KNOWING THE STRIKE ZONE
"To be in a class with
Babe Ruth,
you can’t ask for anything more. Walks
have been underappreciated. It’s lost in the stats sheets. It lost its
appeal somewhere. Another thing lost in the stats is on-base percentage.
That’s the most important thing in baseball. If nobody’s on base, nobody
scores."
—Rickey Henderson, Padres outfielder, on his walk record
LEARNING THE STRIKE ZONE
"They are all good hitters, but now they’re starting to recognize the value
of being patient. That’s going to lead to better batting averages, and more
run production."
—Buck Martinez, Blue Jays manager, after his team walked
a season-high nine times against the Angels
"He’s going to be a good player. You learn the strike zone by swinging the
bat."
—Tony Muser, Royals manager, on Red Sox infielder
Shea Hillenbrand
"That’s a Catch-22. If you’re taking strikes, people ask why aren’t you
swinging the bat. If you’re swinging the bat, people ask why aren’t you
being more patient. If you second guess, you can never be wrong."
—Lloyd McClendon, Pirates manager
"We’re not asking our guys to walk more. We don’t want to take away their
aggressiveness and their manipulative skills. We want to get into more
hitter’s counts. We have a good hitting team. We preach to our guys
‘imagine if our offense was hitting 2-0, 3-1 all the time.’ As for our
pitchers, we have to throw strike one. When you walk a guy, then get behind
the next guy, you think ‘I’ve got to throw a strike.’ "
—Allard Baird, Royals general manager
3, TO THE 2, TO THE 1, IT’S DEION/STEPPING ON A PEON*
"He’s leading the league in hitting. He’s running well. He’s
playing good defense. He teaching our Triple-A players about work
ethic. He’s totally disrupting every game he’s playing in."
—Jim Bowden, Reds general manager, on outfielder
Deion Sanders‘s minor-league stint
"It’s a lot easier now to disable Junior when you have Deion
Sanders to replace him."
—Jim Bowden, Reds general manager
THE REST
"I’m not that bad-looking, I’m an average person, an average-looking
person. I know some girls send me flowers, so I must be somehow cute to
somebody. I’m a cute little-bodied man. I’ve got an OK body. My uniform
fits pretty well – 33 (waist), 32 length. It’s a normal body, 180 pounds.
It’s nice, man – Dominican, Latino."
—Pedro Martinez, Red Sox pitcher, on whether he’s intimidating
"There wasn’t very much good you could say about playing in that
environment last year. But in here, you lose sense of where you are. You
have no idea you’re in Milwaukee. In County Stadium, you knew exactly where
you were, you know what I mean? But this place could be anywhere."
—Davey Lopes, Brewers manager, on Miller Park
"We got beat by one of the all-time greats tonight. It became a situation
where you hope to score a run and keep him from 10 strikeouts, but we
couldn’t do it. He was spectacular. I mean, throwing 99 mph in the ninth
inning?"
—John Boles, Marlins manager, on being shut out by
Randy Johnson
"Things just didn’t fall our way tonight. Sometimes, you need a
little love."
—Phil Garner, Tigers manager, on losing to Orioles 8-3
"It’s not a popular call. I know how much pitchers like shutouts. I was
thinking heavily about it, but this is as far as he’s gone as far as pitch
counts. He’s got about 25 starts left this season, he had arm surgery this
winter. Let’s go with our heads and not try and stretch him out."
—Tony Muser, Royals manager,
on pulling Mac Suzuki with a shutout after 107 pitches
"It was a good day to hit one halfway decent in the air."
—Tyler Houston, Brewers infielder, after hitting a
home run against the Mets
"We all recognize Cruz has that type of talent and ability. It’s just a
matter of him learning the league more, and learning more about himself as
a hitter. I’m glad he continued his hitting streak. He’s really swinging
the bat well."
—Buck Martinez, Blue Jays manager, on Jose Cruz Jr.‘s
19-game hitting streak
* from "Prime Time Keeps on Ticking," on Sanders’s 1995
"Prime Time" album
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