After my senior year in high school, I was playing in some summer league and a scout said, 'If you keep after this, you might be able to make some money doing this.' So I knew I'd choose baseball. |
Even more so -- and it's genuine. He's always laughing, telling stories. He's pretty funny. |
He had been getting me out with fastballs all night. I was able to get one over the plate. |
He hasn't played a game in left field yet. I don't think he'd really be ready, and I don't think the Giants' medical staff would allow it. |
He looks closer to 21 than 41. |
His track record speaks for itself. He's got Gold Gloves, hit big home runs, played in the World Series. .. . He's a real quality guy. With Barry and Mo being our number 4 and 5 hitters, it's great that he can not only play the outfield, but he can fill in the missing offense. |
I didn't expect to have as many homers, ... but I've always done better in the second half. I don't regard myself as a home-run hitter. I'm more of a line-drive hitter. It's too early to make a judgment. |
I do have playing-time concerns. But they'll try to break up the game load so people aren't playing nine innings. The intensity will be up, and I'd like to have my legs in a little better shape. |
I don't hit a lot of home runs. That's not my game, but I'll take them when they come. My job is to get on base. |
I don't know how that ball went out, ... Usually the wind knocks it down to right field. It's probably luck. I usually hit one of those streaks every year, even though I don't hit a lot of homers. |
I don't know what it was about. |
I guess the best part of it is he hasn't changed. We were sitting around two nights ago telling stories, and it's like we're right back in school. |
I had butterflies. There's something about putting that USA jersey on. It just feels different. |
I had no idea how many I had, ... That's a lot of hits. The last few years I had better second halves than first halves. I was not expecting to hit as many home runs as I have, but I expected to have a good second half. It's more noticeable because I'm in a new league. |
I remember there was a lot of talk about upgrading the pitching staff. I knew Matt Morris was out there. Watching him from the other league, I knew he was a tremendous pitcher and a tremendous competitor. I was thinking, 'Man, I really hope we get him,' and we did. |