September 11, 2000

The Week in Quotes

September 3-9

by Derek Zumsteg

SAVE THE WATER COOLERS!

"That's just me. I don't try to please anyone. I show emotion sometimes. This was one of those cases."

-- Mike Hampton, Mets pitcher, who threw his glove, a towel, his cap, and punched a water cooler leaving the game after walking Pat Burrell

"I like everything Mike Hampton does. I don't want him to do anything to jeopardize his health. But he's hit enough water coolers to know how to hit them."

-- Bobby Valentine, Mets manager

"If you're dating a girl and having a bad time all the time, get a new one and make yourself happy."

-- Turk Wendell, on tossing his glove into the stands in a 6-3 loss to the Phillies

"It is what it is. I don't control emotion. If you have to let it out, let it out. They always say it's better than keeping it in."

-- Valentine, on Wendell's toss

HAPPY HECKLERS

"You expect behavior like that in New York or Boston. But here in Kansas City, you don't expect them to talk about your mother and your sister like New Yorkers. It's nothing I haven't heard before, but it's a little unexpected here."

-- Jeff Zimmerman, Rangers pitcher, expressing surprise at rude fans in Kauffman Stadium Saturday

"That kind of behavior is rampant in baseball."

-- John Wetteland, Rangers pitcher

"You have to give them credit. They're there from the first inning on to the ninth. They kept ragging on us. I don't think they'll be able to sing much in church tomorrow."

-- Zimmerman

CONTROLLING THE STRIKE ZONE

"He just had one miserable day. He threw me off my game. I wasn't wild today. He called my strikes, balls."

-- David Wells, Blue Jays pitcher, blaming his seven-run, two-inning failure against Oakland on umpire Mark Wegner

"Nothing was wrong with David Wells. I think the umpire got into his head. I mean the guy only has (31) walks all year so he probably knows what a strike or a ball is."

-- Ben Grieve, Athletics outfielder

"You can't blame an umpire. They just beat us."

-- Alberto Castillo, Blue Jays catcher

PITCHING MACHINE

"God bless the Tigers"

-- Al Gore, Vice President, on pitching batting practice for the Tigers at Comerica Park Sept. 6th

"Not only have I seen worse BP, we have worse. If he's out of a job, spring training begins in February. But I hear he's looking for a four-year deal with a four-year extension."

-- Steve Lubratich, Tigers assistant GM

"He threw like an athlete. But I hope he didn't take all those line drives personally."

-- Dusty Allen, Tigers infielder

"He would have been one famous sucker."

-- Lubratich on infielder Robert Fick, who barely missed Gore with a line drive

ONE AT-BAT FOR BIG MAC

"You can't draw any conclusions from one at-bat when he's missed as much time as he has missed, but I thought he had a few good passes. D'Amico painted a curveball in on the last pitch, so you tip your cap to D'Amico. But he had two good passes on those fastballs."

-- Will Clark, Cardinals infielder, on Mark McGwire's first at-bat after missing over a month with a knee injury.

"I wanted to get him out, obviously."

-- Jeff D'Amico, Brewers pitcher, on how he approached McGwire

"It's a start. That's all it is."

-- McGwire, Cardinals infielder

"He took a couple of swings. If he comes out of it where he can play tomorrow or get an at-bat tomorrow, then I like what I saw."

-- Tony LaRussa, Cardinals manager

PITCHING WISDOM

"The only thing that concerns me about the pitching is base on balls. Walks and home runs, that's not a good combination to win ballgames."

-- Jerry Manuel, White Sox manager, on his team's performance heading into the playoffs

"My style of pitching goes with their style of hitting. I like aggressive hitters."

-- Tim Hudson, Athletics pitcher, on beating the Blue Jays

"It looked like he read our mind."

-- Tony Batista, Blue Jays infielder, on going 0-for-4 against Hudson

"I think I made the pitches I wanted to make, but I also made some I didn't want to."

-- Andy Ashby, Braves pitcher, after losing his fourth straight decision

"I've been in the game 14 years and have never seen anyone throw it over the backstop."

-- Mike Stanley, Athletics infielder, after Barry Zito threw a pitch over the screen behind home plate, beyond the field-level premium seats and 10 rows into the SkyDome's infield grandstand

"We were going to take him out after eight, regardless of the score. He came close to 120 pitches."

-- Lou Piniella, after pulling Freddy Garcia, who was pitching a shutout

THE REST

"Right now we're going to play out the season and see if Andy wants Hee Seop Choi hitting behind Sammy next year. Good luck. Sammy will get walked 300 times. It always turns out that I'm the best first baseman in the organization. Hopefully, one of these days the Cubs will realize it."

-- Mark Grace, Cubs infielder, on Andy McPhail, acting GM, and contract negotiations

"Right now, Jeff would have my vote. He's been our clutch man, our RBI man. Barry's our home-run man."

-- Dusty Baker, Giants manager, campaigning for Jeff Kent for NL MVP

"Guess what? Everybody has injuries."

-- Paul Konerko, White Sox infielder, on the Indians' laments that injuries have hampered their season

"It was pretty much like a heavyweight fight. I thought we had them with a rope-a-dope or whatever we were doing out there."

-- Manuel, on beating the Angels 13-12 after scoring nine runs in the first

"I had a blast. It went by so fast, but there are so many memories I'll take from this."

-- Scott Sheldon, Rangers utility player, on playing all nine positions and striking out the only batter he faced during a 13-1 loss to the White Sox

"I've never seen someone hit that hard in the head. It shifts you away from worrying about the loss to worrying about our friend and our teammate."

-- Jason Varitek, Red Sox catcher, on Red Sox pitcher Bryce Florie, who we wish a complete and speedy recovery for after he was hit in the face with a line drive Friday

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.