going good, players don't need a manager. They don't need me right now. They're playing good. It's when things go bad. That's when they need a manager."
--Kimm

INSIGHTS

"You might get 600 at-bats during the course of a year, but what do you get with runners in scoring position--100, maybe? Anything can happen in a hundred at-bats... There's more of an element of luck involved with runners in scoring position than with batting average from year to year."
--Todd Walker, Reds infielder

"I've said many times, I don't like the squeeze. But then again, we might squeeze tomorrow night again... It's a nice play when it works, and when it doesn't work, what the hell was the manager thinking? He should have just let him swing the bat."
--Lou Piniella, Mariners manager, after getting a run on a suicide squeeze play

"I'm the best-looking and the smartest, too."
--Adam Dunn, Reds outfielder, after being told by his manager he was the youngest and heaviest All Star

OUTSIGHTS

"I just don't see a future here for me. I've been here three years now and it seems like it's always something that they have this idea that I'm the fourth outfielder. If that's the way they feel about me, cool, but I'd like to go somewhere else. I should be given that opportunity to play every day. It's not like we're in a race or anything."
--Wendell Magee, Tigers outfielder

"Do I think he could play there every day? Yes. The only problem with that is I think he's the best third baseman in the league."
--Bob Boone, Reds manager, on using Aaron Boone as a shortstop after Barry Larkin is gone

"We feel good about the parts we assembled, and there's no way you can overestimate the importance of chemistry."
--Syd Thrift, Orioles GM

"Obviously, he is the cornerstone player of this team."
--Brook Fordyce, Orioles catcher, on infielder Mike Bordick

THE GAME'S IN TROUBLE. YUP.

"You can't have a system where the two New York teams, just because of the market they're in, have such an advantage over the rest of the league. They have to play someone, unless they just want to just play each other. It has to change, and it will change."
--Tom Hicks, Rangers owner

"I have one--but I haven't tried to cash it."
--Ben Grieve, Devil Rays outfielder, asked if he'd received his paycheck last week

"I want out. We were blatantly lied to. They said they wanted to win here. But the moves they make don't back up what they are saying. They lied to us. They lied to everybody. If they continue in this direction, I will ask for a trade. I don't want to go through another rebuilding."
--Derrek Lee, Marlins infielder

"Ted Lilly for Jeff Weaver? You've got to be kidding me. The players ought to strike just to make the Yankees mad."
--Chuck Finley, while still an Indians pitcher

DIGRESSIONS ON AN UNSOLVABLE PROBLEM

"Bob Uecker hit a home run off of me, so I know Barry could hit one off me. The home run Uecker hit off me was the most embarrassing moment of my career in baseball. My teammates wouldn't talk to me for a month."
--Gaylord Perry, Hall of Fame pitcher, on how to pitch to Barry Bonds

"Barry's a very big, strong guy. The players today are more health-conscious, they take care of themselves better, they have the money to pay a trainer and a nutritionist. We used to get a baloney and cheese sandwich after the game, and we were lucky if a restaurant was open."
--Vida Blue, former All Star pitcher

THE REST

"Basically, we are a failure. I feel that way. It's embarrassing to me to not help the club more and contribute more. Everybody in here can do better. We have to have a sense of urgency. We have to check ourselves in the mirror and push ourselves more. It's embarrassing."
--Alex Rodriguez, Rangers infielder

"It's tough. We have to do something, maybe try 120 percent instead of 110."
--Carlos Lee, White Sox outfielder

"Now maybe everybody will quit asking me if he's going to stay in the rotation. I should mess with you all and say I'm taking him out now."
--Art Howe, Athletics manager, on Cory Lidle after Lidle's one-hitter

"Today God helped me. They had been throwing me off-speed and I figured they would try to get ahead on a change-up. I stayed back and I saw the pitch."
--Ruben Sierra, Mariners outfielder, after hitting a solo home run in a 7-6 win over the Devil Rays

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.