Chipper Jones Quotations

We're going to go as far as our pitching staff takes us. It's been that way around here for years. If we pitch well, we're going to win a lot of games.

We better get it turned around quick. We need to pitch better and hit better. About the only thing we're doing is playing defense.

We're still knocking the rust off. I was glad just to come out after five innings.

It never feels good, but I've had a couple of heartbreakers where I could have won the game, but instead ended the season, ... You learn from that.

While I am flattered about the speculation of being enticed out of retirement, I'm happy with life as a bad golfer!

I know guys that are going to struggle. I know guys that don't play and 'bean' up. To me, that's becoming pretty reliant on something. It's going to have an effect. I don't think there's any doubt.

The last thing I want to do is hurt the club's chances of winning. I'm used to playing the game a certain way and at a certain level. When I can no longer do that, I'll quit.

There are a lot of egos in the clubhouse. For us to be successful, we have to put those egos aside and become good teammates and play the game the way we grew up playing it, pull for each other and genuinely be happy for each other.

When you come up in the (Atlanta) system, the thing on your mind is that you don't want to be part of the group that ends the (Braves') streak.

We're not coming out here to go home after the first round. That would be a supreme disappointment.

Old men need a little rest. We need to get some of these young guys off the bench.

Nobody in here was saying it was a fluke. We all know he can do it. He got off to a horrible start last year and still bounced back and had a great season.

On November 1, everybody's in shape. There wouldn't be an issue with pitch counts. There wouldn't be an issue with knocking the rust off coming into spring training. Things like that. I think it would be a little bit better tournament. You'd probably see a little more offense and a little more emphasis on starting pitching.

I would give anything to be able to have another opportunity to play in this tournament. If it meant going to some kind of camp on Feb. 1, I'd go.

If we have five or six guys who do what is expected of them, it'll be a fun year for us. But the fact of the matter is, we play in a pitcher's ballpark. We have to play to our strength.

If we can get outs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, we'll be fine. We're going to score some runs. We've got plenty of starters. But we've got to hold the fort down after the starter goes out.

I have confidence in whoever goes out there. Even when Kolbie was struggling at the beginning of the season, I always felt like his last outing would be the one when he turned it around. It took him being demoted and he's figured it out. He's getting key outs. Reitsma will do the same.

I didn't really take care of myself in terms of what I ate. As I get closer to the end of my career, I can't do that. I want to finish my career strong with the Braves, and I feel this is something that had to be done.

I didn't get all of it, but I got enough, ... I'm just happy that it came in a big spot.

I'd like to see some other guys chime in and get hot, ... Andruw and I aren't going to to drive in all the runs every night.

I don't care what you write about our playoff failures. We're just going to go out and play the game.

I am turning my Golden Child Status over to Frenchie. He is going to be the next face for the Braves for a long time.

But the bigger picture is, you can't do that late in the season and the playoffs and expect to win. Andruw's not going to come through every time. Contrary to what some people think, he's not Superman.

Barry is going to be under constant scrutiny. For the last 15 to 20 years, he's been the face of baseball.

I lost track of how many at-bats we had today. After seven or eight at-bats, the bats starting getting heavy. Guys hadn't eaten since 10 or 11 this morning. It takes a lot out of you. You've got to gut it out. They did. I wish them luck. They played an outstanding series.

I have been hearing forever how this team or that team is going to beat us. No one's done it yet.

I can't pick him up. He's the one guy. My nemesis.

From a team point of view, it wasn't a real good trip. But from an individual standpoint of getting to go out there and prove myself with some of the best players in the country and the world, it was very satisfying.

If a guy who has a personal interest in the Braves buys the team, he's more apt to take the money that he makes off the team and put it right back into the team ? such as Ted did. Time Warner didn't do that. Obviously, selling out to (Liberty Media), I don't see things being any different.

I get the benefit from him having a monster year. He's pretty much killed them in every series and he's the last guy that they want to have at the plate with the game on the line.

