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Quotes of 2015

Edgy MD Mar 05 2015 02:49 PM

“To be able to have a guy like Scherzer come in? I just started laughing. I was like, ‘Where’s my ring?’ You know what I mean? It’s stupid. It’s absolutely stupid how good our staff is." — Bryce Harper, arriving at camp. "I guarantee you we all saw what Bryce Harper said." — Zack Wheeler

batmagadanleadoff Mar 05 2015 02:52 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

You know what? You don't need seven ace pitchers to win a WS. If you can get into the post-season with three very good pitchers, you have as good a chance as anybody to win it all.

batmagadanleadoff Mar 09 2015 03:28 PM

batmagadanleadoff wrote: You know what? You don't need seven ace pitchers to win a WS. If you can get into the post-season with three very good pitchers, you have as good a chance as anybody to win it all. [fimg=173]http://keymancollectibles.com/publications/images/mets1973.jpg[/fimg] Here's an excerpt from today's Grantland piece on the Washington Nationals: Dominance is passé. There was a time when regular-season success mattered as much as postseason success in baseball, because a team couldn’t reach the postseason without winning the regular season. But that was a long time ago. It’s been 47 years since finishing with the best record in the league gave a team a direct pass to the World Series. It’s been 22 years since qualifying for the postseason required a first-place finish. And it’s now been four years since only one team per league could reach the playoffs through the wild-card back door. There’s never been a time in baseball history when winning 108 games meant so little and winning 88 games meant so much. The Atlanta Braves claimed 14 division titles in 15 years from 1991 to 2005, winning more than 100 games six times in that span. The San Francisco Giants have qualified for the playoffs three times in the last five seasons, but failed to hit the 95-win mark in any year. Just try calling the former a dynasty over the latter and see how seriously everyone takes you. No one cares that the Giants have a .538 winning percentage over the last five years, just seventh best in baseball; all that matters is their remarkable 34-14 playoff record and three World Series titles in that span. The more regular-season success and postseason success are uncoupled, the more merely qualifying for the playoffs becomes the thing. And when the number of playoff teams jumps from two to four to eight to 10 — still making Major League Baseball the most exclusive postseason of the four major sports — the standards for qualifying for the postseason become lower and lower. It’s ironic that what people might deride as bleeding-heart liberalism or the soft bigotry of low expectations in another realm becomes transformed in the sports vocabulary into the most cherished word: parity. There is nothing more important to the long-term health of a league than fans of every team having, in the words of Bud Selig, “hope and faith” on Opening Day. But if every team has a reason to believe, no team has incentive to improve. Which is why what the Washington Nationals are doing is so refreshing. Like the billionaire entrepreneur who still wakes up at five every morning in search of his next big score, the Nationals have not let their recent success satiate their hunger for more. [***] That’s because winning the postseason is hard no matter how decisively you won the regular season. The 1986 Mets did both, going 108-54 before claiming a world championship, but they survived as many near-death experiences as any championship team ever has. [ 19] And in the 28 seasons since, dominant regular-season teams have not seen their success carry over to the playoffs. Since 1986, 26 teams have won 100 games,20 but just two of them — the 1998 and 2009 Yankees — won the World Series. 19 [fimg=222]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7613/16582591539_5ed19fdda5_o.jpg[/fimg] http://grantland.com/features/washingto ... ies-hopes/

Ceetar May 06 2015 07:50 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

“Michael said, ‘God, he’s calling me off on balls that are hit right to me, he’s unbelievable,'” Terry Collins relayed.

Edgy MD Jun 02 2015 11:35 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

“Not having National League pitchers hit would deprive us of the entertainment that Bartolo Colon has given us this year. It’s been a great source of entertainment for me. I don’t know about for the rest of you, but it has been for me.” — Rob Manfred

d'Kong76 Jun 04 2015 06:13 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

"The world is upside down,'' Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, who still has a home in San Diegofrom when he was president of the Padres, told USA TODAY Sports. "We definitely are taking two different approaches. Their approach is unique for this market. And our approach is different for our market. "Because of that, the difference in direction from what had been normal, atrophied a bit.''

