Quotes of 2006

[Guest OlerudOwned]

We must've missed this one.

Gennaro Filice, SI.com wrote: The Quotable Billy Wagner: Following Wagner's disastrous performance against the Yankees last Saturday -- one of the worst outings of his career -- a reporter asked the closer if he'd be ready to pitch on Sunday. His response: "Does a one-legged duck swim in circles?" Move over, Yogi -- New York has a new wordsmith.

[MFS62]

Toronto manager John Gibbons, about playing third baseman Troy Glaus at shortstop:

]"Don't get used to it, and if something goes wrong, don't get used to me."

Later

[Guest Hillbilly]

Valentin on starting at 2nd:
"I got my opportunity and I don't want to let it go. I don't want to give it away to someone else," Valentin said. "Matsui had the job, he didn't do the job and now [Willie's] looking for somebody else. That can happen to me, too. If I'm not doing it, he might get someone else."

On working at his D there:

"Hopefully I'm perfect," Valentin said. "Hopefully I'll win a Gold Glove."

Hillbilly likes the 'tude.

[DocTee]

From espn.com:

]"Why not run the kid up there and give him the opportunity to play? This is an opportunity for the kid to get a taste without feeling he has to be the guy," Minaya said. "I like to give kids opportunities. He doesn't have to feel he's the savior. We have some vets around him and that will help him learn.

That sound you hear is Bret's head exploding.

[metirish]

Alou on Milledge

] "No, I probably never saw that before," Alou said. "The kid was excited, which is understandable. But that's for them to take care of. We don't concern ourselves here with what players on other teams do. They have to be attended to on the other end. Otherwise, the big leagues will take care of all of that."

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I have always found Felipe Alou to be a class act.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

]The way they've been rolling, the Mets should spend their off day in Atlantic City.

Ron Darling, during the broadcast on June 11, 2006.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Bowie Kuhn wouldn't approve of that statement.

[smg58]

No he wouldn't, but I still love the quote.

[Elster88]

Floyd again tested his still-sore left ankle and said it limited his mobility.

"I can't go back on a ball," he said. "So what? They're playing in Citizens Bank Park where the left fielder needs only to be able to turn and watch baseballs fly into the the seats."

[metirish]

Jim Kaat gets pissed...

] "It's embarrassing to come to Yankee Stadium and have to try to talk to people with what we've got going on in the background," he said, referring to loud contemporary music blasting during b.p. "This is not a baseball atmosphere, but for some reason, that's what they do at this stadium more than any other, and it's an embarrassment to the game, really. With that out of the way, let's talk pitching."

[metirish]

I fucking hate Rodriguez....after the game yesterday he said this....

] "If you want to write the worst article you ever wrote about somebody," Rodriguez said, "today is a good day to write about me. So if you want to rip me, go ahead. Rip away."

]"Whatever bad thing you want to write about me, go ahead and do it," Rodriguez said. "You'll probably be right."

]"If I was a fan, I'd probably be booing me too," he said. "If I were a writer, I'd be ripping me. But listen, the Lord has blessed me with a great hand. I'm not gonna sit here and whine and complain about any situation that I'm in."

]"At the end of the year, I know what I'm gonna do and I know what I'm gonna be," he said. "I'm gonna help us win a lot of games. I can hit, man. I'm a great hitter. I've always been a great hitter. So I know how to get it done. It's just a matter of going out and doing it. And right now I'm not doing it."

[Centerfield]

Am I crazy? I have no problem with anything A-Rod said there.

[Elster88]

Me neither. What's the problem with those quotes, Irish?

[metirish]

To me he's being a fake "stand up guy".....that's just what I think.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I agree. He could have pouted or whined, but he didn't.

[Centerfield]

This may cause me to get struck by lightning here, but I think Alex Rodriguez actually is a stand up guy. I think he's a bit of a wuss...and sure that slap play on Arroyo was bush-league. But he has had to apologize for his contract ever since 2001. And that is not fair. At any point, he could have lashed out and said, "Hey, that wasn't my decision to offer me that much money." But he hasn't. He's accepted that such criticism will follow the money.

He could also really get upset about the booing on the heals of an American League MVP. Or the way the press features a photo of A-Rod every time the Yanks are struggling. Or get upset about the bullshit "clutch" argument used to canonize Jeter and demonize A-Rod.

But instead, he stays gracious about it. I hate him because he's a Yankee, and I hope he sucks and hits .200 from here on out. But if MFY fans get sick of him, they can ship him across town to play second-base. (We can't be expected to move clutch, True-Mets like Reyes and Wright).

[metirish]

Sure I would like him on the Mets, what I find most that I don't like about him is that everything he says sounds to me like it came from a PR guru,he's all about his image I think.

[metirish]

Sure I would like him on the Mets, what I find most that I don't like about him is that everything he says sounds to me like it came from a PR guru,he's all about his image I think.

