INTO THE BLACK
“I’m keeping a close eye on them, but they’re all young… Most guys rust out before they wear out.”
—Dusty Baker, Cubs manager, on his young pitching staff (Daily Herald)
“It’s the time of the year when everybody goes hard. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t have rested guys and usually win at the same time. If you want to win, you’re going to have to expend more energy than you have in the past.”
–Baker
“Some guys are in uncharted territory. They’ve never pitched this deep into the season or pitched this many innings. Once they do it, they realize they can do it.”
–Baker
“This is the time of year when you have to push yourself. Everybody’s tired on every team. Dusty isn’t going to send us out for 170-180 pitches, nothing crazy. If we’ve got to push it to 120-130 to get the job done, that’s fine. If it takes 130 pitches to throw 7 innings and you get it to your bullpen, then so be it.”
—Mark Prior, Cubs pitcher (Daily Herald)
“So much has been made of pitch counts lately… Is there a specific number for specific people? I don’t really believe in that. I think it’s how you get to that number.”
–Prior
“If you throw 130 pitches but it’s pretty easy, it’s not that big of a deal. But if it’s 40 in the first inning and then 10 and another 40 in the third, that’s when you start running into trouble. There’s no magic to what the number is.”
–Prior
“Dusty has done a great job of pushing us when we need to be pushed and giving us rest when he’s able to give us rest.”
–Prior
WHAT’S UP, DOC?
“I really didn’t want to come out… I felt like I had at least two more.”
—Roy Halladay, Blue Jays starter, after his 10-inning shutout of the Tigers (AP)
“Doc could have pitched until tomorrow.”
—Kevin Cash, Blue Jays catcher, on Halladay (AP)
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
“Given the unprecedented nature [of the situation], this at least has been a vehicle to continue taking our sport to different [international] sites… And so San Juan, Puerto Rico, has been a very successful home for the Montreal Expos. I would say that at the very least we’ve made the best of a very tough, sensitive situation.”
—Bud Selig, MLB commissioner (AP)
“Obviously the options are the various cities that have expressed interest (to relocate), as well as the cities that have expressed interest in a series of games or all the games.”
–Selig (ESPN.com)
“The relocation committee is hard at work in finding a home for the Expos. We’ll make that determination in the coming weeks, or how long it takes. We haven’t ruled out anything out yet.”
–Selig
“Back in December, when we announced the deal, all of us had some concerns and trepidations about this experiment… But I do believe very deeply in our continuing effort to internationalize our sport. It’s not only our responsibility, but also a pleasure to do it-to bring the greatest game in the world to as many people as possible, who never had the privilege and opportunity to see it.
–Selig (AP)
“This has worked out far better than any one of us had any right to expect. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
–Selig
ON BONDS
“Unbelievable, man… I’ve never seen nothing like it in all my days. Seeing him every day, his work habits, his concentration … he’s in a class by himself. To see it on a daily basis, you get to the point where you almost expect it.”
—Marquis Grissom, Giants outfielder, on teammate Barry Bonds (CBS Sportsline)
“He’s definitely been a huge team player the whole year. He does everything well for the organization. He speaks well, he plays hard, he goes about his business in a professional manner. He’s every manager’s dream. He’s every player’s dream. He’s every organization’s dream. All that stuff I used to hear about him being a bad person, that’s a bunch of baloney. Even competing against him, you don’t know him until you play on his side. He’s done nothing but help. Nobody understands it because he’s at a whole other level.”
–Grissom
“He makes me proud to be a baseball player. And I’m enjoying it, too. Every single day, I watch and observe and learn. That’s what life and this game is all about, trying to stay consistent.”
–Grissom
“He’s the greatest. That’s my opinion. Nobody has 500 (homers) and 400 (thefts), and this dude has 500 and 500 (the current count is 653 homers and 500 steals). That’s unheard of. And he’s still truckin’.”
–Grissom
THE REST
“We should be able bring a World Series title back before 2010.”
—Delmon Young, Devil Rays minor-leaguer and 2003 draftee (AP)
“I attribute that to my high school soccer days playing goalie… Who knows? You’re in position to make the play and you just react to it. I was lucky to come up with it because if the ball went through, Cabrera would have scored.”
—Shea Hillenbrand, Diamondbacks third baseman, on his acrobatic catch that robbed Alex Cora of a hit (AP)
“I’ve repeated myself many times, and I’ll repeat myself again: His record is not indicative of how well he’s pitched. Of late, he has not pitched as well, but you have to factor in the whole season. He’s pitched pretty good baseball and doesn’t have a lot to show for it.”
—Alan Trammell, Tigers manager, on 20-game loser Mike Maroth (AP)
“They never asked why I had a bad year. I don’t think they ever cared that my arm hurt, or if they did they thought I was lying… Oh well, I proved them wrong today.”
—Josh Towers, Blue Jays pitcher, on his former team, the Orioles (AP)
“People get spoiled, unless they actually played the game, they tend to focus on the final game all the time… Joe Fan judges on rings, but to do what the Braves have done… I don’t want to say it’s impossible, but I don’t know if anybody else will ever do it.”
—Larry Bowa, Phillies manager, on the Atlanta Braves (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Thank you for reading
This is a free article. If you enjoyed it, consider subscribing to Baseball Prospectus. Subscriptions support ongoing public baseball research and analysis in an increasingly proprietary environment.
Subscribe now