Joe Torre Win Quotations

I think there's more of opportunity to win games in the National League than the American League because there are more decisions to make.

I believe anybody who is not afraid to fail is a winner.

One win­ter, when I was 12, my older brother Frank (20) said to my father, 'We want you out of the house. We don't want any­thing other than the house we live in. We don't want any­thing from you. Just leave.' And he left.

We can learn from past failures and mistakes, but we shouldn't get stuck there. We can keep future goals in mind, but we shouldn't get stuck there, either. The only way to reach our potential is to focus on what we must do now - this moment, this day - to perform effectively and win.

You can't win the Kentucky Derby unless you're on a thoroughbred.

Winning is a lot of fun. I remember having a meeting a couple years ago and telling the guys: 'You're not enjoying yourselves.' O'Neill said to me afterwards, 'Skip, it's not fun unless you win.'

I think that winning creates chemistry, as opposed to other way around. I've been on a lot of friendly teams that couldn't win, trust me.

If a club is winning, you never pay attention to a guy who's 0-for-10. If a club is losing, all of a sudden you'll find that he's the main reason why you're losing, which is absurd for me.

We're hoping he's healthy. That's No.1, first and foremost. All the reports that we've had is that he's been on a regular routine throwing ? not throwing off the mound, but everything seems to be good. He's a big horse for us. When he was a free agent last year he was at the top of my list. We were fortunate enough to be able to sign him. He just never was right. Mel can tell you, from spring training on he just didn't feel right. It was just something that nagged him all year. Finally we shut him down. Hopefully that stuff is behind him.

Knowing the makeup of the individual, knowing the fact that somebody's not afraid to make a mistake and the intelligence, that makes confidence in him easy for me to have.

You can't expect to win when you give them extra outs. You hope when you make errors they won't come up and bite you.

You certainly can't expect to win when you give them extra outs. You're gonna make errors. Tonight we didn't make them at good times.

You certainly can't expect to win when you give them extra outs. Errors are part of the game, so you hope when you make errors that they don't come and bite you. Tonight, we didn't make them at a good time.

The most enjoyment I had was doing it in the second inning after the first inning. They came back with two runs, and what looked nice at 5-0 was all of a sudden 5-2. I like the fact that we're swinging the bats, because we haven't done that very well against this club.

It's fun to win one like this at Yankee Stadium any time, but Opening Day made it special.

It's fun to win a game like this at Yankee Stadium any time. But in the home opener, it's really special. The only way we're going to get momentum is to string some of these together.

To win the division, where we had to fight from and who we had to beat, I know for me it was very satisfying.

I knew what the Dodgers uniform represented as a kid growing up in Brooklyn.

There will be a time when everyone on the team is going to contribute to winning a pennant.

I do love the feeling of a big win. But you don't have to have a World Series ring to be a winner. A winner is somebody who goes out there every day and exhausts himself trying to get something accomplished. Being able to get the most from their ability. That's what characterizes a winner.

I have one goal with all my decision: to do whatever is needed to win today's game. I'm loyal to my players, and I stick with people because consistency builds confidence. But if I feel I have to make a change in order to win, I'll do it. I don't ask players to like my decisions, only to accept that I'm doing my job with one thing in mind - winning.

A winner is somebody who goes out there every day and exhausts himself trying to get something accomplished.

Competing at the highest level is not about winning. It's about preparation, courage, understanding and nurturing your people, and heart. Winning is the result.

They are a thunder. They can put winning streaks together before you blink your eye.

Just win as many games as we can and see where that leaves us when it's over.

That's very important. If you expect to win and go places, you have to do things like that.

We've been playing very aggressive baseball, very determined baseball. This game was as good as any game we've played this year in terms of winning this type of ballgame.

They get men on base, they can run, and if you look at the formula, it's the same thing that Minnesota and the Angels have used to win ballgames. I don't see a soft spot; if you're ever going to get them, it's going to be their pitching, and we haven't had success against their pitching.

They get men on base, they can run, ... And if you look at the formula, it's the same that Minnesota has used to win ballgames, and the Angels have used. They play good defense. Their outfielders overlap. If you're ever going to get them, it's going to be their pitching, and we haven't had success against their pitching. ... Are they in our heads? How can I say no, when you haven't had success against certain pitchers and you face them?

The final week. We're not really looking to the weekend. We're looking at every single game. We can't rely on anybody else to do what we need to do. We need to win all the games, as Boston does, and a week from today when the smoke clears, hopefully we're standing tall.

We're not thinking of either one; we're just thinking about winning every game. We'll win as many games as we can and we'll see what that gets us. That's basically our mentality right now.

He's getting a lot more comfortable throwing the ball. His range is what it is. He has quick, good hands, but I think the throwing part was something he didn't appear to have a lot of confidence. Now, he doesn't hesitate. He picks up a ground ball and throws to second.

He wins 10 games and give you the final score, too, ... How much better can it get?

It's still apparent that it's there. He's throwing and doing all that stuff, but we're still trying to get past that feeling. It doesn't hurt, but he knows it's present.

We're in a situation where we can't be thinking about holding our own. We have to make an impact. The only way we can do that is by winning the first game.

We're in a pennant race, but the mentality is more of a postseason situation where every game is important enough to win right now, ... We can't be thinking long term.

We spoiled (Steinbrenner) by winning four World Series in five years. But it's certainly worth everything that goes with it.

May 6, I wasn't really concerned, because there was a long way to go. The only concern we had was playing up to our capabilities, because we felt the wins would come.

I'm comfortable with the way he's swinging the bat. We might as well take advantage of it while we have three catchers. It would be a little tougher to do if we only had two.

In games that Alex does not contribute with his bat, he's helped us win ballgames, so I think that should be part of the equation. I think it's a part David doesn't have.

That lacked respect last night. Winning and losing had nothing to do with it. I just thought it was time to acknowledge what he's done here.

It's nice to have the opportunity to win every year but it wears on you to know you have to win the World Series for it to be deemed a good year,

I feel better about him this year than I did last year. Knowing that he never felt like everything was there, just with what he's volunteering this year and the way he's moving around, I sense he's feeling a lot better about himself, physically.

You just accept whatever comes down, because if you start getting lost there, you're going to wind up getting distracted and using it as an excuse, and this is no time for excuses.

When you're down to 20 games left, it's hugely important. Knowing we still have control of things with the last three games against these guys, we just have to work very hard between now and then so those games will be significant.

If you are going to split at home the best way to do it is to win the second game.

If we win this game, ... regardless of what anybody else does, we're home for the first round and, in all likelihood, will be with the Angels, and that's going coast to coast, so we have a stake in this thing, too.

This is a very proud moment for him. I'm very pleased with the year he had. He's getting more comfortable here in New York. Alex helped us win so many games, both offensively and defensively, and he continues to improve.