[Elster88]

="Centerfield"]This may cause me to get struck by lightning here, but I think Alex Rodriguez actually is a stand up guy. I think he's a bit of a wuss...and sure that slap play on Arroyo was bush-league. But he has had to apologize for his contract ever since 2001. And that is not fair. At any point, he could have lashed out and said, "Hey, that wasn't my decision to offer me that much money." But he hasn't. He's accepted that such criticism will follow the money. He could also really get upset about the booing on the heals of an American League MVP. Or the way the press features a photo of A-Rod every time the Yanks are struggling. Or get upset about the bullshit "clutch" argument used to canonize Jeter and demonize A-Rod.

I agree with all of that. I've read in a few places that, besides the money/jealousy issue, the reason a lot of other ballplayers hate him is because he has a lot of Gary Carter in him. Not the "I'm going to pose in front of as many cameras as I can" part of The Kid. But the "I'm going to give you advice all the time and talk like I know everything about the game and like I'm a coach" part.

One thing in particular that sticks in my mind is some player saying that he was on second and ARod was shouting from the dugout "Get a secondary lead, get a secondary lead." I really think ARod thinks that kind of talk is helpful and appreciated, and doesn't realize that it can be annoying and make you seem like a know-it-all weenie. (We had a guy like that on my high school team.)

-----------------

At the end of the day, the guy hasn't been caught with steroids, doesn't throw firecrackers, doesn't treat reporters and/or fans like shit, and busts his ass on every play.

The quote above is really telling too: "I'm not gonna sit here and whine and complain about any situation that I'm in.". He recognizes that being booed sucks but also realizes that 99.99999999% of the population would trade jobs with him in a split-second. (In that respect, he's a lot like Natalie Portman, who says it was difficult growing up as an actress, but was quick to say she feels really blessed and lucky and didn't mean to knock it.)

All threads lead to Natalie Portman.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

[Guest Rotblatt]

I'm with Irish here. Everything he says bugs the hell out of me.

A-Rod's fatal flaw is that he desperately wants to be loved, and that desperation makes him unlovable.

People who don't give a shit--like Floyd, for example--are much easier to love than some dude jumping up and down on the sidelines yelling, "I'm a stand-up guy! Hey! Look at me! I'm the most talented guy in baseball! Hey!"

Sure, he's not a BAD guy or anything, and I think he'd help our team (from second base, as CF says), it's just . . . he's a douchebag.

I may even go so far as to call A-Rod the Aristotelean ideal of "douchebag."

[Centerfield]

Quotes of 2006:

CF (As he's being struck by lightning): Hey! It's Jupiter!

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I have no love for A-Rod, but Captain Intangibles would never come that close to revealing an honest emotion.

Fake stand-up or not, at least A-Rod can say that he sucks when he sucks.

[Centerfield]

I can certainly see what you guys mean about him being a weenie. Maybe it's because he plays next to that fake, conceited captain-in-name-only Jeter that he doesn't seem so bad.

The way I see it, it's this....

Jeter is a prick. If a bunch of guys get together, you won't want him there and will have no qualms about lying to him or telling him he can't come. After all, he's a prick.

A-Rod is a weenie. And if you have a get-together, you will feel bad about not inviting him. Eventually one of they guys will invite him anyway (and tell the rest of the guys, "Come on, give him a chance, he's a good guy."). But his over-zealousness will ruin everyone's time meaning next time you will be forced to lie to him and tell him there is no get-together even though you feel bad about doing it.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Let's just say that they're both hard to like.

And meanwhile, Wright and Reyes are both so easy to like.

I do wonder what we'll be saying about Lastings Milledge five years from now. (I hope it's not, "I can't believe we traded him for Victor Zambrano's kid brother!")

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think if Clff Floyd was a Yankee making 25 big 'uns, we'd find a lot to dislike in his quotes, and rooting for the day that the next Yankee rookie told him to carry his own damn bags.

[Frayed Knot]

I agree A-Rod can be a weenie although I see nothing wrong with any of those quotes. Jeter saying those same things in a slump would be characterized as a "stand-up guy" not afraid to "take responsibility" for his short-comings. Yet A-Rod gets gets treated as a whiner simply because it fits the stereotype going in.

In-game situations are also treated this way:
Jeter hitting solo HRs while his team is down by multiple runs (as he did several times while getting beat by the Angels last fall) is treated as examples of his never-say-die attitude. A-Rod does the same and it's stat-padding worthlessness.

Nice also of 'Captain Clutch' to back up his 3rd baseman this week huh?
Claiming that pleas to the fans to lay off him would go unheeded he basically said; 'get over it' ... even though he did go out on a limb when Giambi was struggling (MUCH worse) last year; 'we're going to need him to win', etc.

[DocTee]

The White Rat:

"I don't know how many games I lost as a manager because of drugs. By the same token, I don't know how many games managers have won beacuse of enhancement drugs."

[metirish]

Reds catcher David Ross on the 61mph pitch that El Duque threw him and the ump called him out on...

] "It was a slider-sidearm-sssssomething," Ross said, shaking his head. "That's not fun."

Felipe Lopez on the 53mph offering...

] "Fifty-three miles an hour," Lopez repeated. Now he was shaking his head, too. "I was waiting, waiting ... then waiting some more for it. Waiting too long. Since I've been in the big leagues, I've never seen a ball that slow."