Willie Randolph Quotations

I guess I finally made it, ... I'm legit now.

I guess I'm a show-me guy, I want to see that David can keep making the adjustments.

I wouldn't call him a swingman ... he could be in the roation by the end of the year. Nothing's etched in stone. We're just doing whatever it takes to win games.

When the Mets first signed him, they signed him to do these things. I wasn't here last year, but obviously, they signed him to be an impact player, both offensively and defensively.

Obviously, when you're looking at it, it's not too pretty. But the bottom line is we still had a chance to win the game.

One thing we bring to the table is our aggressive speed. That can also be a factor if you play smart. When I make my lineup card, I put whoever I feel has a chance to help us win that day. I try not to get too deep about it.

No, not necessarily. You might look at our rotation and say he's pretty much in there, but I'm never going to say that because you don't know. We have three or four guys in the back of the depth chart that might step up and knock my socks off. He has to compete.

Reyes knows what he needs to do. He's waiting on the ball better. He's an aggressive hitter, making solid contact. ... When he's totally focused on every at-bat, with his talent he'll be unbelievable offensively and defensively.

No, he's going to be in the mix, but I can't say right now he's going to be in the rotation. No one's got a guarantee coming into spring training. I don't believe in that.

Obviously bringing in Wagner, a legitimate closer who makes you feel real good at the end of the game when you give him the ball, all of that stuff is really comforting for most managers.

Obviously, if you play games like that with the fans, they can come down harder on you. We all have choices to make and reactions to different things.

I don't ever react to stuff like that.

If we're mathematically eliminated by then he definitely won't pitch,

If we're going to be a team that goes to the next level, we have to play better on the road. That's the way it's been over the history of the game. Most teams struggle a little bit on the road unless you're a top-echelon team. So we hope that we pick it up a little bit more and win our share so we can have that confidence going on the road.

If they look at the standings then they know we're back in the mix. I trust they understand it's time to play.

There are other guys who might be in front of him, anyway.

When we saw him in Spring Training, we knew he had some thunder in his hands. But he's been really good for us all year. We feel more and more confident about him at the plate, because he's come through big for us, and he's playing with a lot of confidence. Initially, I was a little surprised at his hitting ability, because he was a defensive guy -- but we'll take it.

We're just going through the process of learning how to play winning baseball. The bottom line is that we're learning the hard way.

Jake is getting his feet wet, not to get crazy. But it's nice that he's doing well.... That's why I like fresh blood, young blood. When the adrenaline starts flowing, sometimes good things can happen. The kid deserves a lot of credit coming up here and keeping his poise and making a contribution to what we're doing right now.

I would think any team at this point in time, given where we are, would be pretty weak if they let these games affect them. Because we're still there. We can make up for these last three days if we play well on the road. I'm positive, man. I feel good about my guys. No doom and gloom. We're looking forward.

I would think that any team at this point in time, given where we are, would be pretty weak if they let these two games affect them,

He is part of the team and he's going to be a part of the team. We'll get him going. He's going to be fine. We feel real good about him, even though he's one of the guys on the team that's maybe struggling a little bit right now. We'll just continue to give him the ball when we can, and I think before too long he'll start to feel good about himself.

He'll be fine. He's a good kid. Goes about his business. He's got a lot of teammates who can take him under their wing and I'm sure they'll do that.

He'll be here in a couple days -- it might even be tomorrow, ... There's nothing in his contract about it. We just told him we wanted him back. We want him to come back and help us.

He knows his body, he knows what he has to do to get ready. He might not have been on the field a lot (in Florida), but I trust him. And when he tells me he s ready to go, I give him the ball.

I coached third base for 10 years and I don't second-guess my third base coaches.

Ideally, we'll just see how it goes and play it by ear the rest of the way,

I can't get caught up in that. I know the fans would love to get payback, but what they (the fans) don't understand is you still have to play the game. We want to win the games very badly. We can't think that if we don't do well how will it affect you mentally. Regardless of how this plays out, we still have to play them again.

I can't really get into his head and know how he feels, but I'm sure he's enjoying this opportunity. He's been doing the job for us. He seems like a pretty solid kid.

From year to year, I might change different things. But right now, I'm just going to play it as it comes.

Getting thrown out of the game is no big deal for me. Just protecting your players. I thought the ball was low. You say your little piece and the umpire doesn't want to hear it and he throws you out of the game.

Getting thrown out of the game is protecting my players. I just voiced my opinion and I was thrown out.

I feel like we deserved this victory. We haven't had a comeback like this in a while. All year long, we've had a lot of heartbreaking losses.

I feel real good about the shape most of the guys are in. I'm excited.

I don't think its sets him back. He played winter ball so he had enough throwing. It could be a blessing in disguise. If you take a little break before spring training he could be strong after resting up. He'll have plenty of time to get ready.

Give the pitcher credit, he threw the ball well. We didn't muster much of an offense.

I expect us to win. I'm not about making predictions. But yes, any manager worth his salt is going to say, 'I expect to win.' That's just me. That's how it's always been.

I don't think you can look at one leader, ... You narrow yourself and get into trouble when it's only one guy. Because if he isn't always there, what are you going to do?

Carlos can hit anywhere. He's one of those guys who can adapt to any situation, I believe.

Carlos is getting better, but there's no reason to risk anything here where it's so cool, not when he's come this far.

Carlos knows how good he is. And that kind of inner confidence is huge in making it here.

I feel very positive. No matter how bleak it might look, this clubhouse is going to stay positive.

I felt good about the match-up. Bonds is a great hitter, but my closer is one of the best in the game.

But take all that with a grain of salt because you assume that's not the natural thing.

