I know the owner is the No. 1 fan

It’s something that’s very, very nice, you’ve got to give all the credit to [general manager] Mike Rizzo for putting the team together with a lot of chemistry. That was more important. You can have a good team, but without a lot of chemistry, it’s not going to work. …

People don’t know how hard it is to put a team together to make the playoffs. Playoffs is something you dream of. You go to spring training, it [is] never going to be a good year when you don’t make the playoffs. … It’s happened. I’m happy for a lot of people there. They’re all my friends on that team. It’s a dream come true for a lot of people. For the city, it’s very nice. It’s a city that loves baseball.

It’s a great organization, it’s a great city to live in. For the family, it’s a great city. You feel safe all the time. But more important is the way they treat you here. The owner’s a great person. The family is unbelievable. And all the coaches, it’s nice. The office people — everybody’s nice. That was something that was very good, and I feel good. I feel good. I feel like I’m at home.

I feel bad for Strasburg, but … he’s a franchise player, too, same like Jordan. And I think you got to take care of what you’ve got. You don’t want to push the guy too much. I understand Mike Rizzo, and if I’m Mike Rizzo right now, I’d do it the same way. And Strasburg, he got to understand that he’s got to take care of himself.

There’s more playoffs to come, I think. This city, I think, is going to be in the World Series, if not this year, next year or really soon, and win the World Series title. … You don’t want to blow his arm again.

I know the owner is the No. 1 fan, you see the owner catching fly balls in center field, because he loves baseball, it’s something that you never see on a lot of teams. I think on any team.

First Game Ever at the new Busch Stadium

On Tuesday, April 4th, 2006, I went to the first game ever played at the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis, an exhibition game between the AAA Memphis Redbirds and the AA Springfield Cardinals. When the game began I was sitting in what must have been the worst seats in the house.




I couldn't see the jumbotron.

I could see my pulled pork sandwhich, which was delicious.

This was the view from the upper deck concourse.


Eventually I moved and sat next to my friends who had gotten better seats, first row upper deck, behind the plate.



On the left is the portion of the seating which isn't finished yet.

We don't have to win 10 straight

We don't have to win 10 straight. The teams [contending for the wild card] are mostly in the same division and playing each other the rest of the way. I think that's why we don't see anybody in there panicking.

We have to do whatever it takes right now. That's our rallying cry: whatever it takes. We have to put it together now. We can't win one, lose one, win one, lose two.

I don't give a hoot about Jae Seo. Anybody [who] goes out there and changes speeds sticks the bat up our rear ends. Simple as that. We make no adjustments. None. Not as hitters.

You can only pull so many strings. You try to put yourself in position to win the ballgame. We got those opportunities. We just don't get the big, tough hit. We just don't do it. We don't get the fly ball.

The scoreboard's right there in front of you. Yeah, you're very aware. But it doesn't make any difference what the other clubs are doing. If we don't take care of our business, it doesn't make any difference. None whatsoever. You can't gain ground on anybody by losing.

It's August. The season's going to be over pretty soon. If they don't get it by now, there's no way you can convince them to change. You talk to them during the course of the ballgame. You reason with them. You point things out to them. And they still don't take heed.

A souveneir...

No, no, I'm not angry. I was giving it to the guy. I do a lot of stuff that people think I'm angry.

I try to stay in the game, try to win. I know this wasn't my day. From the first inning, I know it was going to be a hard day. I just have nothing today.

I'm not mad at nobody. It's me. I'm a fighter, so I don't like to lose. I'm better than that. If I pitched better, I had a chance to win. Sometimes when it doesn't happen, you need to be mad.

-LH

For the first time in my career, I feel comfortable in the clubhouse...

For the first time in my career, I feel comfortable in the clubhouse. I feel comfortable with the city. I feel comfortable with the fans. I love playing for Frank Robinson. He motivates me in so many ways because I have so much respect for him. . . . I feel like I'm in my element. . . . I love the fans here. I love them. They get behind me, and it pushes me to another level.

The past couple of days, I felt I had a dead arm and I was kind of moping around until I got loose. After that, it was fun. I didn't feel any pressure at all.

After we scored the two runs, I struck out the side [in the fifth inning]. I was very relaxed and very comfortable. That's all I needed tonight.

