LIES, AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM
“The fact is that without it, the Padres just couldn’t generate enough
revenue to stay in business.”
—Bud Selig, MLB commissioner, on Petco Park (MLB.com)
“It did save baseball because the Padres couldn’t continue to operate
in [Qualcomm] Stadium… It not only saved baseball for now, but at
least for two generations to come.”
–Selig
“I know there has been some debate about new ballparks and they’re not
the panacea for all the ills… You look at what’s happened
particularly in Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. But just
like San Diego, those teams couldn’t continue to operate in their old
stadiums.”
–Selig
“I think we’ve made enormous strides to correct the [financial] ills in
Major League Baseball. And we’re going to make more progress in the
next couple of years.”
–Selig
“There are several distinctive things that set PETCO Park apart from
other ballparks, just like Camden Yards… All of this has made a major
contribution to what I call the renaissance of the game. And there’s no
question that we’re undergoing one.”
–Selig
MILESTONE FOR MUSSINA
“When you start getting to milestones like this, you hope it will be
over with quickly. If it’s not, you start pressing… I pitched some
good games at the end of last year with a chance to win it, but it
didn’t happen. The first two games this year were terrible, so I was
just pleased to be able to pitch into the seventh inning, give us a
chance to win a ballgame.”
—Mike Mussina, Yankees starter, after his 200th career
win (MLB.com)
“To get to 200, you have to stay healthy and be consistent… Most
people don’t even play 10 years, so to play that long and win that
long, it’s pretty impressive. I’ll be lucky to get anywhere near that.”
—Javier Vazquez, Yankees starter, on Mussina (MLB.com)
“You’d better ask me that again in a couple of years… Once you get
past 250, you can start talking about 300. Not at 200.”
–Mussina, on whether he’d ever reach 300 wins
“It’s meaningful… It’s a big accomplishment. I’m pleased that I’ve
been able to play this long, be consistent, be successful and stay
healthy. To get to this point, it’s a nice feeling.”
–Mussina
“I certainly hope it’s not my last one.”
–Mussina
EARNING HIS KEEP
“We believed we can bring a championship organization to Tampa Bay and
we still believe we’re going to bring a championship organization to
the Tampa Bay area.”
—Chuck LaMar, Devil Rays general manager, after being
signed to a two-year extension (ESPN.com)
“We’ve taken giant steps over the last several years.”
–LaMar
“I think a lot of people would have made a change, even if just for
changes sake.”
–LaMar
BIG DEBUT FOR KAZ-MAT
“He had a lot of question marks… And he erased them all very quickly.”
—Art Howe, Mets manager, after Matsui’s 3-for-3 debut
against the Braves (New York Times)
“We needed to be patient with him… Nobody could predict what he would
do, but we could see good things were starting to happen.”
—Denny Walling, Mets hitting coach, on Matsui (New York
Times)
“You get 50,000 people in the stands and everything is going to change
for him.”
—Mike Cameron, Mets center fielder, on Matsui (New York
Times)
THE REST
“If you’re going to have success in this game, you better go up to the
hundreds… [Nolan] Ryan, [Roger] Clemens, [Greg] Maddux, [Tom]
Glavine, [Curt] Schilling, all those guys have success in this game,
and go 115, 120 pitches.”
—Ozzie Guillen, White Sox manager, after Mark Buehrle’s
117-pitch outing on Saturday (Chicago Tribune)
“Watching him come out there was the longest 2 1/2 minutes of my life.”
—Doug Mientkiewicz, Twins first baseman, on being pinch
run for Matt LeCroy (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
“I know crazy people always ask me for my jersey with my name on it…
And they sold a lot of them in Atlanta with my name on it.”
—Jung Bong, Reds pitcher (Cincinnati Post)
“I was running yesterday [Wednesday] and I felt like, when I stopped,
that my midsection, my abs and both my groins were on fire… I thought
it was all right but then it felt tight again tonight.”
—Scott Kazmir, Mets minor league pitcher (MLB.com)
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