Tom Glavine Quotations

There's nothing better than a team that comes out of nowhere and finds themselves in the World Series.

The game is a game, and things happen, and you can't always execute your plan as perfectly as you'd like to.

If you're giving me tickets to the football game, baseball game or hockey game, I'm taking the tickets to the hockey game. For me, it's by far the most fun sport to go and watch live and be part of. I just don't know why it doesn't translate as well on TV.

That was my pride and joy - that I made it through all those years of minor hockey without losing any of my teeth; then, I ended up losing them in a car accident in New York when I was riding in a taxi. So, I end up losing my teeth, but not in the glamorous fashion I envisioned.

You don't play 162 games without facing some adversity during the course of the year.

I love both sports, but the deciding factor was, being a left-handed pitcher, I had a huge advantage in baseball because of that, and I didn't have that type of advantage in hockey.

I'm not devastated over a baseball game. If somebody came to me and said, 'Your wife is terminally ill.' Or, if my kids and wife get on a plane and I got a call that said, 'Something happened with the plane,' that's devastating.

The baseball fights, you don't ever see the squaring off like you do in hockey, and in some instances, that's where baseball fights can be potentially more dangerous because you've got guys running all over the place and people throwing punches at you that you don't even see half the time.

Bobby Cox had the biggest influence in my career and probably the second- or third-biggest influence in my life.

In a hockey fight, barring the occasional brawl, there's actually some etiquette that goes into it. Honor, too, absolutely. Most of those guys that do it, that's their job, and they follow a certain code of conduct in doing it.

I don't pay attention a whole lot to what my numbers are.

I have played a handful of rounds of golf with Wayne Gretzky.

I'm not defined by baseball. I'd love for the Hall of Fame to happen, but if it doesn't, my life won't change. I'll still be coaching my boy's games.

I guess we all have that 'Dig Me' space, where we have some of our things displayed. Mine's a little bit more off the beaten path. You're not going to see it as soon as you walk into my house, but it does exist.

I've been booed off the field, and I've been carried off the field by people cheering me. So I've seen both ends of it, and I can tell you the bad side of it gets a lot more attention than the good side does, but the good side is pretty darned good when it's on your side.

I'm proud of what I've done in my career. I'm proud of what I've accomplished.

My parents are very even-keeled. You know, just kind of steady as she goes.

If it happens, I'll be proud, and it would be a dream come true, though I doubt I ever thought I'd be a Hall of Famer when I started. It wasn't until late in my career that people started to mention it, and you start thinking about it a little bit.

Obviously, when I had the scare with the blood clots, I mean, that's the kind of thing that you don't want to have happen, obviously, and you worry about what it means for the rest of your career.

Tomorrow will determine what kind of a trip we have. It's better to go home 6-1 than 5-2. We need to win series.

Unless my arm falls off, I'm not planning on getting this close to 300 wins and shutting it down.

We feel the money is going to have a real impact with those organizations. Most of our guys have stepped up for a great cause.

We're just off to a good start, and they're not. It's just one series in April. What will it mean in a month if we win two of three or lose two of three? It means more than beating Milwaukee over the weekend. But it's still one series.

With three balls, Willie told me to put him on. That took care of it for me. I was intent on trying to make pitches and get back. ... Regardless of what his numbers say, he's still capable of doing a lot of things. He's the guy you don't want beating you.

With this lineup, you figure most days we're going to score more than two runs.

We're as talented as anybody, no question about that. We have high expectations, and rightly so.

This probably hurts a little bit more now at this point in the year for us. We certainly needed to win this game. It's only making things harder for us.

Let's be honest, Pedro for five innings is better than no Pedro at all. With the way our bullpen is going to be structured, having a day off Tuesday, it might not be so bad to have him out there for only five innings -- assuming he's healthy and that's the most important thing.

Most people don't understand the game. But even if you don't understand the game and you go to the arena, you still have a great time. It's just a great experience.

Obviously, I came in here knowing that it was an important game. I've heard the do-or-die phrase thrown around a little bit. I think it's too early for that, but it's no question that it was an important game.