If this year doesn't satisfy people, then Andruw is fighting a battle he's never going to win. We always thought he could hit 40 homers and drive in 120. It was just a matter of putting it all together.

He's certainly the best that we have, and he has the stuff to do it.

He finally realized that if he didn't swing at pitches off the plate, the pitchers would have to come to him. When that happens, he just kills them. You have to make the pitchers make adjustments, not the other way around.

We can bunt guys over. But we're built on power. That's American baseball.

He's been pretty much lights out since he got over here.

He's got 13 wins. That's a difference maker with the amount of injuries we've had to our pitching staff this year. We were able to dip down in the bullpen and have him start - good start after good start, five, six, seven innings every time out, giving us a chance to win.

He's going to be the next face of this franchise. He's already been labeled everything from the Golden Child to the next Dale Murphy. He's got all the tools. It's just a matter of getting the repetitions before he takes the next step.

Hopefully we can get back home quick enough and in time to get things straightened out.

I almost wish we could have stayed around till tomorrow. I'd love to see what the papers are gonna say about us now.

He was about as jacked up as anybody. He was in there saying get me a run so I can get a win.

Roger isn't ever going to let up, no matter who he's playing.

Logic would say Roger has the upper hand in that situation.

I think chemistry is probably our greatest asset right now. It can only be a good thing. These guys are close knit.

It does show we're going back to normalcy when Met fans begin booing again.

I think he's a landslide winner. You're talking about a guy who plays Gold Glove defense, the best center fielder in the game, bar none. Everybody's just been waiting for him to turn the corner offensively, and now he's done that.

I thought it was awesome. I never played winter ball, never got to play in a Caribbean Series. The Mexican fans brought a lot of excitement to the game.

I thought he was nasty the second game that we played against him. Everybody was saying he looked like a different guy. But to be honest with you, he pitched well the first game against us. He just made the one bad pitch.

Maybe some people in here thought we were going to glide into the playoffs, but it ain't going to happen. There are too many good teams in the league. We let an opportunity slide in this homestand.

That was him being less stubborn and making some changes he needed to make at the plate.

That was really the point in the game that you look in the dugout and say, 'Somebody pinch me,' ... It was hard to believe at that point.

That's the only way you can do it. Regardless of the circumstances, you come in and have fun like you always do. Then, once the horn sounds, it's all business.

I would never have thought I would have hit home runs off both those guys. They both have dominant, No. 1-type stuff. It was just one of those nights.

We got a win. No matter how ugly it is, it's still a win,

We got a wakeup call. If it had been the right score between Mexico and Canada, we were heading home.

We have all been through it and we know what he expects. I am excited. Every year people pick against us and we just ignore it. We just go out and do what we have to do and end up getting it done.

We had our bags packed, ready to go back to Atlanta. And all of a sudden, the rug is pulled out from under you. It's unfortunate. You go out there, lay it on the line for six hours, and 18 innings. To go home for the winter on a game like that is a bad feeling.

We needed to exorcise some demons from last night. It was a little worrisome what happened last night. But tonight, what more can you say? They did a great job.

Those are the things that MVPs are made of.

Well, not for all of October. If they asked me to play again, I would certainly go to camp for a week or so to prepare for it, but not a month.

Two years ago. We didn't think there was any way we'd do it again in 2004. We just didn't think we had enough.

We pretty much got dominated. What happened (Monday) night was just incredible. I would've never thought that could happen to us.

We definitely hit little rut. Philly pitched us pretty tough, New York pitched us tough, and I'm sure Florida is going to pitch us pretty tough. It's not going to get any easier.

With a guy like Edgar, a good situational hitter, we'll be fine.

We don't want to go home and have everybody say that this team didn't accomplish what it should've accomplished.

We just have to wait and see how the pain is the next couple of days. Right now I feel the ankle took the brunt of it.

