“Whenever I get a chance, I’m trying to take the extra base and make them make a play on me. I’m not going to stop looking for the extra base unless the scoreboard tells me.”

“When you’re losing, you see what your team is made of. Hopefully, we can cut those eight- and nine-game losing streaks down to two or three games.  Hopefully we can figure it out and cut the losses. That’s what good teams do.”

“The simple approach is that if I stay aggressive, I’ll hit less often with two strikes in the count. I’ve been aggressive, but I’ve missed pitches. If I can put them in play earlier in the count, I eliminate the two-strike approach.”

“I can watch the game and learn.”

“Sheffield mentioned to me last January, ‘You should be a guy who scores 100 runs.’ That’s what I’m trying to get myself to. I can’t force a run. But just trying to get on base will put in a position to score runs.”

“Even on home runs that I hit in the past, guys were like, ‘Man, you need to slow down. You’ve got that one.”

"When it [20-20-20-20] finally happened, it was great. I thank the crowd for their reaction, and my teammates as well. I’m glad it’s finally over.  Now we have to go ahead and try to get to the playoffs."

"At first it [broadcasting during the 2007 playoffs] didn’t really seem like [a career move], I just thought it was a very interesting thing to do, to talk about the playoffs …  Now more and more people are talking, saying this is the first step towards it if I want to do it.  Hopefully I don’t have to start thinking about it just yet.  It would be great whenever my career does wind down."

"Our team goal is pretty simple … basically prepare ourselves to play for nine innings every day, every series, and against every opponent. For me individually, it’s more of just trying to play my role the best I can every day."

"Change is sometimes a good thing."

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