Todd Jones Quotations

When I left, I didn't like the situation and didn't want to be here.

Neither one of them by themselves was a very good retailer. I don't see how putting those two retailers together makes them any better.

Natural is better. Now guys with power mean more since not everybody has it.

I have been and continue to be skeptical that they have the right people in place to drive performance there.

I was lucky to get a couple by him. Because he's a pretty deadly hitter.

If I'm going to spend $3,000 at Best Buy or I'm going to spend $2,500 at Wal-Mart, that $500 is worth it for the better service.

He's a lot farther ahead than I ever anticipated just watching him on TV. He's a polished big-league pitcher. Mike's been through a lot, losing 20 games and not ducking starts. He's pretty far ahead.

Our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, which allowed our backs to get open in the holes.

I thought I was finished then. I was thinking if I can't make the Devil Rays, can I pitch anymore? Is this it, is this how I go out? It was embarrassing not to be able to make that team.

I think you evaluate where you are at and what kind of team you are on. If you are on a good team, you want more than 30. It's not Sept. 1, and I'm sitting on 30. That's good.

I think it's admirable what he did, because there have been some guys in recent history that have gotten their contract and gotten hurt and went home, never to be seen again. Knowing Troy, he was going to have to (try) because he was professional in every aspect of the game, so you didn't expect him to just not show up and collect his checks. He was going to try and pitch because he's a competitor first and foremost.

I think it's more festive and I think it's more of a celebration that winter's over. Baseball season's here, which means summer's here and it's going to warm up. It's more than just a baseball game, I think, in Detroit, more than any other city I've been in. It's like a celebration that the freezing weather's out of the way for the most part.

The problem is, when you think about it, saves are the only stat where 100 percent is the benchmark. And the elite make it look so easy. There is so much to it.

You look at the economic climate overall, and this is not a good time to run up the credit cards.

We're ecstatic with the win, and we're glad we're the one that put the end to that winning streak. That was a big motivational tool this week.

We were wore out, and I think it was our legs. Our legs were gone today, and I was worried about that going into it.

Very excited to be in the championship game. Lake Norman gave us all we could handle.

We knew we were going to get everything they had. North and Statesville, it's a big rivalry game. It doesn't matter if one team is 0-20 and the other is 20-0. You've got to come out prepared to play.

Dontrelle pitched great and he got the loss. It's not very fair. That's the way it goes though.

I've been on good teams, I've been on bad teams, every good team I've ever been on we loved each other. You need everybody pulling in the right direction because there's just too much that can tear a team apart. You don't need inner struggles to do that.

The teen retailers and some of the specialty retailers were the clear-cut winners.

The signs are there that they can do it. It's going to take a long time for them to get to that Target level.

When you're a younger player, you can't worry about what your teammates are doing. When you're older, life slows down and you can analyze things in the big picture more, and I've decided I want to get more involved off the field with guys.

When you go down the roster, and you see my name, it feels like a typo. It feels like one of those Christmas presents that a die-hard Green Bay Packers fan would get: Someone superimposes your name on the Packers' Diamond-vision, and you pay $9.95 to get an 8-by-10 photo of it.

You feel kind of stupid actually handing out Marlin T-shirts to somebody like that.

Totally luck, totally luck. Lance Berkman is a great hitter and he knew what I was going to throw. I get it in maybe just a hair, just enough. I don't want to have to do that again tomorrow because he's a great hitter and I consider it dodging bullets when I do that. Seriously.

Of the 20-something pitches I threw, I think only two weren't strikes. So I felt pretty good. I was very happy. Not once did I feel anything that made me think about it.

With the big stuff, he tells us the way it's going to be. But on some of the not-so-big stuff, he gives players a little control so we have some input. It's like: 'Here's an olive branch. Let's see what you do with it.' He makes you feel like it's not a totalitarian dictatorship.

Now he needs 800 more at-bats to be the greatest hitter in history,

That's kind of the good thing about being a reliever. You can just keep going.

To be able to hand him the ball after the game is special. A thousand wins is a lot for a manager. If you put all of the managers I've played for together, I don't think they had 1,000 wins.

With a young kid with the kind of ceiling he's got -- if he makes this team, he's going to be a big contributor on this team. He's not going to be a middle-of-the-road or long guy or whatever.

If Macy's goes upscale, I would pick J.C. Penney as the winner because they've got the brands that have clearly worked for that customer.

I haven't been around a situation like this where it went so bad so fast.

I'm not saying how far we might go, but Jim has been in this situation before. When he managed the Florida Marlins (in 1997), he knew that team was put together specifically to win a championship. And it did.

I'm glad to be back. I'm glad to be in the mix. At this stage of my career, I have to find ways to connect. Detroit is an easy connection for me.

I'm really excited. This was a place that meant a lot to me, it means a lot to me. I've seen the struggles over the last couple years, and I'm looking forward to trying to help out. This organization's very proud, and it means a lot to me.

That had a big influence on the outcome of the game.

At this rate, he only needs another 800 at-bats to be the greatest hitter of all time.

I wanted to keep as many offensive bullets as I could.

I wanted to pitch good today and show them that I'm here for the duration. It was important for me to get back with the guys as soon as I could because I missed 'em.

In New York, in Philly, you know they're revved up. Here, it's like the fans have a football mentality.

He's the type of guy that not too many guys can relate to because they just don't know what it's like to have that kind of stuff.

Home Depot and Lowe's and even to an extent Best Buy have done a good job in introducing new product.

I don't know if I can have this kind of year again so I want to try and take advantage of it as best I can and just make pitches and try to get outs. I was with Boston in 2003 and I wasn't an important part of the team and that kind of hurt. But I learned a lot from that and it feels good to be part of the team this year.

I don't know how bad it was, because I've never had anything like this happen. It felt like when you crack your back right in the middle of your body, but it was in my hamstring.

I don't know how many more years I've got personally, and I don't know if I can ever have this kind of year again. So I want to try to take advantage of it as best I can.

It was nice of him to do that. I didn't have to pay rent. He even gave me a car to drive. So I end up facing him and paying him back with a single.

It was an internal meeting about internal things that stay in the Marlins internally.

The forecast is a little bit disappointing. The company's got a lot on its plate for this year so it doesn't surprise me that they're trying to be more conservative.

You've got to get lucky to get three by him, because he's a deadly hitter.

You can really see it screwing up hitters.

There's a whole lot of fastballs out there.

It's a big number for anybody, but it's probably a bigger number for me, because I haven't done it in a few years. There are a lot of guys out there who can close if they are given the opportunity. Or they are out there in front of a guy who is a great closer. Whatever, the situation doesn't present itself. You have to be ready when it does present itself.

It's just frustrating. I don't want to have to hear, 'Here we go. The guy's getting older and the body's breaking down. I knew he couldn't do it again.' But, hopefully, in two weeks, I'll be ready to go.

It was the coolest thing I've done on the field in a while.

It's easy to say stuff like that when there's only a week to go in the season. A.J.'s a free spirit. He's got to live with his comments.

It's going to affect everybody. The bright lights are coming on awfully early this year. I sometimes go the whole spring without seeing any of the horses, without facing a single big-league hitter. Now, it's going to be nothing but. I'm going to be facing the best right off the bat.

It's hard to swallow this right now. This can be a dividing point. We'll see what kind of team we have now.

They haven't gotten there yet on the merchandising front. Bringing the Target consumer to buy at Wal-Mart, that's the big stretch.

I chalk it up to the whole time period, with the Easter shift. I don't see it as anything systemic.

Gotta love it. Gotta love it. I feel like the girls really wanted this one. They're working really hard right now.