It's has been an amazing year. It's the dream I had coming into this season and it's working. This is what I always believed I could do. If I were to give up on that, I don't know how far I would have gone. But my family kept me motivated. They kept telling me to believe in myself. I believed that I could turn it around, get over injuries, get healthy and go out and pitch and show the potential I thought that I had.

I'm happy here in Washington. That's a great thing. It's the first time in my career that I have been happy.

-JP

Before I got to know him, I really scared....

Before I got to know him, I really scared. I was like, I hope I never get in trouble here with this guy because this guy is pretty tough. I heard all these stories about this guy and how he approached players.

I hope I do everything the right way. I don't want to see this guy touching me and approach me with all my teammates around. I didn't want to let my emotions go and say something back to him because I would really be embarrassed. I don't want to get suspended again.

I want to win, and I want to win bad. And these other guys better want to win, too.

Sometimes, he is scary because I don't want to see him get mad at me and approach me for something bad. That's why my discipline has been so good. I have so much respect for these guys the way they play for him.

-JG

Nobody complained when we were winning

I think we are going to move the walls back next year. I'm going to put it 500 feet in the power alleys, 600 feet to straightaway center field, and we are going to figure out who's a man and who's not.

Nobody complained when we were winning. Now they are complaining when they are losing. We had the best record of any team in baseball at home. This is about winning and losing. People that make excuses are losers. I have no place for losers. I don't want to hear about the food. I don't want to hear about the clubhouse. I don't want to hear about the size of the wall, the color of the grass and the depth of the mound. I want to see production and wins. I don't care about that other [stuff]. Winners go and win. Losers complain. I don't want to be around complainers and losers.

So for those who want to complain and want to lose, they should come and ask to be traded.

-JB

I never fucking quit, never.

I never fucking quit, never. For eight years, I pitch every fucking day. And everybody know. Every day, hurt. They say, 'Livan is a quitter. Livan is going to quit.' Fuck that. I go pitch. I'm good. I go pitch.

I'm not going to miss a start. Last night, I not feel good. You don't know my body. You don't know what happened.

It's not the loss, that's not the problem. The problem is that I not feel good. My knee was bad. . . It's not always bad. That's the only day I feel like that. It happened when I ran to first base and I feel something different that I not feel before. So I said, maybe when I wake up in the morning, 99.9 percent I need the surgery, maybe. . . . My knee look like it going to explode, last night. You don't know. My knee, I think I cannot work. That's why 99.9 percent.

I'm pitching with my knee more than 17 starts like that. I never quit. Somebody else maybe quit. But not me. I'm going to make every start now. I don't got no problem. I feel, last night, not good. ... My knee looked like it want to explode last night.

I feel good today. Not 100 per cent, but I feel much better, and I'm not going to miss a start.

Everybody in the clubhouse knows me very well. And everybody knows that I go on the mound every five days with my knee. ... I'm not the kind of guy that going to complain too much.

You don't know how I feel last night. You don't know I got a bad leg. You don't know I don't sleep last night because my knee hurt. That was the problem.
That and Wil and the Dark Angel DVD.


-LH

3 years

Its been for 3 years now, and I no say nothing.

But now I say something.

Why they cancel Dark Angel? And now, why they cancel Wilfredo?

Miss Alba was spicy, and she kicked butt, like Wil and I have been doing all year. It's like fastballs? singles? Alba? need some of theeseee? Between Dark Angel and hanging out with Wil, I was happy.

In 2002 they cancel Dark Angel!!! I had VHS tapes of the two seasons. I wached them all the time. But early in the season, my VCR break. It was always with lines in picture, but I no mind. But in Viera, the tapes break, and VCR breaks. No Alba!!

So I just hang out with Wil, and think of Alba. And we win ballgames.

But last night, things different. Wil got cut. So now, no Alba, and No Wil. I still pitch last night, but everytime I walk off mound, I think of Alba. It took long time to get to dugout! Mmmm, Alba. But she gone. And Will gone. And I no want to pitch no more.

In the 5th inning, I got a call from Wil on my Cell. Frank no looking, so I take the call. He says that he got bootleg DVD of Dark Angel, that we'd watch together if I meet him. I say I have to pitch, and he say screw that, come to Portland, we party and watch DVD. Baseball sallaries guaranteed, he say, just say your knee hurt. He say DVD has lost episodes.

I say I think about it. I let you know. Either way, after the season, I'll see lost episodes, and tell you about it.

LH