September 17, 2007

The Week in Quotes

September 9-16

by Alex Carnevale

TINY TIM SAYS GOODBYE

"I felt a lot of elation when we won and sorrow when we lost. Now all of a sudden, the defeats are getting a little harder to take, and the wins aren't as much fun. That's not a good thing to experience as a general manager."
--Outgoing Twins general manager Terry Ryan, who stepped down this week.

"If we won 100 games this year or lost 100 games, this was going to happen."
--Terry Ryan

"You're a good man. You take all the bullets in this organization, but you never get any of the accolades."
--Ryan, on Twins owner Carl Pohlad.

"Any general manager in a chair has better be prepared to have some things written and said about you that aren't very complimentary."
--Ryan

"This is a good thing for me. My health's intact. My marriage is intact. That's a difficult thing to do in baseball."
--Ryan

"They should name the [new] ballpark after him."
--a rival GM, on Ryan. (ESPN.com)

THE SADDEST LITTLE BLOGGER IN THE WORLD

"Tonight boiled down to two mistakes. I started the inning off in the eighth by striking out [Melky] Cabrera on a 3-and-2 split, a great one, and then I overthrow one to [Jason] Giambi, and overthrow one to Derek . . . I miss horribly in the most crucial situation of the game."
--Curt Schilling, on giving up a three-run homer over the Green Monster to Derek Jeter last night.

"Curt was phenomenal. He did a great job. He was a pitch away from staying at 1-1."
--Jason Varitek, Red Sox catcher.

"Well, what else? You figure, 'why not him,' at that point in time when he walked Varitek to start the inning, then hits the kid, and you keep hoping he gets the next guy out, and then the next guy is that mountain who comes up there and he had no place to go and we had no place to put him."
--Yankees skipper Joe Torre, on David Ortiz coming to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. (Gordon Edes, Boston Globe)

DRESSING UP AS A TELETUBBY THREE DAYS AFTER YOUR BIRTHDAY COUNTS AS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL

"I hope I will have a better happy birthday next year."
--Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka. On Sunday he dressed up as a Teletubby after his birthday on Thursday.

"Obviously, last game, he had a hard time throwing strikes. His stuff was strong. That's a bonus. That's good. It wasn't like he appeared to be ailing. I think one thing has accumulated to another to another and to another, and it has created different monsters--from [lack of] wins to everybody creating the notion that he's tired. Everybody creates these things, and little things go haywire, and now [critics] have support for them, and we have 'panic mode.'"
--Varitek

"We had a big lead, he sat down and a lot of things went against him. You can get tired in an inning. I think everybody wants to read more into things than there are."
--Varitek, on Dice-K's struggles of late. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

"Again, I go back to that Toronto game--he pounded the strike zone to start that game better than any start of the whole year. I think we need to recognize not just what's going wrong, but what goes right."
--Red Sox manager Terry Francona

THE JAYS ARE LUCKY A-ROD DIDN'T TURN INTO OPTIMUS PRIME AND DESTROY THEIR DOME

"It's the first time that's happened. It's something we probably have to look at a little closer to see what kind of safeguards we have to put in place so it doesn't happen again."
--Jay Stenhouse, Blue Jays VP for communications, on a scoreboard game that involved contestants throwing at A-Rod.

"I didn't realize they didn't like us up here."
--Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

"Ridiculous."
--Joe Torre, on the game. (Anthony McCarron, New York Daily News)

SELFLESSLY STEPPING ASIDE AFTER BEING POLITELY ASKED TO

"It's sad that the season's come to this, and it's sad that we're doing as poorly as we are, but it's a good time to look at some young kids and see what they can do and give them some experience. I always remember my first time up in the big leagues. Being a September callup for them is special, and it's a good time to put some excitement out there."
--Woody Williams, Astros starter, on giving up his spot in the rotation.

"It was their idea, but I completely understand what they're trying to do."
--Williams

"We went to Woody, and he said, 'I'll do it. For the betterment of the organization, I'll do it.' That shows a lot about what kind of character he has."
--Astros manager Cecil Cooper. (Alyson Footer, MLB.com)

I HEAR THE EXPOS ARE A FINE ORGANIZATION WITH VAST FINANCIAL RESOURCES

"There are teams I don't want to go to and there are teams I envision myself playing for. I think that's human nature, to have a list."
--Red Sox third baseman and soon-to-be free agent Mike Lowell.