Ceetar Jun 04 2015 09:20 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

d'Kong76 wrote: "The world is upside down,'' Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, who still has a home in San Diegofrom when he was president of the Padres, told USA TODAY Sports. "We definitely are taking two different approaches. Their approach is unique for this market. And our approach is different for our market. "Because of that, the difference in direction from what had been normal, atrophied a bit.'' Those are certainly words. Put together in groups so technically sentences.

d'Kong76 Jun 04 2015 09:45 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Thanks.... struck me as humorous.

TransMonk Jun 04 2015 10:41 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

I respect Sandy's GM abilities, especially in working with what ownership gives him, but I could go the rest of my life without listening to him utter another word of double-talk to the media. #meaninglessbabble

Lefty Specialist Jun 04 2015 11:51 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Reminds of meetings I have to sit through with consultants. Speaking, yet saying nothing, or saying things you already knew in different ways with a generous sprinkling of buzzwords.

Centerfield Jun 04 2015 01:40 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

TransMonk wrote: I respect Sandy's GM abilities, especially in working with what ownership gives him, but I could go the rest of my life without listening to him utter another word of double-talk to the media. #meaninglessbabble To that end, I would say Sandy's GM abilities have been greatly exaggerated. His track record with free agents is inconsistent to poor. The majority of his good trades involve trading prime assets left to him by the Minaya administration. And the Mets "resurgence" has much more to do with Minaya prospects coming into their own than anything done by Alderson. To that end, his best trait may be avoiding dumb trades. Which I guess is something.

Ceetar Jun 04 2015 01:49 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

Centerfield wrote: TransMonk wrote: I respect Sandy's GM abilities, especially in working with what ownership gives him, but I could go the rest of my life without listening to him utter another word of double-talk to the media. #meaninglessbabble To that end, I would say Sandy's GM abilities have been greatly exaggerated. His track record with free agents is inconsistent to poor. The majority of his good trades involve trading prime assets left to him by the Minaya administration. And the Mets "resurgence" has much more to do with Minaya prospects coming into their own than anything done by Alderson. To that end, his best trait may be avoiding dumb trades. Which I guess is something. he traded Angel Pagan for crap and Collin McHugh for Eric Young Jr. Lost those both hard. Of course, he's won some others pretty hard too, regardless of where the assets came from.

Lefty Specialist Jun 04 2015 02:07 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

Well he won the Beltran rental/Wheeler deal and the Dickey/TdA/Thor deal. As for McHugh, he was behind the Jeremy Hefners of the world on the depth chart, so no one saw that coming. His deals are probably a net positive; the signings, eh, not so much. (Frank Francisco says hello.)

Ceetar Jun 04 2015 02:11 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

Lefty Specialist wrote: Well he won the Beltran rental/Wheeler deal and the Dickey/TdA/Thor deal. As for McHugh, he was behind the Jeremy Hefners of the world on the depth chart, so no one saw that coming. His deals are probably a net positive; the signings, eh, not so much. (Frank Francisco says hello.) Signings had their value. Chris Young still was sound decision in my eye, and Cuddyer is a good player. I read somewhere that what the Astros did to 'fix' McHugh was say "Your curveball spins as much as anyone's in the game. Maybe throw that more?"

Centerfield Jun 04 2015 02:13 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

Sandy's best moves have been smart trades of the gems Minaya left for him (Beltran and Dickey). His drafting has been ok, but for having been here 5 years, you'd have hoped at least one draftee would be a difference maker. Matz has the potential to be the gem here, but the others have been disappointing. His free agent signings have been a complete bust. Frank Francisco, Sean Marcum, Granderson, Cuddyer, Chris Young. Even the Wright extension may end up hurting us in the long run. The only exceptions here are Bartolo and Marlon Byrd. The rest of the "resurgence" has been Minaya prospects coming into their own. Harvey, deGrom, Familia, Murphy, Duda, Flores, Lagares, Gee and Niese are all Minaya leftovers. This is without mentioning fucking up the Reyes situation. I don't think Sandy is the reason we suck, but he hasn't been the savior some make him out to be.