I would pay more attention to what he's done in the past. With the game on the line, you still don't want him to beat you regardless of what his numbers might be now.

I wish he hit it a little harder. Victor would've caught it.

I wish he had hit it a little harder. Someone would have caught it.

I was pleased with how I pitched and what I was doing, but the results aren't what I wanted, ... You make at least one bad pitch a game and mine was to Matheny.

If we're not going to get into the playoffs, ... you certainly have to get to the point where you go down fighting.

If we're going to try and attract people this winter to come here and play, you certainly want to give them an indication that you're moving in the right direction. And we're certainly doing that.

I didn't get the benefit of any calls in the first. Having been through this so many times in this park, you don't worry about it.

If I'm healthy and pitch the way I'm capable of, I can't see why I can't do 15 (wins). If we're going to win, everybody has to play to their expectations and the expectations are to win more games when I'm on the mound.

I echo those comments. No question, Wagner has made us a much better team than we were last year. There's no guarantee, we still have to play, but we have to be pleased with what we have. We made two major deals and did as much as I think we could have done. It's awesome. I'm excited. They put together a game plan, a road map to success, and we followed the map very well. Now I just hope the directions are up-to-date.

I get butterflies every day I pitch. Every time I go out there, I get them a little bit. You want to do well. You try to control it by trusting yourself and the preparation you put in.

Having Billy makes us a better team. He will give us a sense of security in the late innings.

He needs to know what I'm likely to want to do in a certain situation. I don't want to fight with him to get to a certain pitch.

We can. I've said all along, our talent is equal to that of any team in this race. We just have to do it.

What may have happened in the past, it doesn't matter. This is a different year and a new team that's constructed a different way. Today, you saw what it is that we're excited about.

We're off to a good start and we're trying to take advantage of it. It's important because they're in our division, but it's no more important than that.

With me and him it's more about him trying to get me to change my game plan. He made me understand how good some of the other things were that I could do, get me to believe in that stuff.

Good, for a lack of a better word. He has adapted to what I am trying to do, of where I want to throw and when to use my breaking ball.

His was more active and repetitive than mine,

He carried himself with a lot of passion, and he had an infectious personality, so he's going to be missed. You hate seeing something like that, obviously, at such a young age and seemingly in the prime of his life .

He continues to show why so many people, teammates included, are excited about what he's capable of doing. He's a great player. Certainly he's had chances the first week to come up in big spots, and done a good job of producing.

I think it's just getting to be an increasingly difficult thing to do in the day and age we're in now, ... More than anything else now, I think it's just the offensive explosion. It's so hard to stay in there and win games.

It hurts a little bit more at this time of year. It's a tough game to swallow.

I think you're going to see another winter where free agency is not as ... chaotic as it has been in years past, ... It'll be more like last winter.

I think we got a glimpse of why we brought in the guys we did and what they can give us. Today was an indication of how we were built and what we can do.

I think we like it more this way.

I think we need to do everything we can to put everyone's mind at ease about players using steroids,

I think a lot of guys at some point and time show some variation of that pitch.

I think it was a little bit easier to enjoy yourself and just focus more on getting better. If you're on a team that's expected to win you have to produce, and that's a whole lot different situation.

I think it was important for us to finish strong,

It hard to tell. In one game it's hard to make an assessment, but he still has that same presence, still has that same effect on the game.

I think we all looked at this road trip as an important trip, and it's more important now,

I think that's still part of the excitement of being out there. If I get to the point where I don't, then I don't need to be playing anymore. So at least I know I still care about it, and it matters, and I want to do well.

I think there was always a feeling that offensively, he was capable of putting up monster numbers. He's always put up pretty good numbers, but I think there was always a sense with him that there was more to come. To me, he's probably the MVP of the league right now.

Roger is the pioneer that showed us that if you eat right and take care of yourself, you can pitch into your 40s.

I won't say it doesn't mean anything, but it's not as big a deal as it was because there are less and less players who are there when I was. Pitching against them will always mean something. It's not like me pitching against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I was tired. Striking out all those guys is a lot of work. That's just not my game. That's three games worth of strikeouts for me, but it's fun.

