[He puts gum in his hat] I always keep gum in my back pocket, ... If we make the third out when I am on base, I take three pieces out of my pocket and put them in my helmet. Then I put my batting gloves on top of them and hand the coach my helmet. Superstition is not a dirty word in baseball. Not for me. |
a good 5-iron shot. |
Basically I just told him (Martinez) I've already made up my mind to get ready for the season here with the Diamondbacks. |
But this is just as interesting. |
Even though everything tells you they are not going to do well because of the team, we're very excited about the direction they're going in, with the manager and the ball team. We had some hesitation, but when we did our research, we feel the Marlins are here to stay in South Florida ... The bottom line is they're still a Major League Baseball team. There's only 30 of them. |
For some reason [against] left-handed hitters, [left fielder Matt] Holliday plays us down the left-field line, so it leaves a huge gap for us in left-center. And fortunately I was able to hit it out there twice. |
God is great. He can bring my nephew back to me. |
He didn't get to live his whole life, and his baseball career was already cut short with the glaucoma. [In] the 12 years he played in the Major Leagues, he impacted a lot of people. |
He dove for it and I thought he caught it. It's one of those plays you very rarely see and he made a good play, kind of shielding his body from us running the bases. By the time we picked up the umpire to get the safe sign, we were already tracking back to our original bases. |
He was just effective enough to keep our hitters off balance all night. |
He's big for us. What he brings to the table, not just health-wise, but just in his attitude and his approach to the game is big for our club. He knows how to get the job done -- no matter what. He'll find a way to get it done. For our team, that's one of the guys we look to to be one of the jump-starters of our lineup, or in the clubhouse or whatever it might be. |
He's done a fantastic job behind the plate, ... But for him to step up there and hit a grand slam, that was big for us. |
He's even parking his car in the front of the lot, and he never used to do that. |
He's one of the best pitchers in the league. He's the guy no one likes to face. |
His life has totally changed now. There's going to be a lot of ups and downs through his life and daily struggles. Though our friendship, hopefully I'll be there to help as much as I can. |