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June 16, 2008 The Week in QuotesJune 9-15IF THIS IS HOW THEY TREAT THEIR MANAGER, WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE THEY DON'T LIKE?
"But no, I can't assume anything because I really don't know anything about what's going on. All I know is what I read and hear and what you guys are talking about. Until I hear from someone, I'm just going to go out and win the ballgame and assume that I'm going to be here for a long time."
"These are our coaches today. I think we're not playing up to our potential. I always leave room to evaluate things."
"It's out of my hands. I'm here to do a job and hopefully I'll be here for a long time. ... I don't know what people around here are thinking. I can't assume anything. I haven't heard from anybody."
"I can't answer that. He is my manager today, and I have the right to evaluate him as we go along. Let me put it this way, he is always being evaluated… It's a situation that I am constantly evaluating."
"Strange things have been happening a lot lately." THE CANARY WANTS OUT OF THE COAL MINE
"Absolutely. I hear it from a lot of people. I hear it from a lot of players: 'Man, you belong in the National League. You'd be in there almost every day in some form.' But right now, I'm a Seattle Mariner. I signed a contract to do the best I can for this team. For me to start letting my thoughts wander to what it would be like to be in the National League, it probably wouldn't be fair to myself or this team."
"I'm sure at some point in the next few months I'm going to have to make that determination whether or not that's something I want to consider. I'd be lying to you if I said that's not something that's crossed my mind."
"I'm very disappointed in myself. I'm harder on myself than anybody is, whether it be media, whether it's a fan, whoever. Whatever they expect of me, I promise I expect more of myself. However, that being said, I was anticipating being used a little bit more. Maybe it is the Catch-22. I don't want to say I've had an abundance of opportunity, but when I do get a chance, obviously, everyone wants to perform their best when they're in there. Based on 40 at-bats almost 2 1/2 months into the season, it's tough to get into a groove."
"The only thing I can control is my attitude and my preparation. I try to come every day with a good attitude. If this team felt better off to move me-please, by all means, move me."
"I don't think anyone would have expected us to be in the situation we're in. It kind of seems like Murphy's Law right now; everything that could go wrong, does."
"Pointing at any one segment of the team would be inaccurate, because at times the hitting has been good, and at times it has been bad. There's been times the pitching has been good, and it's been bad." NATURALLY THAT'S PAR FOR THE COURSE IN THIS FRANCHISE
"I think that's basically what he is. That's the way he was in Baltimore. Basically, he's programmed to go 100 pitches. There's not an easy way to put it. I'd love to see him go further, but if he's not capable, he's not capable....There's no use dwelling on it. It is what it is. He's a 100-pitch pitcher."
"He wanted just to show that he could do it. I don't know what to say. I appreciate him wanting to get the bunt down and everything, but we didn't want him bunting then, 3-2. We wanted him swinging the bat."
"He's got such heart and everything he does, he means it to do well. There's nobody that feels worse than him. He was doing this from a team standpoint. This was not selfish at all." RAISING TERRIBLE MANAGING TO AN ART FORM
"We've been stealing bases all year. This is what we do. We've emphasized it from spring training on. We're going to try and steal as many bases as we can and be aggressive."
"It was an ideal situation. There was one ball and two strikes on the hitter [Michael Bourn], the [pitcher, Kyle Farnsworth] had just thrown three straight fastballs. Surely there comes a breaking ball, surely on 1 and 2. It's a perfect time to run."
"It wasn't Wiggie, he had a real good jump. The guy just had a great throw. The [pitch] was up and away, and it was just like a pitchout. It was the perfect situation for him, and [Molina] throws pretty good. I would do that 100 times in a row."
"I have no concern with stealing and running bases. That's not why we lost. We lost because we didn't hit." YOU WOULDN'T LIKE HIM WHEN HE'S ANGRY
"He never met me, so, when the game was over, I wanted to introduce myself to him. Because it's amazing when you actually meet somebody how different they become."
"When I went to the bus the other night, no cops. If anything, I need cops following me because of the crazy stuff I get from fans, and death threats and stuff I get in the mail. It just really wears on you."
"If I went out there and did everything cookie-cutter perfect, I'd have no edge. That's how I do everything or I wouldn't be around."
"Nobody in here is looking for him to change. We kind of feel that he is perceived unfairly, but every guy on this team has his back regardless of what happens."
