On the Beat: Weekend W... (09/20)
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September 21, 2009 The Week in QuotesSeptember 14-20NEXT TIME THEY'LL POLITELY HAND PITCHf/x REPORTS TO THE UMPS
"What was the count at the end, 3-4 to Green? I thought we had him a couple of times. I was surprised. It's a good umpiring crew and I think we really feel strongly they missed a couple times we had Green struck out. Unfortunately, that's the focal point of the game, and it didn't go our way."
"Their deportment as we left the field, going through the Angels dugout, left a lot to be desired. We filed a report after the game, and I would think there will be a coach or two over there that would be regretting his actions today.
"There was nothing done in a threatening nature. It was more along the lines of 'You've got to be kidding me.' ... It wasn't even directed at them, it was more venting in the clubhouse."
"The World Umpires Association conducts itself in a professional manner, and we expect everyone in and around Major League Baseball to do the same. We recognize that in the heat of competition folks get heated up and make mistakes. However, in this instance, we certainly look to Major League Baseball to address this matter in a manner that makes everything right."
"Mike [Scioscia] made an attempt to quiet his coaches down, but he also made a comment that I thought incited the situation. I'm disappointed in the coaches; coaches are usually the guys who try to stop any kind of friction that develops in the course of a game and afterward. But they were initiating last night, and I'm not pleased in the way they said things or in their presentation."
"Especially here and some other places, they seem timid to make calls. I've heard it from other guys that come in here and say that. That's either because it's a mistake, or they're scared." THAT'S ALWAYS BEEN HIS ATTITUDE
"It was important for Aaron to get out and play. He was drafted by his boyhood team, and he wanted to get out and pitch. He wanted to get out and go."
"We still wanted to sign Tanner. From where we are as an organization, we are so committed and so reliant on developing our own young players, and we wanted to keep that pipeline flowing. This was very important."
"J.J. and the guys did a tremendous job. It completes our 2009 draft, and we feel very good about it, and we feel like we're continuing to fill our pipeline."
"It's a mixture. I'm just so happy that it's over and I have a direction, so I can grow as a player. I told the Rangers that I'd be ready to go whenever I signed. I don't think I lost anything; I lost some development time, but my arm feels as good as ever."
"He's a tremendous competitor, and he's got a chance to be a quality major league starter."
"It was definitely good that I went up there, and I learned a lot from the experience. You can't look at it as a negative. I learned what professional baseball is all about. There's no coach there telling you where to go, it's a lot on your own. I had to learn, you know, to be a pro... I learned how to take better care of my body, my arm, myself." MILTON PLANS TO WAIT UNTIL CHRISTMAS TO ASK FOR A CONTRACT EXTENSION
"It's just not a positive environment. I need a stable, healthy enjoyable environment. There's too many people everywhere in your face with a microphone asking the same questions repeatedly. Everything is just bashing you. You got out there and you play harder than anybody on the field, and never get credit for it. It's just negativity."
"And you understand why they haven't won in 100 years here, because it's negative. It's what it is."
"The last few days became too much for me to tolerate."
"I'm certainly not going to let our great fans become excuses. I'm not going to tolerate [Bradley] not being able to answer questions from the media respectably." BUILDING A MYSTERY
"I wish I could put my finger exactly on it. At times, it's been mechanical. At times, it's been long counts. Usually, it goes to the consistency of the location of your pitches."
"It's going to take a lot more than this to get my confidence level down. You can kick me as much as you want, but I'm going to come back fighting every time." "You take a positive out of everything."
"The issue is more him throwing the baseball well. We'll work on getting him right." THE REST
"I went to Barcelona to see the Miró Foundation, and I thought his palette would be the most appropriate, which would be a great homage to Spain. There's nothing wrong with retro, but it's time to move ahead into the 21st century. I could have chosen an Art Deco design, but that's looking back. There will be paintings, sculptures, and colored lights."
"We definitely weren't thinking something like that was going to happen. But I think this team always knows in this dome, especially with the amount of fans here, we just get a little momentum going and we will break through and make something happen."
"Everybody gets that sometimes, even from sleeping on a pillow. I hope mine is not any worse than that. I felt it pinch when I threw that pitch to warm up. I don't want to aggravate my arm or something like that. I don't want to take chances."
"Aw, that guy's grown by leaps and bounds. He's blossomed right in front of everybody's eyes. He's going to be a horse to deal with in the future. He's got a chance to be a [Chris] Carpenter-type, a [Adam] Wainwright-type, a guy that just shuts you down every fifth day. I said he's got a chance to be."
"He throws a pretty conventional cutter. He doesn't have eight fingers or anything. The way he throws it, there's nothing really different from anybody else's cutter. But something he does along the way, or how his arm works, or his wrist or his fingers, something makes it cut the way it cuts. It's nothing to do with the grip. He could show you the grip all day, but when you go out there and throw it, you're not going to do it like he does."
"Not all the facts of this case have come out, unfortunately, and some may never come out. Things that can hurt people are leaked all of the time to newspapers, but apparently, something helpful to someone who has been mercilessly attacked doesn't get leaked. It's almost certainly because those with this information have integrity. This whole episode was grossly unfair. I didn't write for weeks because I was so angry. The advice from everyone was to just let it die. But how can we let this injustice die?" --- Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus.
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Its kinda funny. I hear about Milton Bradley's problems with the media and I'm reminded of two movies. One of course is Bull Durham.
(copied from imdb)
Crash Davis: It's time to work on your interviews.
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: My interviews? What do I gotta do?
Crash Davis: You're gonna have to learn your clichés. You're gonna have to study them, you're gonna have to know them. They're your friends. Write this down: "We gotta play it one day at a time."
Ebby Calvin LaLoosh: Got to play... it's pretty boring.
Crash Davis: 'Course it's boring, that's the point. Write it down.
(end of copying)
The other is a quote I heard from the movie Apollo 13. Just as the rocket is launched, one wife turns to the other and says, "remember, you are pleased and thrilled. pleased and thrilled."
The key with dealing with the media as an athlete is not to tell them what you are thinking. Its to tell them nothing. tell them nothing in a way that makes it seem that you are friendly. Don't tell them nothing like John Glenn does (who the media hates because he just doesn't answer questions). Tell them nothing but be amiable about it. Tell them stories of fishing and hunting and going to church and your momma and praying to god (or jesus or the great pumpkin). Tell them how thrilled you are to help the team and how much fun it is to play a little boys game and get paid for it. Tell them about the clubhouse football fantasy draft, and how everyone was pulling together behind the starting pitcher, and how so and so gave the equipment manager a hotfoot.
But DON'T tell them about how the umpire blew a ball/strike call and it pissed you off so much that you threw the ball to the wrong base. Don't tell them that management is pushing you back out on the field when you don't think your knee is ready. Or that they are pushing you to go in for surgery when you don't think you need it. Or that your manager is a moron who tried to get you to bunt with two men on in the second inning against a guy you can hammer.
Sure, that's what the media wants to hear, and they'll ask you leading questions like, "Weren't you pissed off at the manager when he asked you to bunt with 2 on in the second inning after you've been 10 for 15 off this pitcher?" You respond with "no comment" and its a story. You respond with "sure I was, what do you think?" and its a story. You respond with, "Well, when I was young my momma once told me to pick up all the toys in my room, but I didn't want to because I knew I'd just take them all out again the next day. But she insisted and I went ahead and picked them all up. But I missed one, and that night when my father came to check on me he accidentally tripped over that toy and smacked his head on my dresser and was so angry the neighbors could hear him. After that I didn't have to be told to pick up my toys." That kind of response has reporters walking away shaking their heads looking for someone else for a quote.