“Before, we were a good club that was gutsy. Now, we are a really good club with great guts.”
- Tony LaRussa, after the Cardinals clinched their first NL Central title since 2006 with a 6-3 victory over the Rockies on Saturday night.
“I’m not in a pennant race, but at least I have some pride. When you get [to the clubhouse] and turn on a stupid-ass football game when those [expletive] football players don’t give a [expletive] about you, that’s embarrassing. We’ve got seven games [left]. They are going to pull their [expletive] together, period. I don’t mind losing a game, but when you lose a game and you don’t care about it, we are going to have a problem. To get your asses kicked like that and all of a sudden, you’re watching football games? That’s a bunch of [expletive].”
- Ozzie Guillen, after watching his team blow a 5-0 lead in an eventual 12-5 loss to the Tigers on Saturday night. The White Sox have dropped eight of their last 10 games.
“When was the last time a 40-year-old pinch-ran for a 39-year-old? That’s what I want to know.”
- Brad Ausmus, after he pinch-ran for Jim Thome during Saturday’s 8-4 comeback win over the Pirates. With the victory, the Dodgers secured a trip to the postseason, however, their magic number to clinch the division is down to two.
“This is fun. You don’t start making a big deal about it with a week [to go]. I’m not trying to do that. We’ve got our own destiny in our own hands. That’s just the way it is. You either do it or you don’t. And I feel very good where we’re at, but you have to go out and win games.”
- Jim Leyland isn’t letting the pressure of a pennant race get to him. With Saturday’s win over the White Sox, The Tigers remain two games in front of the second-place Twins with eight games left to play. They host a critical four-game series against Minnesota on Monday.