RICKEY ON RICKEY
"Let’s see, for breakfast Rickey will have bacon and eggs, and grits if I
can get ’em."
—Rickey Henderson, Padres outfielder, on the Rickey Henderson Diet
TRYING TO RUN LIKE RICKEY
"Halfway to second base, I remembered who was behind the plate. I was going
to go feet-first, but I didn’t think I could make it that way. I got up, and
I thought I heard the whole stadium laughing at me."
—Tim Hudson, Athletics pitcher, on his awkward slide as he advanced to
second base on a wild pitch against Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez
"I passed one of the umpires after the game and told him, ‘If I ever use
Hudson again, just kick me out.’ That was his last expedition as a
pinch-runner. My heart went up into my throat. I don’t think they teach
running at Auburn."
—Art Howe, Athletics manager, on Auburn graduate Hudson’s adventure
"He willed that base. That was one of the finest plays I’ve ever seen."
—Bobby Valentine, Mets manager on outfielder Tsuyoshi Shinjo‘s diving
slide into first base to foil a double play
NOT AS DURABLE AS RICKEY
"What was it, dental? Was it eyesight? His arm looked OK."
—Bobby Valentine, Mets manager, on hearing Expos reliever Ugueth Urbina
failed a physical
"Norm [Charlton] felt his groin again and we had to take him out of the
game."
—Lou Piniella, Mariners manager
BRILLIANT!
"Sometimes you come through and sometimes you don’t,"
—Dante Bichette, Red Sox outfielder, after flying out against the Braves with
men on base
DYING QUAILS AND GROUND BALLS WITH EYES
"They stole that game. Whatever they were doing, they need to keep doing it
because that’s a joke. I-Rod is a great hitter, I’ll give him that. But the
rest of that was luck."
—Scot Schoeneweis, Angels pitcher, on a loss to Texas
"Everything just seemed to find a hole. He got through five just fine but
after that, everything they hit had eyes. Everything snowballed in that
inning. There are some losses where a pitcher should hang his head and feel
responsible for the loss. That wasn’t the case tonight."
—Mike Scioscia, Angels manager
SEASONS IN JUNE
"I’m not chasing anybody. The season doesn’t end in June."
—Barry Bonds, Giants outfielder, on his home-run pace
"What he’s doing is amazing to me if not amazing to everybody else. He’s
just getting better with age. I’m just glad he’s on our side."
—Randy Johnson, Diamondbacks pitcher, on outfielder and teammate
Luis Gonzalez
"All I know is I could be playing better. I’m just hoping to improve so I
can help this team win. I need to improve in everything, home runs, RBI,
leadership, defense. Every part of my game."
—Alex Rodriguez, Rangers infielder, on his season so far
THE REST
"We were lucky. We got Hampton on a bad night. You don’t expect to do that
to Mike Hampton, but we’re not going to give it back."
—Mark Grace, Diamondbacks infielder, on a win over the Rockies
"It was a long one. But you know what? It only counted once."
—Buck Martinez, Toronto manager, on a Manny Ramirez
home run reported to have gone 501 feet
"We lost because we didn’t pitch very well. We’ll protest our pitching,
maybe."
—Tom Kelly, Twins manager, on whether he’d considered protesting a loss to
the Indians. The game was called on account of rain after two delays when
the grounds crew couldn’t drag the rain-soaked tarp to cover the infield
"I think this puts some finality to it. John said some things that made some
people mad. But for the most part, he was a pretty good teammate and a
pretty good closer."
—Chipper Jones, Braves infielder, on the trade that sent pitcher
John Rocker to the Indians
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