Quotes of 2012

[Edgy MD]

Here's your 2011 thread, someday to appear in our archives among threads born in February 2011.

We open 2012 with a fake quote from Batting Stance Guy.

?"I just couldn't stop eating & did a ton of reading. In fact, i'm in the worst shape of my life." -no MLB player

[metirish]

Who said this?

"The expectations for us are like any other [season] -- we expect to go to the playoffs," he said. "I think we've gotten better . . . I see nothing but upside."

[Edgy MD]

Me.

Well, Daniel Murphy and me.

[Ceetar]

Ike Davis to Daniel Murphy wrote: Let's go dominate!

[TransMonk]

I'd be happy if they both just stayed healthy.

[metirish]

TransMonk wrote: I'd be happy if they both just stayed healthy.

Sandy?

[ashie62]

The new avatars have proven inspirational.

[Edgy MD]

Jason Bay, when asked about changes to his approach:

�I�m hitting lefthanded now. I realized the other day that I was actually on wrong side of the plate."

[Benjamin Grimm]

[Edgy MD]

"I really want to play in Miami as long as you pay me $1 more than anyone else� I really want to make the most money I can." ---Jos� Reyes, according to Marlins President David Samson, according to DeadSpin

[Benjamin Grimm]

Nice.

[Edgy MD]

If you don't like New York, something's wrong with you. --- Al Jackson to Kevin Burkhardt

[bmfc1]

Hunter Pence ? @HunterPence3 Just picked up my new Davis Acura. It's very humbling to have such a nice car. I'm so grateful to them and all of you fans in Philly.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

If they eliminated Velcro, it would knock 20 minutes off of every game.

Retired pitcher and author Jim Bouton on the public radio news quiz "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me."

[Edgy MD]

Russell Martin, complaining that Laz Diaz wouldn't let him thrown new balls Diaz was putting in play to the pitcher.

"He told me I had to earn the privilege," said Martin, a seven-year veteran, three-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner. "Even at the end of the game after I get hit in the neck. I'm like, can I throw the ball back now? He's still like no. I'm like you're such a (expletive). Like for real. Unbelievable. I even told him like when there's guys on base, I like to keep my arm loose. No. I'm not letting you throw a ball back. That's pretty strange to me."

[Edgy MD]

LOS ANGELES -- David Wright led San Francisco�s Pablo Sandoval by 464,549 votes for the starting nod as the National League third baseman two days before voting closed Thursday. Yet Wright, for superstition or other reasons, did not want to discuss Saturday night what returning to the All-Star Game after a one-year absence would mean. �We�ll talk about it tomorrow,� Wright initially said. �If it were to happen what will it mean?� he was asked. �You�ll be here tomorrow. I�ll be here tomorrow.� �You�re killing me,� a reporter said. �I don�t like to talk about something beforehand,� Wright replied. Said a reporter: �You were up by 450,000 votes over Pablo Sandoval with two days to go. You�re leading the league in batting average. �� Countered Wright: �We were up seven games with 17 to play.�

[Edgy MD]

And the news breaks:

[code:1xgnsrj6]San Francisco Giants fans pushed Pablo Sandoval over David Wright in the final few days of balloting to make Sandoval the NL starter at third base. Wright nonetheless will join R.A. Dickey on the All-Star team. [/code:1xgnsrj6]

Wow!

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Overall voting totals over the last week were, apparently, huge. Josh Hamilton, who had 7.3 million as of June 25, ended up over 11 million.

[Edgy MD]

�The people outside don�t know what kind of guy this guy is. He made one mistake.� --- Josh Thole on whether there should be a problem with Francisco Rodriguez return.

I appreciate Thole being a good union man and not talking trash about a potential teammate and all, but wasn't it more like five incidents in Rodriguez's brief tenure with the Mets, including altercations with coaches, teammates, and opponents? Just one mistake he got arrested and prosecuted for is more like it.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: �The people outside don�t know what kind of guy this guy is. He made one mistake.� --- Josh Thole on whether there should be a problem with Francisco Rodriguez return. I appreciate Thole being a good union man and not talking trash about a potential teammate and all, but wasn't it more like five incidents in Rodriguez's brief tenure with the Mets, including altercations with coaches, teammates, and opponents? Just one mistake he got arrested and prosecuted for is more like it.

and some of those coaches and teammates(teammates?) are still here and we don't make a big deal out of it right? Takes two to fight. He was a 'good soldier' last year wasn't he? It's not like he left on a bad note.

[Edgy MD]

No, actually, it doesn't take two to fight.

[Edgy MD]

Tweeting Tracky Trackmaster wrote: Told Thole that Harvey's third-inning wild pitch was his fault. So what if Johnson was catching. "why not?" he said. "everything else is."

[Edgy MD]

RiP, Marylou Belles

[Edgy MD]

Amazin' Avenue doing my work for me.

Warthen continued �I�m not the fielding coach, amirite?�

"[Ramon Ramirez�] ERA should be in the high twos right now, with plays that should have been made and things that happened in the course of the game. Overall, we take about 11 or 12 of those runs off the board that should be off, and we get the guy that we bargained for." �Dan Warthen [Wall Street Journal]

And the Mets are kind of still in the playoff race

"I'm kind of glad I'm still here." �Scott Hairston [ESPN]

Right, because who would want to a piece that is genuinely going to make them better

"I�m really hoping [scott Hairston�s] in my uniform [tonight], and I have no reason to believe he won�t be. I know that if he is moved it�s for a piece that is genuinely going to make us get better, so I hope he�s still here." �Terry Collins [New York Post]

I don�t think �Spin knows how family is treated in the Mets clubhouse

"At the time you get mad, but what can I do? I'm not going to fight with anybody in here. We're a family in here. Sometimes they do it to be happy, have fun." �Jordany Valdespin regarding his teammates cutting the sleeves of his T-shirt and writing �EL HOMBRE" on the back as well as other markings. [ESPN]

Is Wright The Captain or The Godfather?

