Manny Acta Guys Quotations

We're going to play to win, but as managers we also have the responsibility to have these guys ready for the regular season.

We have a responsibility to get these guys ready for the regular season. We are doing pretty much what they do in Spring Training like fundamentals and extra work. We owe it to them and to the organizations that allowed these guys to play.

I don't want the word patriotism being brought up over here because of these guys being professional and (some) other teams are not. Because when you have $100 million in the bank and a contract and you leave everything and take a chance and come over here and play for your country, if that isn't patriotism, I don't know what it is.

Our guys take it very serious and show a lot of pride in this kind of stuff.

I think everybody in baseball knew, even before the All-Star break last year, that we were going to play this Baseball Classic, and everybody that had the desire to play prepared themselves to play for this tournament. Yes, they didn't have 100 at-bats or whatever before this, but we got all the way to the seventh game. We played two rounds, the guys saw enough pitches, they had enough at-bats. There are no excuses.

We felt relieved. These guys are professional. They've been playing in the big leagues for years and they're used to ups and downs.

Everybody who had the desire to play prepared themselves for this tournament. Our guys saw enough pitches. They had enough at-bats. No excuses.

It's over, the second round, we went through it, and I feel fantastic because most of the guys now are in playing shape. The pitchers have been able to go out there more than once, and the hitters had enough at-bats, so I'm happy for the guys.

I'm very happy with the performance of the guys here. And everybody had a chance to play.

All of those guys were supposed to come over here with him and I think that's one of the reasons he doesn't want to come. It would remind him.