"I don't put the Yankees ahead or below anybody else just because of the rivalry."
--Lowell

"I have a different look on the Yankees than most people. I think people expect me to hate the Yankees because I play for the Red Sox, but there are a lot of people who are still in that organization who are very instrumental in me getting to the big leagues. You have to remember that I was a 20^th-rounder who felt like he got the attention befitting somebody who was taken in the first round."
--Lowell

"Certain teams, with offseason moves, can put themselves more on the list or less on the list. Maybe I don't fit as well as I thought on certain teams. Some teams really change their face for better or for worse. As it stands now, there are teams I feel I'm a good fit for."
--Lowell (Rob Bradford, Boston Herald)

AND WHEN YOU LOSE, YOU LOSE WITH SHAME

"That's why when you win you win with class. You win because you expect to win. You don't sweep and make a big deal about it. Now they are a bigger target for us. They embarrassed us."
Billy Wagner, Mets closer, before the Phillies' latest three-game sweep of the Mets.

"When they come in there'll be a heightened awareness that, hey, they're here and they think they can whip our butts. I honestly think you don't want to wake a sleeping dog."
--Wagner

"Teams can say the same thing about us. Guys hit a home run and there's a million different dances and handshakes going on in the dugout. I'm sure a lot of teams don't like that."
--Mets third baseman David Wright (Steve Popper, NorthJersey.com)

"I could care less what the Phillies do. We don't want anyone else to handle our business. We want to pilot our own ship."
--David Wright (Marty Noble, MLB.com)

THE DIARY OF AUBREY HUFF WILL BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS FOR YEARS TO COME

"We don't know what happened. It seems like every morning you wake up, you see somebody's name in the paper, whether it be him or anybody else. Who knows if they're doing anything. You don't know what it's about."
--Orioles first baseman Aubrey Huff, on PED allegations about teammate Jay Gibbons.

"I haven't talked to him. But who's to say that the stuff isn't prescribed. Who knows? That's the bad thing."
--Huff

"All these names get thrown in the papers and whether or not they're innocent or guilty or even if they are innocent, they go out and play the rest of their years and fans are all over them about being a steroid user. That's the tough thing."
--Huff (Roch Kubatko, Baltimore Sun)

TALK TO ME WHEN HIS DEAL IS OFF THE BOOKS

"We just wanted to let him know that we're here for him and we support him. He is a Blue Jay, and we're not going to turn our back on him because of allegations."
--Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi, on Jays' third baseman Troy Glaus.

"I felt like what he told me is fine. It is not my place to pass judgment."
--Ricciardi, on what Glaus told him.

"We're not sure what [the NFL's] doing that we aren't, but we would like to find out."
--a MLB source, on not getting the information from the Albany DA that the NFL is getting. (Jordan Bastien, MLB.com)

THE REST

"You always want to prove a team that released you wrong. I never gave up on myself. They gave up on me."
--Dodgers starter David Wells, on his time with the Padres. (Bill Madden, New York Daily News)

"It was cool to get his autograph. It didn't make me feel happy when he wrote that."
--Griffin Whitman, a ten-year old who Yankees utility player Shelley Duncan gave an autograph to on Friday. He wrote, 'Red Sox Suck!' on the boy's notepad.

"This is someone who wears the Yankee uniform and is on the payroll and should be setting an example for 10-year-olds."
--Griffin's mother Karen. (Jason Millman, Boston Herald)

"Everyone's like, 'Well, it gives you more doubles.' No it doesn't."
--Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, on his home park. (Barry Svrluga, Washington Post)

"It's always exciting to see a kid get his first major league hit, but getting it off Ben Sheets is a nice little trophy. That's better than getting it off Joe Bag-a-Donuts."
--Reds manager Pete Mackanin, on catcher Ryan Hanigan, who hit the first major league pitch he saw. (Larry Stone, Seattle Times)

"It's just like that lady in the bikini at the beach. They show you a lot, they just don't show you everything."
--Dodgers manager Grady Little, on the utility of batter-pitcher histories. (Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times)

"People want to talk stuff about our offense. They move the fences back, they take steroids away, what do you expect?"
--Padres outfielder Brian Giles (Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune)

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Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus.