Dusty Baker doesn’t believe in curses. Aaron Boone had help from some ghosts. Grady Little tries to defend leaving Pedro Martinez in the game. And Don Zimmer has some strong words for The Boss. All this and much more in your Monday edition of The Week In Quotes.
It’s been so long since we’ve seen a nondescript baseball game that when we finally got one, it felt strange, and I’m left not knowing how to write about it. Think about it. For the first time in weeks, we had a day of baseball that provided no real tension, no elimination hanging over a team’s head, and no question as to who would win. Other than Friday, when no games were played, we’d been riding a red-stitched roller coaster for two weeks, spoiled by games that left us on the edge of our seats, holding our breath and repairing the damage to the walls of our homes and offices. (OK, so that last one is just me.) In fact, the only think we learned yesterday was how Hideki Matsui, with just 16 home runs and a .435 slugging percentage, Matsui turned on a 3-0 fastball from Mark Redman and launched a three-run home run over the 408-foot marker in center field that put this game away early for the Yankees.