October 11, 2000

The Week in Quotes

September 30-October 7

by Derek Zumsteg

PLAYOFF SWEEPS

"I can't tell you exactly what he said. It's a secret we have to keep under the sheets. I guess it was a moment of truth. He wanted to shore things up and make sure I was comfortable."

-- Mike Cameron, Mariners outfielder

"I told him the Nasdaq was down 113 points and Cisco was a heck of a buy."

-- Lou Piniella, Mariners manager, on his on-field conference with baserunner Cameron

"He threw some outstanding pitches and he threw some funny ones that weren't so outstanding. I mean, there's no doubt about it, he struggled."

-- Tony LaRussa, Cardinals manager, on Rick Ankiel's record five wild pitches in one inning

"What we were trying to do was go out there and get a good pitch to hit, basically the same thing that we did with Maddux."

-- Will Clark, Cardinals infielder, after hitting a three-run home run in a 10-4 win over the Braves

"Lou told me to hit the ball to Frank Thomas. He doesn't play first base that much. I wanted to bring Rickey Henderson to home plate. I made the decision. I did it myself."

-- Carlos Guillen, Mariners infielder, on his game-winning bunt to score Rickey Henderson

"We feel like we let everyone down."

-- Frank Thomas, White Sox infielder, after being swept

"Everybody still wants to play. But we ran into a hot ballclub that played better baseball than we did. Now we get to watch."

-- Kevin Millwood, Braves pitcher, after being swept by the Cardinals

GOING LONGER

"It's been a grind. We're obviously not trying to do it the easy way."

-- Roger Clemens, after an 11-1 loss to the Athletics to force game 5

TRAVESTIES

"You think about getting the opportunity to play all nine positions. What's outstanding is to get the win on top of it, at home, come from behind. Some things happened today that were awesome, and hopefully they can carry into next year and we can continue the things we did the second half of the season."

-- Shane Halter, Tigers mascot, on becoming the fourth player to take all nine positions in a game

"I don't ever want to make a travesty of the game under my watch. But everybody started getting into it, the fans, the players... everybody."

-- Phil Garner, Tigers manager, on playing Halter at all nine positions in a game

"I had the umpire so confused I could've done anything I wanted. I was confused, too. But actually it worked out perfectly, right down to the last guy."

-- Garner

FINAL THOUGHTS

"I got a real empty feeling inside. I don't even feel like I'm going home. It will probably hit me later tonight."

-- Charlie Manuel, Indians manager, on being eliminated from the playoffs on the last day of the season

"I was pulling awfully hard. But pulling awfully hard doesn't get it done."

-- Manuel

"We're 13 better than last year and I think we made improvements. We played aggressive. It's a long season and a tough season. I appreciate them staying with the plan."

-- Tony Muser, Royals manager, on the team finishing 77-85

"If we don't win the World Series, I'm disappointed. So, I'm disappointed in this season. But our team never gave up."

-- Nomar Garciaparra, Red Sox infielder

"We went out on a good note, but we lost 90 games. That can't be too good."

-- Fred McGriff, Devil Rays infielder

"There are no words for this. I mean, it's been incredible coming to the ballpark every day. My brother (Jeremy) is playing with me. It's unbelievable."

-- Jason Giambi, Athletics infielder, after clinching the AL West division title on the last day

"I wish we could play tomorrow. I'd like to see if we could keep it going. But we have tremendous momentum heading into spring training."

-- John Boles, Marlins manager

"When you lose 97 games, you better be busy in the offseason. It is not going to be easy to do it in one year, but I don't like this losing."

-- Don Baylor, Cubs manager

"It's a season of what could have been. But there's a good future here. I think things will be good."

-- Davey Johnson, Dodgers manager

"I couldn't be happier. I can't say enough good things about what these guys accomplished as a team. It would have been easy for them to go for individual stats and goals and not worry about the team, but that's not the way we went."

-- Davey Lopes, Brewers manager

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.