Cubs Week in Quotations

Caffeine Watch '08

"I've never had Red Bull in my life, but I've actually seen people at a
bar order Red Bull and vodka. I can't comprehend that.
If I had a couple of those things, I'd be like the malt liquor bull
(from the old TV commercials) leaving the bar. My lord."'
- Lou Piniella

"You think Lou lives in my house in Chicago?"
- Carlos Zambrano
responding to questions that Lou thinks he's still drinking too many
caffeinated beverages

"Every time I don't want to drink Gatorade or water, they are all over
me .I appreciate that. They are doing a good job. I
have to keep going with my diet -- bananas, bananas and bananas.''
- Carlos Zambrano

I Sense Sarcasm...

"It was foul? You mean, the umpires were wrong?"
- Lou Piniella on DeRosa's "gift" homer on Sunday

But Let's Be Clear, I'm Better

"Dusty's a good man, and a darn good manager. I've always felt that way."
- Lou Piniella on Dusty Baker

Except Me, They Would Never Boo Me, Right?

"They boo everything now, so they might boo him. I don't see the reason why, but I wouldn't be surprised."
- Derrek Lee on Dusty's return to Wrigley Field

Most of Those People Aren't TCR Readers

"Most people aren't going to say bad stuff to your face. They were all cool. They were like, 'Hey, Dusty, we miss you.
We love you. I was like, 'Thank you.' "
- Dusty Baker

Just a Hop, Skip and A Jump

"No, no, no, it’s not because of the hop. I had felt it before and I felt it last week and didn’t take care of it then. It was not because of the jump."
- Alfonso Soriano defending his "hop"

"I don’t know how to answer you. Obviously he feels comfortable with it. What happened (Tuesday) night was a freak thing. You can blame it on the hop. You can blame it on whatever you want, but truthfully, if it didn’t happen there, it would’ve happened doing something else."
- Lou Piniella

"I don’t mind the hop, as long as he catches them all. That’s his thing. It helps him relax and focus better, and for the most part he plays good solid defense for us and throws a lot of people out."
- Jim Hendry

"Any time you lose one of your top players it's not good. "
- Lou Piniella on losing Soriano

The Replacement
"I don't have that flair in my game .I turned around to the fans [Tuesday night] and said, 'It's not going to be pretty, but I'll get it done.'"
- Mark DeRosa

"I don't know why it's so different from right, but it played a little different."
- Mark DeRosa on playing left field

"At the end of the day it's like playing Little League. Just catch the ball, hit your cutoff man and everything will take care
of itself."
- Mark DeRosa

Liar, Liar!
"We're going to let him start here. I told Felix we're going to play him when we have right-hand pitching out there, and the Reds are pitching three right-handers, so you're going to see Felix out there in center field"
- Lou Piniella before the Reds series started

"We're going to work with him a few days,"
- Lou Piniella the next day.

Papa Lou Is Going to Take Care of This
"I've gotten involved."
- Lou Piniella on working with Felix Pie

"This kid will catch on, and when he does and he feels comfortable with it, we'll run him out there."
- Lou Piniella

No Good Will Come of This
''I've been getting on Zambrano a little bit about his hitting. I told him he's a [batting-practice] hitter. But today, he swung it really well during the game.''
- Lou Piniella on Zambrano's hitting

''I'm a good hitter. I was hitting .000 before the game; now I'm hitting .250. That's good.''
- Carlos Zambrano on his hitting

"You think Sammy Sosa is stronger than me?"
- Carlos Zambrano guaranting that he'd hit the centerfield scoreboard with a home run during batting practice this year

It Would Be Cool if You Got Some Hits
"It's cool to start everything off You get more at-bats. It's cool to do it in the big leagues."
- Mike Fontenot

"Fontenot left a lot of people on today. He hit a lot of balls hard."
- Lou Piniella

Lost In Translation...
'I don't know what the creator of the shirt meant this to be, but they
should make it right. Maybe the creator created it
because he thought it was funny, or maybe he made it to condescend the race. I don't know.''
- Kosuke Fukudome, on the Horry Kow! shirts being sold outside Wrigley

'I'm looking for something in Spanish. There are more Latin players here than Japanese -- there is only one.''
- Carlos Zambrano commenting on the backdrops in the Cubs interview room consisting of an American and Japanese company, but no Latin companies.

Taking "Throw It Back" to New Levels
"It's something I hadn't seen before. What's amazing is [the fans] beat each other up trying to get these balls in batting practice, and they scrape their knees and elbows. I've seen some fistfights out there, and all of a sudden they give them up rather easily." - Lou Piniella on the fans throwing 15 balls back on the field after an Adam Dunn home run

"I didn't know that many people hit home runs today,"
-Kosuke Fukudome

When Old Men Attack...
"This is the kind of thing … that makes you want to see the Chicago Cubs team lose."
- Reds Announcer Marty Brenneman

Well He Does Have a Point Here

"You simply root against them. I've said all winter, they talk about this team winning the division. They won't win it because they still are the Chicago Cubs and they will figure out a way to screw this whole thing up."
- Marty Brenneman

The Team Responds...
"You're torn in situations like that. You get a chuckle
out of it but at the same time you waste 10 minutes of your life." - Mark DeRosa on Marty's comments

"I like Marty Brennaman myself, I really do. I was over there for three years with him, but he's got nothing to do with the Cubs winning it or losing it, I can tell you that."
-Lou Piniella

Oh, You Thought He Was Done?
"I understand all these fans are all upset. Half of them are probably brain dead to begin with. If they can't understand that what happened Wednesday night is completely over the top and out of line, then I'm sorry.
- Marty Brenneman a few days later

"I think what I said about how tough it is to root for the Cubs is something that a lot of people, those that didn't grow up to be Cub fans, feel the same way I do, but they don't want to articulate it. I'm not afraid to say what I think."

- Marty Brenneman

"If you compare the fans in Chicago with the group of people I think are the best fans in baseball, which are the Cardinal fans, they are hands down the best fans in baseball. They respect the game. They go to the ballpark to see the game. They don't do stupid stuff. That is the difference."
- Marty Brenneman

And The Rest...

"Yeah, get about four or five alarm clocks and make sure they get set. It's a mistake that happened and last year's in
the past and this year you learn from it and don't let it happen again."
-Eric Patterson's on what he does to make sure he's not late again

"You guys are fantasizing with lineups again,"
- Lou Piniella