"No, no, no, no. I'd never do that [regarding damaging someone�s personal belongings.] You know why? You've got to respect everybody. The example here is this guy, David Wright. He's the captain of the team and he respects everybody. ... The respect is very important on this team." ." �Jordany Valdespin [ESPN]

Not sure why Thole would be his first pick�

"That was not me." �Josh Thole answering Valdespin�s accusation [ESPN]

�My money might be on Ike though

"They did a good job, though." �Ike Davis chiming in [ESPN]

But why would you want to start Dickey on short rest

"So he can win 23, 24 games." �Sandy Alderson [NJ.com]

That�s some good trolling but please go on

"I guess there could be a lot of reasons from [Dickey�s] personal standpoint. From our standpoint, it's possible the more often we get him out there, the better we're going to do won-loss wise. But we've got to take into account what effect that would have not just this year on R.A. and on the rest of the pitching staff, but what effect that would have on R.A. going into next season. So that's very much just in a discussion stage at this point." �Sandy Alderson [NJ.com]

But did everybody know that you knew that everybody knows? Pretty sure that�s the difference between AA and the Majors.

�I was doing what I want to do, throwing my splitter. I knew everybody knows what I�m going to do. Everybody knows what I was working with. They were seeing the ball, but they weren�t hitting the ball in the air. It was more like a groundball or low line drive where we got a good chance. I can live with that.� �Frank Francisco [Pressconnects]

Call Me Muscles

�Hey, me 1-0.� �Ruben Tejada to Justin Turner regarding their HR totals [ESPN]

Eh a good attempt but stick to slick fielding and HRs, Ruben

�Look, I need you to step up tonight.� �Terry Collins speaking to Tejada pregame �I�ll try.� �Tejada �Well, I can get a truck driver to try.� �Collins "[Ruben after hitting his first HR] just came in my office [afterward] and asked me if I can drive a truck.� �Terry Collins [ESPN]

THERE IS NO BOOK

"We probably don't want [Zack Wheeler] to go much past 150 this year. So if you look at what he has left -- I think he's got 115 or 116 innings right now -- he's probably got enough left to get him through August in Buffalo. But I'm not sure there are going to be any innings left at the end of August. So I think it's unlikely we'll see him. Matt Harvey is in a similar situation. He threw, I think, 135 innings last year. We're looking at 165, 170 for him. I'm not saying that's the magic number -- just in terms of where we should end up at the end of the season, far short of 200. That may get him through the middle of September. It may get him through a little bit longer than that. But we certainly have to keep an eye on that." �Sandy Alderson [ESPN]

Nitkowski is 39

�Man, I was the oldest player until you got here [binghamton.]� �Jeff Stevens to Chris Nitkowski. �How old are you?� �Nitkowski ��I�m 28.� �Stevens [ESPN]

And fast

�Things happened real quick out there. This game is real fast, and it can humble you quick.� -Jonathon Niese [New York Times]

I think Ike is blaming the BABIP Dragon

�I feel confident enough at the plate now that if I see a pitch I can handle, I can do some damage with it,� he said. �It�d be nice to find some holes occasionally, which hasn�t happened all year. I haven�t gotten that bleeder in the hole or the normal ground ball that gets through somewhere.� �Ike Davis [New York Times]

SiteBot FacePalm of the Week

�Should the Mets As long as the Marlins are in firesale mode should the Mets trade Harvey and Wheeler for Josh Johnson I mean I know everyone loves prospects but we�ll be lucky if both those guys combined turn out to be as valuable as Johnson is now�think about it. We need a legit ace / horse and Johnson is under contract through 2013� �hondacivicboi21

AA Quote of the Week

�JASON BAY needs to start adjusting his gloves between pitches! i do not understand how this adjustment has not been made!! I cannot be the only one seeing this.� �gbaked

[G-Fafif]

Thole nicknamed Valdespin "El Hombre," affectionately from what I can discern, so when Valdy saw that scrawled on his shirt...

Ah, overgrown adolescents with a skill we enjoy watching plied.

[Edgy MD]

�The one thing that I would say is don�t insult my intelligence in the game. I watched it happen in the series before where players were giving location to hitters. And don�t insult my intelligence. I�ve played the game way too long. I know everything about the game. That�s what they�ve been doing. That�s what they�ve done. We put a stop to it the last time we played and I had to say something tonight. It was just. The game of baseball has some integrity to it. Especially in the United States. It might not be that way in other places at times. But here we have some integrity in the game, and I expect the game to be played fair and the right way. I watched the catcher do it twice. I watched other guys do it. There�s a couple of guys that don�t do it. I don�t play that game. There�s integrity to the game. When those things happen, I�ve got a problem with it. I won�t let somebody play me into being stupid. I know the game very well. I know all the things you can do in the game to show location, to show signs and all those types of things. And if you get caught, you stop. If you don�t stop then we have a problem. That�s where we had a problem tonight." ---Wally Backman\

Tipping signs: OK. Not stopping: not OK. Playing Wally into being stupid: big mistake.

[Edgy MD]

�I�m happy to be playing for Israel, but it�s kind of bizarre, too. No one from my family has even been there." �Josh Satin, New York Times

"If we only could get a nice Jewish girl to marry Albert Pujols, he could be at first base for us.� �Peter Kurz, the secretary general of the Israel Association of Baseball, New York Times