Centerfield Jun 09 2015 10:39 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

Interesting reactions after the game. How do I feel? How the fuck do you think I feel? It's humiliating and embarrassing. Everyone on this team needs to look themselves in the mirror. Especially the veterans. Especially me. You want to know how I feel? I'm fucking pissed off. What happened tonight is unacceptable. This shit ends now. -Michael Cuddyer It's one thing to get no-hit. We also had no walks. No balls hit hard. No good at-bats. I don't know how anyone here expects to make the playoffs with this kind of pathetic effort. And you know what? It's been a long time coming. Our lineup has been shit for too long. We need to wake the fuck up. Hopefully this is what does it for us. -Curtis Granderson Wait, what? They didn't say that? Oh right. This is what they said: No one’s hanging their heads about it, it’s a loss. The cool thing about this, things reset, all of a sudden we’re focused on tomorrow. Just like that. -Curtis Granderson We got no-hit. It happens. -Michael Cuddyer Anyone wondering why our lineup is so pathetic need look no further than this.

Lefty Specialist Jun 10 2015 03:40 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Between them, they have more than 80 million reasons to be mellow.

Benjamin Grimm Jun 10 2015 04:35 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Curtis Granderson wrote: The cool thing about this, things reset, all of a sudden we’re focused on tomorrow. Curtis seems like a nice guy, but this positive spin that he puts on just about everything is getting more than tiresome.

Ceetar Jun 10 2015 04:58 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

I mean, don't they know how they speak to the media is directly correlated to their ability to get a hit tomorrow?

dgwphotography Jun 10 2015 06:19 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Something tells me that what they are saying to the press is just a little different than what they are saying to each other behind closed doors. Crash Davis wrote: These your are your cliches. They are your friends. I'm only here to help the ball club. We gotta play it one day at a time. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains.

d'Kong76 Jun 10 2015 06:25 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

SCHONBRUN - NY Times wrote: There was euphoria in the visitors’ clubhouse, of a kind not experienced in Queens since 1969. The evidence sat in the garbage: boxes and boxes of empty packages of Budweiser beer.

Centerfield Jun 10 2015 09:09 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

I realize that anything they say to the press won't get them hits today, but my god, show a little fire. Does anyone think that a hitting version of Matt Harvey would have a "Oh well, what can you do?" attitude after getting embarrassed by that? It's demoralizing. And it's not just last night. They have been doing it all season. Not once have the bats battled back after falling behind early. Once the starter gives up 3 or 4 runs, the game is over. The hitters don't make any noise the rest of the game. They are lifeless. And it makes them painful to watch. The great players not only have talent, but they have a drive that is visible no matter what they say to the media. None of the position players have any trace of this. I can't believe I'm about to write this, but may be they do need Wally Backman after all.

Edgy MD Jun 10 2015 09:15 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

I understand the clear inadequacy of the offensive production, but it's not true that the bats haven't battled back at least once. Ain't that right, Wilmer. (Are the scorecards gone from the UMDB?)

Ceetar Jun 10 2015 09:15 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

yes, they're 2-21 when trailing after 6, but this is a function of having no offense, not of having no fire. turns out the great players are more likely to get hits late in games/clutch spots/etc because they're more likely to get hits in general. they technically have 13 come from behind wins.

Benjamin Grimm Jun 10 2015 09:25 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Edgy MD wrote: (Are the scorecards gone from the UMDB?) They're never there for the current season, because I need to use data from Retrosheet's end-of-year update to generate the scorecards.

TransMonk Jun 10 2015 09:27 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Ceetar wrote: yes, they're 2-21 when trailing after 6, but this is a function of having no offense, not of having no fire. I think it's a little of both. Or at least a lot of the former and a little of the latter. Hi, Terry!