To this day, I still don't know how he does it. He kept sticking guys out there and giving them confidence.

Both teams had significant players out of the lineup. But anytime you've got the first three guys in your lineup out and win two out of three, with a chance to have won the third one, it's pretty darn good. We'll take it.

We'll just wait and see how it feels. Right now, I feel like my ankle took the brunt of it.

What's astounding to me is not that the guys have come up and helped. It's this year, guys have come up from Double-A and not (just) helped - I mean, they've produced. That's been shocking. You get a couple guys from Triple-A come up and help, that's very, very lucky.

Unbelievable year. It's like almost everybody had amazing years, including guys who weren't even in camp with the club.

To have it happen after a colossal breakdown in our bullpen again, it was big. You've got to pick each other up, and we did it today.

You have to have the desire to succeed and you can do that without cheating. Well, some people can.

I've been looking forward to this from the second I knew he was going to play. Everyone in the game has wanted to play behind him at one point. We'd love to send Roger out with a gold medal around his neck.

It wouldn't have been a real memorable one,

I've still got another 10 days. I'm not really concerned. If I get about three games out and I'm still feeling some pain, then obviously I'd be worried.

I've seen a guy who may or may not pinch hit in the eighth or ninth inning pop two before the game and another in the fifth inning. It's part of their pre-game ritual. Some guys have to have it.

I've liked Edgar for a long time. I thought we should have been in the running for him a long time ago. He's a clutch hitter, situational hitter, Gold Glove-caliber shortstop. You can't ask for anything more.

Sometimes you can do too much work and work yourself into a funk.

Probably not, but it's a tremendous compliment to him and his abilities that he's even considered.

After the first couple of innings, I would have probably called off the dogs. But it was nice to get a big lead and relax.

Any win is important nowadays. Obviously, Philly has been playing well and their score was posted on the scoreboard before we started. They lost and we knew we had a golden opportunity to gain a game. We went out and did it. So it's two more off the magic number, whatever it is. It's probably 100. But nonetheless, it's another day in the books and we gained a game.

The bottom of the order didn't do too bad either.

You've got to throw strikes. You're helpless against walks. There's no defense against them. We have trouble throwing strikes.

This is something I've always wanted to do. It's always something that appealed to me and something I've never been able to do.

They've added some much-needed arms to their bullpen. That will obviously make a difference.

A lot of hard work has gone into building these fields. You guys enjoy it. Make as much use as you can out of it, and maybe one day we'll see you in a Braves uniform.

You can't keep losing games like this down the stretch. The other teams in our division are playing some pretty good baseball.

This organization is really in good, good hands for the next eight to 10 years.

There's a little bit of an immature attitude that falls over this clubhouse at times.

They're all kind of taking turns stockpiling and gearing up for us. Once again everybody is picking somebody else. We'll just lay back in the weeds.

It was awesome. The Mexican fans created a lot of electricity. I probably had more butterflies out there than any playoff game and I wasn't even starting.

It was awesome. The Mexican fans brought the electricity. You could sense the passion they have for baseball.

It stings a little bit. You can't keep losing games like this down the stretch. The other teams in our division are playing some pretty good baseball.

It's the best baseball experience of my life. Period. Bar none. It beats any World Series win, any World Series loss, any All-Star Game.

It's almost like a cliche, but we'll just prepare for nine innings of baseball and not think about the past. Those things are done.

It's going to have a lot bigger effect on the game than steroid testing. It's more rampant than steroids. ... I think the fringe players will be weeded out.

It's going to prevent people from playing the number of games they want to play because they relied on it for so long.

It's good to get us out to a lead. Unfortunately, that was pretty much it. It feels good to get back in there.

It's heartbreaking. We're really going home on a down (note).

It's been an electric atmosphere. You would never expect to see the crowds that large, especially with the (hot) weather. I think this ballclub has piqued the interest of Atlanta. People want to come out and see what all the hubbub is about.