April 16, 2001

The Week in Quotes

April 9-15

by Derek Zumsteg

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DIGGING A HOLE

"Nobody got injured."
--Tony Muser, Royals manager, on the positives of losing four straight to the Yankees

"Right now we're like a dog that is down. When you get a dog down, you kick it. When you're being kicked, you don't like it."
--Russ Johnson, Devil Rays infielder

"Every time we play the Yankees, I get tired of complimenting them. They are a very, very, very good baseball team. I've been asked how great are they. I wasn't alive in 1927, so it's hard for me to compare them in history."
--Muser

"The fact of the matter is we've put ourselves where we are. We have to find a way out of it."
--Art Howe, A's manager, on his team's slow start

"We should be feeling better, but the hole got deeper today."
--Muser, after the Royals fell to 2-9

OTHER ROUGH STARTS

"I don't feel like I'm throwing terrible. I'm just making mistakes in bad situations at bad times."
--Ben Sheets, Brewers pitcher

"Normally, I don't do that. Afterward, you think about it and you can't explain it."
--Jose Mercedes, Orioles pitcher, on making obscene gesture at fans and beating up water coolers in the dugout after giving up eight runs

"I'm going deep into the game, but giving up five runs each time. It's not a good sign."
--David Wells, White Sox pitcher

"It was the good, the bad and the ugly. There was some good, there was some bad, there was some ugly. I think there's some positive to take out of it."
--Dave Duncan, Cardinals pitching coach, after pitcher Rick Ankiel allowed four runs in five innings against the Astros

"I think the media has made too much out of it. The kid is 21 years old. That kid is going to be fine. When I was 21, I was horrible."
--Billy Wagner, Astros pitcher

"He wants to cut his wrist off after that pitch he threw Biggio in the seventh."
--Tony La Russa, Cardinals manager, on infielder Craig Biggio's estimated 424-foot homer off pitcher Darryl Kile

ON WINNING

"We didn't do anything fancy. We just played blue-collar baseball."
--Lou Piniella, Mariners manager

"As soon as I walked in the door I said, 'I love Canada!' It's treated me pretty good. It doesn't really matter where I'm pitching, but it's always nice when you come to your home country and you throw the ball well."
--Ryan Dempster, Marlins pitcher, on returning to his native Canada

"It's nice to beat the Giants. It looked like we had to disguise ourselves to do it, but we did it."
--Bruce Bochy, Padres manager, on dressing up in camouflage uniforms for an 8-3 win over the Giants

HITTING THEORY AND PRACTICE

"He's going to end up hitting whatever he hits every year."
--John Boles, Marlins manager, on Expos outfielder Vladimir Guerrero

"I'm not going up there looking for a walk, that's not my intention. My intention is to get on base, but it's not to walk. If I go up there looking for a walk, my game's going out the door. That's just not my game. My game is to stay aggressive, and you can't have it both ways. You want a guy to get up there and walk, you better get somebody else. I'm not going up there to walk, I'm going up there to hit."
--Marquis Grissom, Dodgers outfielder

"We knew he could play. I don't know where he gets all that power from. He's not a big kid."
--Art Howe, Athletics manager, on Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki

"Hitting is contagious. That's one of the oldest things you hear in baseball, and it's the truth. No doubt about it."
--Jeromy Burnitz, Brewers outfielder, on being one of five Brewers to hit home runs versus the Giants

THE REST

"I felt like my seat in the dugout was spring-loaded. As soon as I got a sip of water, the guys were telling me to go get them again. I'm sure we made Bud Selig very happy."
--Chuck Finley, Indians pitcher, on a two hour, three minute game against the Tigers

"If anybody knows the formula to bring along young players, it would be him."
--Jerry Manuel, White Sox manager, on Twins manager Tom Kelly

"They still boo me. That's OK. They only boo good players."
--Benito Santiago, Giants catcher

"The choice of which team's logo appears on a player's plaque is our decision. In David's case, we gave him the opportunity to be a part of the process since the majority of his career was divided evenly between the Padres and the Yankees. The logo selection is important from an historical standpoint and the museum has a responsibility to properly interpret the game's history."
--Dale Petroskey, Hall of Fame president, on Dave Winfield's induction as a Padre

"We don't have a 40 home run guy anymore... We have to reduce mistakes, take advantage of every opportunity we get... We need to improve on moving runners over from second to third and our base running. There can be an eight- to 10-game swing in a season just from base running."
--Syd Thrift, Orioles Vice President of Baseball Operations

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.