"I don't want to be what's called a defensive liability," Josh Thole said before the Mets' 1-0 loss to the Braves at Turner Field. "You lead the league in passed balls, and I'm sure that is raising questions. I don't want those questions anymore. I don't want to hear the negativity that I can't catch [...]
"Some of us were a little bit jumpy, not just from the lack of feeling secure, but just because we didn't know if it was the right thing to do or the right place to be," Mike Piazza said. "But to see the way people reacted to it, it was a good feeling to know [...]
On Capuano, you seen him that good before? “Oh, yeah. If you look at my numbers against him, he’s that good all the time. No, but that’s the first time I’ve seen him like that since he’s come back. His fastball was better and he was moving it in and out along with his changeup. [...]
Note: The following exchange took place during Tuesday's game against the Rockies, starting with David Wright's strikeout in the top of the third inning and going on into the bottom of the third. Hernandez: "Fastball away, he can’t reach it. David has a hard time covering that outside corner. Ralph (Kiner, who was in the [...]
"I knew I wasn't going to strike out looking," Francisco Rodriguez said of his plate appearance. "He had some good swings," Ike Davis said. "You could tell he was inexperienced at the plate, but he wasn't scared." Saturday Rodriguez had his first at-bat in his 10-year major league career. He struck out swinging. Source: New [...]
"I was nervous as heck,” Willie Harris said. “I’m nervous at times when I take balls in the outfield. But when you’re nervous, that means you care. I got my confidence back as soon as we turned the double play. The confidence was there all of a sudden. Once you get that first one out [...]
"Right now, the life on the ball feels better than it did at the same point last year and maybe the year before, and I'm excited about that," said the 31-year-old Chris Young, who made just 18 starts (including four last season) for the Padres over the previous two years due to shoulder injuries. "Mechanically, [...]
"I love the competition," Jason Isringhausen said. "There's a lot of the stuff that goes along with the game I don't enjoy, all the politics, the business part of it. But I enjoy the 1-on-1 competition with a hitter, and it's hard for me to find that anywhere else. I'm just trying to compete with [...]
"Collins, who is listed generously at 5-foot-9, conducted his press conference standing up after he was told the microphone stand was blocking his face for the TV camera. Collins joked that pitchers Chris Young, who is 6-foot-10, and 6-foot-7 Mike Pelfrey better not hold the ball above their heads and make the manager jump for [...]
“Murph may not be able to do things that other people can do, but what he can do is work on the skills that he does have and make them serviceable,” Teufel said. “I couldn’t turn double plays the way certain people could, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t play the position effectively. “I had [...]
"I think something as miniscule as that, I don't understand why that would be the reason," Carter said. "It got more blown out of proportion than it should have. It's unfortunate that one radio station asked me if I would be interested and I said "yes." That was the wrong thing politically to say, but [...]
"The culture has changed," Teufel said. "We have a new culture in this organization and I give a lot of credit to Terry for bringing that forward. The Mets really stepped up, went and looked for a leader and found one in Terry. They brought him in as field coordinator last year and the environment [...]