Tony Russa Quotes (183 Quotes)


    What's different about this club, when you have this many setbacks, it's usually part of why you don't win or you barely squeeze by in the last week of the season with a good but not great record. To have this kind of run and play this quality of baseball for this long is why this club deserves a very different kind of credit.

    They were really good together, and this is a tough lineup. If Marquis wasn't pitching, I probably would have waited till tomorrow.

    I think if you look at virtually every starter, we've had some rough starts here in the last two weeks, ... The big key is to get back on it mentally and understand that if we don't pitch, we don't win. Against the pitching we're going to face in postseason, we're not going to outscore people.

    We would have taken the zero even if Houston loses. The object is just to get (our magic number) to zero, ... If you have your preference though it's to win a game to get there.

    It's a special burden on the offense to do something this series.


    I think they're starting to feel good about how they're throwing. We've shown the kind of depth that can pay off for us.

    When something like that happens, you put the other club in a bad position, so it's better not to put the club in a bad position. But I think my understanding is they understand it was unintentional.

    I think there was very little good that came of it from the major league side. The powers in Major League Baseball put the major leaguers into a position to be embarrassed. Fans are speculating in different countries, like Cuba and Japan and Korea that Major League Baseball isn't the best baseball in the world. I think it is, if the competition is fair.

    That's the plan. We'll see how he feels the next two days.

    A lot will depend on what's Matt's opportunity. He may find a better opportunity, more money somewhere else. I don't want to drop a guilt trip on him. We'd like to have him back, but can we afford him

    I don't think the pitch to Ensberg was all that bad. I didn't see the replay. He had good enough stuff. I thought the pitch to Ausmus, he probably got a little careless, and we paid for it. He retired six guys. He had good enough stuff to do it, he just didn't get it done.

    He made a mistake pitch and a clutch hitter took advantage. He did some good things and then he made a mistake.

    You hoped it would be complicated. We're going to have some decisions to make, which is good.

    I want to make sure Al Reyes gets the credit he deserves, but you don't want to speak so much about that and pretty soon it sounds like we can't win without him, ... That's an important miss for us, but we have other guys who can step up.

    That's the kind of move you make that tells the players you've got the guts to do what you think is right, not to worry about it.

    When I gave that compliment last year, ... I was hoping that he was going to retire.

    I called up to the press box, because for a while I didn't see anybody there. I thought somebody was having a cookout, but we don't allow that, do we

    One thing about him, when he struggles, he's very honest with himself. He's been working on it, working on it, and at some point, something clicks.

    I firmly believe it's such a dangerous thing, if you can get in the big leagues you ought to have enough command. You don't have to be perfect down there but if you're going to miss, miss down rather than up.

    If you could look ahead knowing those key guys would miss so much time, you'd really stretch to think you could pull it off.

    He's sore, got some sore areas. The idea is not to push him. We'll see how he feels. If he needs (rest), he gets it.

    That's the kind of pitcher he is. We were buying outs at that point in the game, and he bought them all.

    I think we understand we're officially in October baseball. But we discussed it last year and again this year. It just doesn't seem right to celebrate it when the magic number is one. You're watching the number go 10, 9, 8 ... and it gets to one so you celebrate When it gets to zero, you celebrate. That's what we're going to do.

    I always say you don't just win with homers. You need a bunt, you need a hit-and-run, you need a steal. Those are the little things that helped us out to win 105 games last year and those are the things that are helping us out this year to win some games.

    I don't care how well you throw if your guys are terrible at unloading the ball and holding guys on, ... so it's a joint effort. But it's like Mike Matheny was, and like Pudge Rodriguez. He's an intimidating weapon. Guys don't run very much against him. It's a heck of a weapon for your side.

    Every time we play him in the last two-three innings of a game, we're pushing him. It wouldn't be a bad idea for him not to play nine too often.

    He's pitched with so much intensity and so much pressure for so long that when the pressure's not there, he lost a little edge, ... He had good stuff his last two starts, but his location was off.

    When Suppan throws that many pitches, he doesn't feel like he's got good location,

    That's the way we played all year long. Our pitchers are not afraid to pitch to contact and get the groundball.

    If you throw the ball down the middle, they can hit one through the wind, which they've done a couple times both games.

    It's not the way you'd like to set it up, where all of a sudden a guy who has pitched well as a starter, you make him a reliever,

    If we get beat (Friday) and Houston gets beat, we play again Saturday and after the game we celebrate.

    A guy like that, could he do enough to be the dominant player at the position Depends on what kind of offensive player he becomes. He's got a live bat. He could hit 15, 20 home runs if he played every day. He's just got to find a way to do it.

    Changing the makeup of your club, that's just routine with free agency and stuff.

    It's classic baseball, ... The winner's in doubt. That's why you play.

    That shows you what Juan is capable of doing. We don't win that game without him being a hero, a star.

    I think he's going to start. Unless I go in (the clubhouse) and find out something that wasn't obvious, I expect him to start.

    Mentally, is closing tougher than a hitter going out there with 600 at-bats to produce ... tougher than a starting pitcher For the great closer, it's as tough. He watches the club for eight innings. Then if he goes out there and screws it up, he's got 24 guys to answer to. It's a heck of a deal. Some guys can't handle it.

    I know it sounds like bull, but I don't care. If you get in, you've got as good a shot as anybody, five games or seven games. It's that kind of a tournament.

    He's really got a short fuse. And when he doesn't do well, he gets angry. It's something he'll learn, I think, to be a little bit better about.

    Give it a couple days. Maybe longer if his infection isn't gone. We feel for him. We need him.

    I think physically he feels good and I think the pressure of the postseason has got his concentration back to where it was a great, great majority of the season,

    My point was (Saturday) that amidst all the runs, both of the guys did a lot of good things. (Sunday), Wainwright pitched well, but he made a couple mistakes that he got away with.

    To me, 2002 was so personal and emotional. I believe that you create your own destiny, but it was almost like there was a plan for us. I don't feel that this time. I feel this is more normal. The reason we've won is because we've played the best. If we play the best in the postseason, we should win. And if we don't, we'll get beat. But 2002 was the only year I had the feeling it was inevitable.

    He came in with a 1.33 ERA and he pitched just like it. He did all the things to keep the ball off the barrel. So give him a lot of credit. We didn't play all that well behind, so it wasn't much of a game. The couple mistakes Jason made left the park. It wasn't much of a contest.

    We understand we're officially in October baseball. It just doesn't seem right to celebrate when your magic number is one.

    He feels like his legs are not in shape. And they're a big part of his game. ... I don't think it's an injury. Whether it's infield play or swinging, you've got to get your legs. That's your foundation.

    The arm, I don't think it's the most important part of a catcher when it comes to the Gold Glove. It's definitely a factor, but it's calling a game, receiving, blocking balls.

    The doctor said it was like a train wreck. He didn't break anything, but he was bruised all over.

    I don't think he wants to give the idea that he was sitting there waiting to get somebody's job,


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