Jay Payton Quotes on Time (3 Quotes)

OAKLAND Top starters Rich Harden and Barry Zito will get an extra day of rest next week. Dan Haren will pitch Tuesday at Detroit and Kirk Saarloos on Wednesday. ... DH-1B Scott Hatteberg has a strained right stomach muscle, though he played Saturday. Manager Ken Macha is considering keeping Hatteberg out of the lineup Sunday and Tuesday, giving him a total of three days to rest with Monday's off day. ... Macha would like to get LHP Ricardo Rincon into a game soon. He hasn't pitched since Monday. ... OF Jay Payton is feeling the best he has at the plate in a long time. He has five homers in his last 11 games, and he homered in consecutive games for the third time since joining the A's on July 13 in a trade with Boston. Right now I feel as good as I ever have, ... A couple of minor things make a world of difference.

There's probably a half a dozen other teams, a dozen other teams, I could be playing for. Actually, as far as playing time, this is one of the worst situations I can be in because if I'm hitting .800 I still wouldn't be playing any more than I am right now because they've got their boys.

We were contagiously all bad at the same time, now we're contagiously all swinging the bats pretty good. Baseball's a funny game. You can't figure it out. When it's good, you just try to enjoy it as long as you can.