Exerpts from an interview in Thursday's Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Quote:
DMW: As Mueller came to the plate, how did the check-in go at first with coach Lynn Jones?
DR: [Third base coach] Dale Sveum initially flashed the bunt sign for Bill, assuming we'd sacrifice. Terry hadn't sent it. I told coach Jones, "No, no, no, I'm going to steal." [Jones] got the bunt sign taken off and said, "OK, you're on your own."
DMW: As you know now, though, you barely beat it. Rivera was cat- quick to the plate, Jorge Posada made a terrific throw, and Derek Jeter applied the slap-tag a fraction of a second after your hands touched the bag.
DR: I didn't realize how close it was until I watched the video. Their time from pitcher to catcher to second was as fast as we had seen them for any pitch all year.
DMW: Eight months later, has the historical significance of the steal, which teammates have cited as the key to the title run, sunk in?
DR: It's only begun to hit me. There are so many Red Sox fans all over, and they recognize me and offer congratulations. For us to rewrite history the way we did, and for me to contribute to the team that finally won another championship for the Red Sox, is awesome. I wish everyone who put on a uniform could play for the Red Sox at some point, because the fans are so passionate.
DMW: Yet the Red Sox traded you to the Padres in the off-season. Why?
DR: I wanted the chance to play every day, and I wasn't going to get it with the Red Sox. I'm grateful to [General Manager] Theo Epstein for finding a place where I could.
5 comments:
I'm not sure that -I'm- grateful to Theo. I miss roberts speed on the basepaths. But he and Jay payton are similar players, and both are smart and have class. Payton was an academic All-american.
Roberts is so articulate! And yes, classy too.
Hey Uncle Tom, where do you get baseball stats for determining a player's 'OOPO?'
Well, I was hoping you could help me with that. In the meantime, you have to either watch the game and score it as it's played, or scroll through the game log at mlb.com (all the games from this year are there) and score it that way. Of course, all rulings on scoring particulars are decided by the OOPO Committee on Scoring Particulars which consists of me. But there are many baseball stat sites on the internet with downloadable databases. I just don't know what to do with them.
Ah ha! I just found a good one. www.dougstats.com is where I get my basketball stats, and it has MLB stats too. I don't know what all the numbers mean, though.
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