"I interact with fans, but it's not anything malicious. ... I go out and play well and rub it back in their face." RACHEL CARSON WITH TOOLS
"With all of the rumors flying around, you don't want to get caught not being used to an ash bat. I can tell the difference. Maple bats are definitely harder, and they feel better in your hands. The ash bats normally don't break as much."
"It's amazing how bad they're blowing up now. Maybe we get real scientific and see how the forests are where they're getting these maple bats. Maybe there's an excess amount of rain or of drought, who knows? They're definitely cracking a lot more."
"Maybe it's global warming."
"I guess I got a bad batch. It's hard to explain."
"There's no one throwing 93 mph cutters in the minors. This is really a major league issue." WE SALUTE OUR FALLEN VORPERS
"Nothing against A-Rod and [Jorge] Posada but, when you lose a front-line starter, that's a big deal. There are seven other guys in the lineup. When you lose your No. 1 starter, that's very hard. He is the ace."
"I knew it sounded like they hit pretty hard. I was turning and I saw Duncan throw it and the ball short-hopped, and the next thing I know Yaddy's on the ground."
"We have to find a way to get it done. It's not easy to replace 19 wins. We were without A-Rod, Jeter, and Posada. You have to find a way."
"It gets your stomach a little bit because you fear the worst. It was very scary and we'll see. Hopefully, we're OK. That's all we need, is for him to be OK."
"Obviously I hit him hard enough. Obviously I feel horrible and hopefully he's feeling OK. That's the last thing you want to see, especially when you're involved. It makes you kind of second-guess the play-Did I do the right thing there?-and what should I have done. I was trying to look for a place to slide and right at the last second I didn't really have anywhere to go."
"Maybe at some point the glove hit me. I think that's the way it's going to be called."
"He didn't say anything. Hope it's a few days and he gets back on the mound. He isn't a guy you want to go on the DL." RIGHT NOW BASEBALL IS MORE BRUNCH...IT'S DISAPPOINTING
"As of right now, I'm a Blue Jay, and I'm going to pitch to the best of my ability as long as I'm part of this club. But if something were to happen and I'd have the opportunity to go to a place where baseball is breakfast, lunch and dinner, that would be awesome. Right now, my focus is with this club, but if something like that were to happen, I'd accept it with open arms."
"I have an opt out in my contract. So people are going to have their own opinion on that. Everybody's talking about me opting out, but nobody's talking about me staying. There's a 100-percent chance of that as well."
"My focus is toward this team and helping this team win. Everything else is out of my control. Who would not want to play for the Cubs? That's the bottom line. I did say that my focus and my loyalty right now is with the Toronto Blue Jays and, until I'm told otherwise, it'll stay that way."
"That's just how it is there. It's nothing against Toronto--that's just how it is in Chicago." THE REST
"They like him a lot, and think he is worth the gamble. The injury isn't that significant that he didn't deserve a chance. But to close him on a Friday and start him on Sunday, that's typical college abuse. The pitching coach there is Mike Mayne, and his son, Brent, played in the major leagues for a long time. He knows what he's doing and is probably cringing about this. It was the head coach. Shame on him for doing that with this kid."
"It was a difficult time in my life. I was in and out of my first marriage. I was fooling around with drugs, the coke, we all know that. I don't want to say on a recreational basis--I hate that word. There were some nights when I was up all night. I didn't sleep. It was very destructive. This is not a performance-enhancing drug; this is a performance-destructive drug. I just made up my mind I wanted to stop... It is that alluring."
"It's not something I am exploring. But I never rule out anything. The day I traded Carlos Lee, I went to work with no plans whatsoever to do it, and by midnight he was a Texas Ranger."
"When they ask him, 'Are you proud of your son and all that,' I think he always says, 'Which son?' I get choked up on that. He says I'm the public son, but he's got four kids. He loves us the same, so that's huge."
"You can never let anybody tell you you can't do something. You can't succeed in this game and in life with that thought process at all. You have to believe you can do it and you have to know you can do it. We're talking before the game about the improvement in Brian Roberts, how he's swinging the bat right-handed."
"I think it's a slap in the face for the umpires. You're opening the doors for everything else. Later on, you got instant replay, next year there'll be something else. They're going to have robots playing in a minute."
"It taught me to be smarter. I've grown a lot and learned a lot from what I've done as far as what I put my family and everybody else through. I watch my steps closer."
"When do you go ahead and put a .150 hitter back in there?" --- Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus. 0 comments have been left for this article.
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