Willie Randolph Good Quotations

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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 gone out and played and had some good days and not so good days.

Jose's going to get his stolen bases. If you get a good fastball to hit, and you're a good fastball hitter, I want you to swing at it, almost like a hit-and-run.

I said last night I would see how he felt. He had a pretty good game for us but I still didn't even ask him if he wanted to play because he got hit.

Spoilers are losers, ... I don't want to ever have my team feel good about being spoilers.

I saw him on TV. He's got a good curve, a sneaky fastball and he pitches inside. I was impressed. But we're going to attack him. You don't give him too much respect. He's a young player, and you've got to attack him. You don't let him get too comfortable.

Just because you have a nice feel coming into a city doesn't mean you're going to carry it over. I wasn't thinking just because we scored a lot of runs in Arizona that we were going to come here and do the same thing necessarily. We got after it pretty good there. But that's a great hitters' ballpark, a different pitching staff.

I think he's going to be a good player.

It feels good for me that we're climbing.

Just wanted him to concentrate on his three innings. It was just good to see him out there.

It boils down to how the guys play for you. That's the most important thing for me. I've done a good job getting my team ready to play every day. That is, as a manager, all you can do. The other stuff you can poke holes in. The main thing is I've learned a lot about the game.

I thought we had it, man. He came in there and did a pretty good job. After the full count he had to challenge him, I guess.

We're working on little things with his hands and feet. Nothing major. He's starting to feel comfortable with the things we're doing. He's still learning. But he's young and he'll continue to work. There's no reason he can't be a good big-league third baseman.

We have to make the most of what this is. It will be good to get everybody back and get into a flow. We have two weeks to go. That's sufficient time to get it rolling.

We played some good teams, some good baseball at times. Just didn't get over the hump.

We had a little of everything -- good and bad and Julio.

That was good to see, ... It was just one time, but hopefully that shows him he can get up in there.

We've still got a lot to learn about each other, a lot to learn about winning. It just feels good to get that first year out of the way. It feels good knowing coming into this camp that you know your personnel better and feel more comfortable with what you expect.

When you're playing the Braves, you can feel good going in but not too good going out.

We're right where we want to be, ... I'm positive, man. I feel good about my guys. No gloom and doom. ... Big 10 days coming up. I feel fine.

At the time, I thought it was a good time. I just wanted to save a few bullets if I could ... You've got an 8-0 lead, you should be able to bring in one of your back-end relievers.

The good thing about the World Baseball Classic is we get to see some kids play that we normally wouldn't.

I've talked to my guys about it. All teams, when they go through a growing process, these things happen before you get to a certain level. I told them to make sure they don't like the taste they have in their mouth. It's going to be a good learning experience for them.

The way our lineup is set up, if Carlos feels he's comfortable doing that and you get it down, you made the right play. In a situation like that, a good pitcher like Carpenter, it's not a bad play. If you get it down, no one says anything. You pop it up, it's a story.

Victor has a lot of movement on his pitches, so sometimes he's going to be out of the zone. But this year is a different year. And I'm hoping that he can stay around the zone, so he can use his stuff and let his stuff naturally work for him, because he's got good movement.

Victor was fine tonight. Last year, he was good for us for a little stretch. I'm hoping he'll get back to that again. I have a lot of confidence in Victor Zambrano.

We walked the tightrope a little bit, but it was a good game for the fans to watch.

All along I felt he would be fine. I didn't want to push the panic button because I speak to him every day and know how he feels. I had no doubt. It was just good to see him out there and getting his work in. He got through with flying colors, which is good.

That's why we don't panic. That's why we still feel good about this team.

They're the division champions. Those are the guys we've got to go through to be where we want to be. We feel good going into the series. We want to feel good going out.

I knew he was fine. It was good to see him out there, good to see what the guy can do for us.

It's nice to talk about where guys are going to finish and what guys are going to do, but to me until you knock off the big boys I think it's fair to say they are the favorites. I feel good about our chances, obviously, and preach to our players constantly about winning. But you've still got to do it first.

It was good to see him relax a little bit and get going. Obviously, spring training is not the best barometer for how you base these guys but, you know, he was 0-for-20 or whatever and he had a couple knocks so that's why you don't put a lot of emphasis on games like this because you can turn it around in one day.

He threw the ball very nice. He's got some good elevation to his pitch, and I like his approach.

It was a good game for us to get back on the winning ways. Hopefully we're going to turn the corner here, and get into a nice little run.

The guy has good stuff. His sinker could be devastating -- if he would just trust that.

This is a good facility; you can get a lot of things accomplished. Even on a day like this, you can get something done.

It's there. We made good contact five or six times tonight and we didn't have much to show for it.

It's always nice to get the guys out there moving around. You sit back and watch guys throw on the side, but the only way you can get a good feel is to get into game action.

It's always good to see Straw. Everyone really responds to him, so it's good to have him back.

It's always good to win the first one. This was pretty emotional.

Everyone is strong early in the season. I think it's best to wait a little longer and see if the trend sticks. I just think some good hitters are off to some good starts.

It's nice to finish strong and end the season on a good note. It's nicer to be above .500 than below it. But .500 is mediocre. We want to be better than that.

They know their bodies better than anybody. When they are ready to play they'll tell me. . . . There's no reason to push them. We're going good and this gives some of the other guys a chance to play.

We just ran into a couple of good pitchers and they shut us down after leaving Arizona.

It's easy to look good when Pedro pitches. But it was more than that. I like the way we're winning.

It's good to have everybody back together. We need to get into a flow.

It's good news that he's getting back onto the field. But even when he starts playing extended spring training games, we still need to monitor how he looks. You want him, hopefully, swinging the bat well and have his legs under him so when he gets back, he can contribute.

This is what I expect from our guys. We've got a lot of good hitters in the lineup and when they're swinging like this, it's what they should be doing.

He's making good passes at the ball and not favoring the leg, so let's get it going. He's probably as good as he's going to get as far as a shot. Let's see how he looks.