He reminded me of Kenny Lofton of yesteryear. Those were big plays. They could have got us back in the game.

We've got to play them anyway. As long as we're playing well, then it's a good thing.

We've got to see if we can get something going from the little funk we're in, ... Obviously, we've picked a bad time to go into a little swoon and it's hurting us.

We've got to see if we can get something going from the little funk we're in. Obviously, we've picked a bad time to go into a little swoon and it's hurting us.

He's a big guy and has a lot of moving parts. He has to be more consistent. The change in environment can be good for him. Just because you put a label on somebody with one team doesn't mean he'll be the same way with another team.

He's a big guy, and there's a lot of moving parts. Hopefully, it can translate into something more consistent.

He's a guy, overall, that gives us more assets in that spot. Miguel played well for us early in the year, and he can always go out there and grind and claw and do certain things. But he did come here to be backup guy. If Kaz can finish up strong, the way he's swinging right now, it would be nice for us.

We're obviously picking a bad time to go into a little bit of a swoon. And it's hurting us.

I almost expected him to do what he did tonight. I know he wanted the ball and he was ready for this. I have seen him quite a bit in the past, and it was vintage Trachsel.

I already told Loop we're going to be flexible in that role, ... We'll see how it goes. It's not something that we can figure out because there's not enough time.

He wants to be the best. We've talked a lot about his approach.

He was able to keep us in it.

He was a little anxious. Sometimes a young guy, when you want to get your feet wet, you can be a little erratic. The key for me is keeping us in the game.

He kind of backed into that because he took off the last couple of days. So if it wasn't for that, Julio, I would have beat you out that year.

He just reminds me of one of those rare kids who understands that they have a great opportunity, and they want to grab hold of it, seize it and not look back. He knows he still has to do it over a consistent period of time.

He was impressive. It was nice to see the ball fly out of his hand.

He was effectively erratic I guess. That was probably the most erratic we've seen him in a while. But the bottom line is he made pitches when he had to make them. Sometimes he may get out of sync, but he has a way of gathering himself when he has to.

He was probably just bouncing around with exercises, stuff like that. His stomach's a little upset.

He didn't have his best command tonight. He was a little bit erratic. You know, he always finds a way. It wasn't one of his best performances.

He didn't have his best stuff, but made pitches when he had to. He showed me something.

He did have a little more arm speed.

I always preach to my guys, any time you go out on the field, you want to win. But I don't put a lot of emphasis on wins and losses down here.

He turned a big double play with a lot of pressure on him.

He did a great job of a Houdini act out there.

He did a great job of playing a little Houdini act there. He had more or less a C-plus game - a C-minus game, maybe - and was able to make big pitches.

He has to do a better job of managing the game.

He has to feel real strong physically and throw a little bit. You don't want to play around with a hamstring.

He's been able to get himself out of trouble. That's important. He's shown me something.

He hasn't played in a week, so I don't think it would be fair to throw him in there today.

He had a nice game. I noticed he had more pep in his step.

He had a nice game. Maybe he's starting to feel comfortable this spring. But we've got a long way to go.

He was trying too hard to impress us. He was overthrowing.

He would beat you every time but would have an encouraging word for you. He didn't take it so seriously that he didn't have fun.

He's going to start in Triple-A. The experience is great for him. The more experience he gets at this level, he benefits from it. He loves to compete and he's not intimidated too much.

His stuff is good. Hey, we're 9-2 and he's a part of our team and as long as we're doing well I don't feel I should waste a lot of energy talking about him.

His stuff was pretty good, I thought, really. He had a sneaky fastball and threw in the low 90s. I think overall he threw the ball pretty well.

Good hitters capitalize on poor pitching. He got some balls up in the zone.

He's gotten some big hits for us. He's strong and he's got those big, strong hands and if he throws them on you he can make something happen.

He's gotten some big hits for us. I like his swing. I like his energy.

He's handled himself well. But I'd like to see a few more hits here and there.

He's having a nice little spring down at Triple-A. Right now, we feel like he's the best option for us. We'll bring him up and get him started.

He seemed to make good pitches when he had to. He seemed like he was not really on his total game, but he was good enough to beat us.

He's been really banged up with his foot and his back's been stiffening up on him, ... With over 220-something innings this year, I just felt like we'd kind of be cautious with him and he was starting to stiffen up. Couldn't really get loose during the game, so I took him out.

He's been stiff. We want to check him out and see where he is before we get back on the field.

He's got quick hands. He attacks the ball aggressively. And you have to like his speed. He's just a very effortless type of runner. When he hit that triple, it looked like he was coasting. Just real smooth. It's that young talent, that raw kind of young skill you like to see.

He's been doing his exercises and maintaining his back exercises, and from what I understand he's feeling real strong. The thing I like more than anything is that everyone's pretty healthy and that's nice to see right now.

He's fine. Just like any other thing, he's got some personal things to deal with or whatever. He has permission to take care of it. It's fine.

He's going to be fine, just a couple of outings.

He's going to go out and throw and get loose. It depends how he feels. If you're 100 percent sure that he's OK, you do it. But if not, you don't want to start the season with someone aggravating something that sidelines them any period of time.

He's a veteran guy. He knows how to handle a pitching staff.

He's going to start to step up his program a little bit. He knows he has to start getting ready. He didn't actually say, 'I'm going to get on the top (of the mound),' but I'm assuming that he might. He probably will. We'll see.

He's gone out and played and had some good days and not so good days.

He has that magnetism. He's a big man, a strong man, a likeable man. He's the Straw Man.

He has the tendency to overthrow the ball. I'm sure tonight it was no different.

He needs a lot of work on the double play,

He'll botch a few here and there. You can't have it all. But one thing about him, he'll work.