A lot of people say the same thing 50 different ways. He has a way of simplifying things to the extreme. Guys grasp it, they understand it and they're able to apply it fairly quickly because he does make it so simple. |
But Mike stayed with it and made the play, awkward as it may have looked. He's getting better out there. Slowly but surely, we're getting better. |
He's made nice progress. He's a good athlete. He'll make the adjustments. He's the kind of kid, he'll do anything to stay in the big leagues. |
I couldn't throw anything past him. It was the first time I'd seen him hit, and he was impressive. It was a show. |
I haven't been here that long, |
I know. It's hard to believe a fat guy would be picky. |
I love to eat other people's cooking. |
I think the greatest satisfaction is seeing the kids make it here, knowing what they've been through to get here. The pain, the rough road, the grind of it all. To see them finally reach their goal, that's a great feeling. To be here with them, it's fulfilling a dream for me, too. |
I'll go in for a few days and see if the staff has any needs. I'll look at the players to see what progress they're making, see who needs to go up or who might need to be released. I'll even spell the coaches by pitching batting practice. Mostly, though, it's a lot of early work, working on individual skills and needs. |
It was good to see. To know just how far you can go in getting a lead, you're going to get picked off sometimes. It's part of the learning. |
It was important to let people, especially in our division, know that we haven't gone away. |
It was just kind of a cumulative effect, ... We went back to (the run) more in the second half and we found stuff that was working. And LT did a good job finding the holes. |
It was just kind of a cumulative effect. We went back to (the run) more in the second half and we found stuff that was working. And LT did a good job finding the holes. |
It wasn't but a few years ago when people thought of him as a liability out there. Now, he's solid. I've had him since 1993 when he was a catcher/first baseman in Class A at Bellingham. He's a self-made player. Through the hard work and the time he's put in, he's turned himself into a solid major league outfielder. His routes are outstanding, his jumps have gotten better and better. |
It's a pretty hectic schedule trying to keep up with everyone. If I had to work at this pace for 12 months a year, it would be pretty tough for me. But for five or six months, I can take it. |