Met pitchers have a man crush/fear Miguel Cabrera.
"It’s not that [Cabrera’s] able to hit one pitch. He’s hitting balls that aren’t even strikes out of the ballpark." —Dillon Gee [New York Post]
Not throwing the ball down the middle sounds like a solid plan.
"[Cabrera] hits everything. Every pitch, if it’s anywhere around the plate. He hits to all fields. With power. I don’t know if we will figure him out. Nobody else has. Go to the corners. Don’t go down the middle. Let him get himself out." —LaTroy Hawkins [New York Post]
Besides he’s the best hitter in baseball, he’s just like everyone else.
"The fact he hits everything? Cabrera is the guy you don’t want to beat you in a game. Besides that, you’ve got to approach everyone the same way." —Carlos Torres [New York Post]
Sounds like the Mets pitchers will be pitching scared.
"There are so many other guys who can hurt you. If people get on base obviously you don’t want to be that guy who gave up the three-run home run. But at the same time you can’t pitch scared." —Dillon Gee [New York Post]
Also, Ryan Howard appears to never be off balanced against Gee.
"My game is to get people off balance and it seems like Cabrera is never off balance. He’s hitting what, .340, .360? Still, that’s failing six out of 10 times. Hope we get him on those days." —Dillon Gee [New York Post]
Scary moment.
"It was tough. I wanted to elevate a fastball right there [but] it kind of ran in on him. Obviously no intent but I just felt bad. It’s every pitcher and every hitter’s worst nightmare. Just hope he’s OK. I felt horrible. Sometimes this game can be pretty dangerous." —Jon Niese [New York Post]
Terrifying
"It was scary, to be honest. He was spitting blood." —John Buck [New York Post]
For some perspective from the Braves side:
"You’re never trying to hit guys in the face. It’s just like a freakish thing. It’s not a good feeling when you get up in the head area. You’re fooling with guys’ careers up there, and you never want to see anybody get hurt and not be able to play the game they love to play. They’re trying to provide for themselves and their family. [Niese] looked concerned. I mean, not to say he did it on purpose – I don’t think he did – but for a guy who has as good a control as he does, it just brings a little bit of doubt in your mind. Because he was pretty much cruising that whole game, spotting his pitches, then all of a sudden one gets away. Who knows if it was a purpose pitch to kind of back him off and it got away. But I don’t think any time a guy tries to throw at someone that he tries to hit him in the face. I don’t think he tried to do that." —Gerald Laird [Atlanta Journal]
I think I speak for all Mets fans in that we wish him a speedy recovery.
"They did not wire it shut, which is a good thing, because he can get food in him," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He does have a couple of rubber bands, but that’s just a reminder to not open your mouth too wide. He sounds good on the text. He said he’s going to see us when we get back home. He wants to be with the club." —Fredi Gonzalez [Atlanta Journal]
Let’s get back to the good side of the game, like blown calls.
"Jerry just said he thought he got it right. I didn’t have much to say that was very nice." —Terry Collins [New York Post]
Murph, can you be more subtle than Collins on the argument?
"We had a difference of opinion." —Daniel Murphy [New York Post]
Murph needs to teach the rook on how to give quotes.
"Getting a run off him is tough enough and we had to get three. I thought we got him. I thought the ball was in my glove before he hit the bag." —Josh Satin [New York Post]
I’m sure this will just add another topic for great internet discourse in the offseason
"Obviously if we were playing [this game] next year, we wouldn’t be in that situation. That’s the beauty of replay, and how necessary it is. I’m on board with it. Right now, sometimes we get calls that we shouldn’t and sometimes we don’t. [Replay] will level the playing fieldand make every game fair." —Jon Niese [New York Post]
Trolls got to troll.
"It’s funny, when I went to the mound [for the pitching change], the first thing Justin Turner said was, ‘Next year we’ll find out if the call was right.’"Yeah,"[Collins said,] "but that doesn’t help us now.'" —Terry Collins [New York Post]
Terry didn’t love Pelfrey too much then.
"My whole career I’ve loved the player who is genuinely upset I took him out of the game. When I went out, I wasn’t sure he was going to give me the ball. I thought it was going to be a wrestling match." —Terry Collins [New York Post]
Wait, we’re a good team?
"Every good team has to have a great story and a surprise and [Byrd’s] it." —Terry Collins [New York Post]
And during the offseason Byrd will be getting millions of blessings.
"Last year, after everything I went through — the suspension, going home, going down to Mexico [for winter ball] — to sit here now and have a career high in homers is just a blessing," —Marlon Byrd [New York Post]
It’s close to that time of year, rookies and their father’s quotes.
"Indescribable [regarding his first ML hit.] I’m so happy for [my father]. ... I’m going to give the ball to him." —Travis d’Arnaud [New York Post]
Continuing if your job was like a ML baseball player, imagine having to train the person that will replace you, now excuse me, I have to teach training for the new staff.
"TC called me in there and said obviously I wouldn’t be playing as much as I was before. It’s not my first year around, so I figured that obviously playing time would be lessened. But it’s kind of the nature of the beast. You’ve got your top prospect up, you’re not going let him just sit there, so I understand that." —John Buck [New York Post]
I imagine the conversation with Recker went differently.
"As I told John, John Buck’s not at the end of his career, by any means or stretch of the imagination." —Terry Collins [New York Post]