“Mentally and physically I am exhausted. One of the most ill-felt victories ever. It wasn’t easy for either of us.”
- Jeff Weaver, after outpitching his brother Jered in a 6-4 win over the Angels on Saturday night. They became the first siblings to pitch against each other since Andy and Alan Benes did it in 2002.
“People make assumptions about what our activity would be, which is probably not unreasonable, but at the same time, I never thought we’re required to be the rest of the league’s farm system.”
- Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail tells Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun that the club is not in “salary dump mode.” A number of players, including Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora and George Sherrill figure to draw interest as the trade deadline approaches.
“Baseball is an expensive sport. That’s why a lot of African-Americans don’t play it. You gotta have a bat, a ball, a glove, a catching glove, cleats -- so many things. The fields. If you look at all those commercials on TV, you never see a baseball commercial. You see LeBron [James]. You see Terrell Owens. You don’t see that in baseball. Kids think it’s boring. I thank my parents for that, that I had one of those old Flintstone Wiffle ball bats. Big, fat bat. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have played baseball.”
- Brandon Phillips, commenting on the lack of African-Americans in the majors. The Reds fell to the White Sox 10-8 in Saturday’s third annual Civil Rights Game. The event attracted a sold out crowd of 42.234 and names like Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron, Bill Cosby, former President Bill Clinton, and Muhammad Ali.
“It’s just a matter of competing. Do I think he could play without embarrassing himself? Yes. But it’s best just to play games and get acclimated. I think that’s important. He doesn’t need to put up numbers.”
- Manager Joe Torre comments on Manny Ramirez, who agreed to start a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday. He is eligible to return from his 50 game suspension on July 3 in San Diego.
“The big deal is probably that a lot of people aren’t familiar with what he went through, how serious of a surgery he had and the fatigue that he went through. Everything is always (bigger) when it’s Alex.”
- Manager Joe Girardi does his best to downplay Alex Rodriguez’s two days off. A-Rod may have needed a breather, but according to the New York Post, that didn’t stop him from attending a private party with Kate Hudson in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday.