October 14, 1998

The Week in Quotes

October 5-11

by Andres Phippard

THE GOOD

"It's like a steamroller building up steam."

--Chuck Knoblauch, Yankees infielder, on the Yankees romp through the regular season and the Division Series

"When this run is over, they're going to appreciate it so much more than they do now. It's going to be like: 'Remember the 90's? Man, that was great.'"

--John Smoltz, Braves pitcher, on criticism of the Braves for winning only one World Championship this decade

"I guess what we're happy about is that we'll probably have the majority of the country rooting for us."

--Kevin Towers, Padres GM, on being the underdog to Atlanta

"I don't want to leave the champagne bottles on the playoff field. I want more."

--Tony Gwynn, Padres outfielder

"All my other managers I second-guessed but when I got Joe Torre, I stopped managing."

--George Steinbrenner, Yankees owner

THE BAD

"I thought I was focused the whole time until I got taken out."

--Jaret Wright, Indians pitcher, after getting shelled for 5 runs in 2/3 of an inning in game 1 of the ALCS

"They [Yankee fans] hold grudges more than we do, and to see Jaret go out in the first inning was ... it was gratifying."

--David Wells, Yankees pitcher, on getting revenge

"Where did anyone get the idea that we were going to win every single game?"

--David Cone, Yankees pitcher, after the Yankees first postseason loss of '98

"It would be interesting if we win two here and go back to our place and win two."

--Bobby Cox, Braves manager, after losing the first three NLCS games to the Padres

THE UGLY

"I am out there trying to keep my team in the ballgame, and you know, it is baseball, people get hit sometimes."

--Wright, on allegations he is a headhunter

"I had no idea where the ball was.  I was really expecting him to be called out."

--Knoblauch, explaining why he did not chase a ball that struck runner Travis Fryman at first base, instead arguing with the umpire while the runners advanced.

"The runner is going to have to be in fair territory to touch the base. In this case, the problem happened at the base."

--Jim Evans, Umpire crew chief, on why Fryman was called safe

"I hope they give us tomorrow's game too."

--Mike Hargrove, Indians manager, on Knoblauch's mistake

"If there's a ball rolling around now, I'm sure nine guys will be running after it."

--Paul O'Neill, Yankees outfielder, on lessons learned the hard way

"I don't think you could have reached a lot of those pitches with bamboo sticks."

--Joe Torre, Yankees manager, on umpire Ted Hendry's strike zone

"He went to his mouth, his hat, and his mouth again. You wonder sometimes why his ball moves so well."

--Jim Leyritz, Padres catcher, on asking the home plate umpire to check a ball pitched by Greg Maddux, and subsequently getting beaned

"To those idiots out there, this one's for you."

--Wells, to Cleveland fans who had made comments about his mother, after beating the Indians

THE REST

"We haven't lost a franchise in 27 years, but as I've said, I won't consign a team to bankruptcy."

--Bud Selig, Commissioner of MLB, campaigning for a publicly funded stadium for the Expos

"Does anybody know what year this is? The year is '98. Quit asking about last year. It's '98."

--Jeff Nelson, Yankees pitcher, in response to questions about last year's Division Series loss to the Indians

"I don't care what they did in the past. This is the present."

--Kenny Lofton, Indians outfielder, on facing a team with 114 regular season wins

"Now, in the final inning of this session, we've finally carried Curt Flood's crusade across home plate."

--Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on repealing baseball's anti-trust exemption as it applies to labor relations

"They were laying the guilt trip on him. If he left, there was a good possibility the franchise would not survive in Montreal."

--Kevin Malone, Dodgers GM, on failing to sign Expos manager Felipe Alou

"I just felt like Colorado was the right thing to do."

--Jim Leyland, new Rockies manager, after inking a three year deal worth a reported $6M

"I can't have any kind of belief that that team would have any interest in signing me to begin with."

--Kevin Brown, Padres pitcher, on the possibility of signing with the Braves at the end of this season

"It's a $9 ball."

--Phil Ozersky, fan who caught Mark McGwire's 70th home run, on exhorbitant offers he has received for the ball