Mike Matheny Quotations

I don't view it. It's meaningless to me. I could care less. We've got to come back tomorrow and play that game. Right now I'm having trouble letting this one go.

I acknowledged the fact that when they were struggling I was not helping them, so ... ... ... I guess I deserve some praise for helping them now.

It didn't sound like they were putting him high on the priority list. I know that's a slap in the face.

That was beautiful to see the first time out. I think that's just something he did on his own, something in his game he knew he realized he needed to work on.

Those are the little things I need to do, ... It was the right play. I had screwed it up twice, so I needed to fix it.

We would love it when Jack came to the clubhouse. He understood the demands of the sport. It wasn't just like he was a fan of his son. He was a fan of all of us. He was a class, class man, and J.T. is the same way.

To have that depth is not something a lot of organizations have.

Every place seems to react to him the same way. They boo him. They cheer him. They boo the pitchers who walk him. I don't think it'll be any different than any other city.

So much of me feeling that I did my job goes hand in hand with how the pitching does. We had some tough times this year. In that regard, no, I didn't feel I did (deserve the Gold Glove). I do appreciate the fact the managers and the coaches in the league appreciate what I do bring to the table. It's a great honor.

Once we get in here, we start getting ready for the game. Barry is the exact same way. He comes in and gets himself ready. What the fans and what the media make of him as a person, that becomes a distraction. It doesn't influence what I do on the field, so I don't spend much time thinking about it.

That's why you keep veteran pitchers here. He kept us rolling and kept his composure. He's versatile, ageless.

That's why you keep veteran pitchers around. Those guys don't get too worked up. They're ready for any situation. He comes in, and the first is a great pitch and he gets out of the inning. Then he gets us rolling, and after our big inning he keeps his composure and gets a shutdown inning. He did that a lot last year. He's ageless.

The young pitching is really impressive. Cain is as good as I've seen at his stage of development. Brad Hennessey (5-8, 4.64) has made big strides. It's been great working with these guys, very gratifying, because they're so willing to learn.

The young pitching is really impressive, ... Cain is as good as I've seen at his stage of development. Brad Hennessey (5-8, 4.64) has made big strides. It's been great working with these guys, very gratifying, because they're so willing to learn.

They're probably going to get bored with me because I'm going to start giving them pretty much plain, drab answers, just premeditated boring stuff.

It's just a shame we have such trouble scoring runs for these guys, especially after a first start like that, and he has to walk away with a loss. It's a shame we couldn't pull out a win for him.

It's not easy to walk out of here right now.

The next day we still played. It was the first time I ever asked a manager not to put me in the lineup. It was Darryl's day to pitch. I was surprised most of the guys had enough focus to play.

That's one of the best things I've seen this spring... Just the level that it brings him to. He's one of us. To see him do what he did, going out there and having a good time and he didn't care who saw -- that spoke a lot to me, and I know that did a lot for a lot of guys in this room who felt very intimidated by him and maybe kind of separated.

Every once in a while -- not very often -- you come across people who make everybody else around them better. I've never seen anybody put so much effort into other people and you could tell it was sincere.

That guy is nasty. That was the first time I've seen him. He's no joke. He's going to have some fun in this league.

That guy is nasty. How old is he?

It's boring for you to write and for people to hear, ... but I just don't let myself go there, and I hope the other guys don't, either. We're responsible for playing every day. To put more emphasis on this game or series, or any other, doesn't do anyone any good.

It takes a mentality to keep pushing here. We have the responsibility to ourselves to play as hard as we can.

It will be nice when he returns. Any team would like him in the lineup. But we've been focusing on winning games, and other guys are playing. It would be an insult to them to be thinking of him.

The label surprised me because of how defensive-minded he is and how much he cares about the position. That's basically how I'm wired. I respect guys who respect the position.

He came in and did exactly what anyone would ask for.

I didn't feel good today- little things here and there- but that's the nature of this game. You just keep pushing, being mentally and physically ready. Some days are better than others, but even if you don't feel so good, you get yourself going.

Character is forged not on the mountaintop but in the valley.

I don't want to cower at somebody's interpretation of what I'm about. I'm supposed to be doing it and I'm going to throw this word out there-with excellence. There's no reason for me to give anything less that all I've got in everything I do. That's scriptural. For me, that's the foundation of who I am.

I believe that the time to start thinking about your legacy is not at the end but at the beginning, because as I said, that's when you're able to do something about it.

Nothing worth doing right is easy.