I was tired (in the fifth). Striking a lot of guys out is hard work. I realized in the fifth I didn't have a lot of ground outs.

I was getting in position to throw to second when the ball stayed down. I just didn't get the hop I was anticipating. After it hit the top of my glove, I was just trying to make sure I could get one out. I don't know if we could've turned the double play, but I would like to have found out.

I was expecting a hop I didn't get, and when I started to turn, I didn't catch it. My momentum was going toward second, and I reached for it and didn't get it cleanly again.

It felt like at least 12 innings. Really, it felt like we put an awful lot into one afternoon at the park.

I think most players are of the mind-set, if you leave our system alone, it's going to work, and it has worked,

Julio is old. ... old and decrepit. But he can hit. And that's why he's here.

I'm starting to get a little bit of a complex about it, yeah. It's the kind of thing that it happens from time to time, but it seems like it's happening a lot to me for some reason.

That's too far ahead to think about. I'm just thinking about this season. That's all I can control.

That's the manager's call. It's always the manager's call. You do what the manager tells you to do.

I wasn't happy about it. But to say something like that would eliminate me from ever considering (the Braves), no. It's not about me and him. It's about me and my family. That's the more important issue.

With all the guys in our lineup, you have to pitch to somebody.

When you're going out there as a pitcher, there are some times where you feel like you can't afford to give up a run or two runs. That carries a lot of pressure. With the way we're set up right now, you don't figure that to be the case. You figure that these guys are going to score some runs, they're going to play defense and we know we've got a great bullpen coming in behind us.

We have a lot of expectations for ourselves, and obviously a lot of people have expectations of us. I can't think of a better way to start the year.

Wagner has made us a much better team than we were last year.

When I first met him and got to talking with him, the goofball side comes out,

We need to wipe away as much doubt about this as we possibly can. Anything we can do to take away people's suspicions, we need to do that.

You know it's going to be a tight game and one run can be the difference. . . . Both of us threw well, but Timmy threw a little better. I like the way I'm pitching right now . . . but you don't like losing, especially a game like this.

You don't always expect them to get excited about anything to do with school, but they do,

You do a little more homework. You pay attention (during Friday's game) a little more because you don't have a lot to go on. It's tough. Scouting reports help a little, but you don't know until you see them.

Yeah, I'm a little upset about it. I don't think it's anybody's business. I really don't. That's the way I've always looked at it.

Yeah, 300 wins is a motivating factor for me to continue to do it, there's no question about it. But the greater motivating factor is that I still enjoy it (pitching), and I feel like I can do it the way I want to do it.

Today was the best day I've had in terms of feeling comfortable and making good pitches.

We're trying to make a name for the 40-and-older crowd. It's good to see guys with our style of pitching still doing it and doing pretty well.

We were running out of outs. You don't get a lot of opportunities.

There are issues that go beyond some of the things said in that article. John should have a chance to explain himself and show that the way he was portrayed in the article was not his real mindset.

Without having read it, being told what was in the newspaper, I'm not going to deny that that conversation took place. But that's it. That's a business situation that should remain between the people that were involved. As far as my reaction to it, I really don't have one. I think the only reaction is that I don't really think it's something that needs to be public knowledge.

Both of us threw well. He threw a little bit better. It's one of those games that's tough to lose.

We all want to know what his secret is. But you know, who's to say what old is anymore? A lot of guys are playing longer than they ever thought they would, myself included. Age doesn't mean what it used to in baseball.

This was the best one I've had. That's why I came over here rather than pitch in a minor-league game. It gives me a better sense of where I am.

We gave him grief about everything. We always got on him about his physique, which is less than intimidating. How he'd dress sometimes. All that stuff. He was fair game. He played the game, and he gave it back. That was part of the great thing there, for the three of us to be able to be teammates as long as we were, to form a great friendship. Nowadays in baseball, that's hard to do.

What's going to happen when I try it against Atlanta?

We feel like there's a window of opportunity to get something done in the next several days and we're willing to explore that, ... It hurts nobody by giving it a couple of extra days.

You go as long as you can or as long as you have to.

We are going to be all right pitching. We are doing everything we are supposed to be doing.