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 10 2015 09:28 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

I get being irked at the mellowness (I'm more pissed at the Cadaver hit into his millionth DP) but the long season doesn't really allow participants to get as emotional over the day to day results as fans do. They'd never succeed if so.

Ceetar Jun 10 2015 09:34 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Honestly I'm more pissed at the defense. Duda saved some additional throws too, but then muffed a weird hop at him later on. Especially Campbell basically freezing and pulling up on Heston's grounder. [url]http://m.mlb.com/video/v152528383/?game_pk=414525

Edgy MD Jun 10 2015 09:39 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Yeah, it's Terry's job to let the game drive him nuts. The players can't afford to. That's the problem with Tom Glavine's comments. Sports psychologists would (and do) tell you he was right, and his attitude, as infuriating as it was, is what allowed him to be Tom Glavine. You need fire and fury, but you also need to pace it through 162 games. The Jets had some guy back in the sixties and seventies who reportedly would make a point of walking home after losses. Like 30 miles or something. He had this bizarre novelty act where he could eat glass and was also known to take a bite out of a bottle or something after disappointing loss. (Maybe that's what he did when they were on the road.)* Football allows you to burn down the mission after a loss, because you have a week to recover, or at least until Wednesday or something, when full contact practice starts. But baseball demands you file away that shit, adjust, and move on, even as fans find that infuriating. ______________ * This is all likely at least partially bullshit passed on to me by my father, but it speaks to issue.

Ceetar Jun 10 2015 09:51 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

yeah but Glavine was game 162. There's a difference in tempering emotional highs and lows over the course of a long season, and actually showing passion for your job and performance. I mean, it'd have been one thing if Glavine gave a ho-hum "I pitched well all season (he didn't) and this one game just didn't go so well." it would've been better than the flat out lack of emotion. But nothing Terry (or Wally) can yell at the offense is going to make them better hitters. All he can do is push process and make sure guys get their reps in and do their work. Though sure, maybe he can get a little fired up in the pregame today and say the offense has been unacceptable, while pushing the positive of d'Arnaud and Herrera returning this week as needing to be part of the solution for everyone.

Edgy MD Jun 10 2015 10:20 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

With regard to it being game 162, no doubt, but mantras of detachment, I guess, was the habit he practiced.

Ceetar Jun 10 2015 10:26 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Edgy MD wrote: With regard to it being game 162, no doubt, but mantras of detachment, I guess, was the habit he practiced. I suspect sometimes athletes zone out and basically give reporters answers to their inane questions on auto-pilot. You notice this when they give answers that sorta answer the question but are full of cliches and rote responses that seem more like statements than answers. Of course, Tommy had about 8 innings to figure out he should probably say something better than that. Or maybe he was just done. Tired of it all. He went back to atlanta to suck for a bit in 2008 but perhaps he mentally retired after his last taste of the playoffs in 2006.

Edgy MD Jun 10 2015 10:32 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

The rules kind of stink in that regard. If he had been able to re-sign with Atlanta before that game even ended, I think all parties would have been amenable.

Ceetar Jun 10 2015 10:43 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Edgy MD wrote: The rules kind of stink in that regard. If he had been able to re-sign with Atlanta before that game even ended, I think all parties would have been amenable. are we sure he didn't?

Ceetar Aug 25 2015 05:25 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

Sandy Alderson on Sunday's performance in the 14, 14, 5, 16 run stretch wrote: "We were flat yesterday."

Edgy MD Sep 10 2015 11:09 AM Re: Quotes of 2015

“Look at yourself… . You just look stupid.” — Ray Knight to a Nats fan who came by the set of his post-game show with a bag on his head

MFS62 Sep 10 2015 02:25 PM Re: Quotes of 2015

I think Howie's almost holy shit will become the quote of the season. (for those poor souls who have not had the honor to know about KILL KILL KILL.) Later