Eric Hinske Quotations

We'd like to finish over .500, obviously, ... I'm not saying we're shooting to be a .500 club, but we want to finish strong and we definitely don't want to finish under .500. We're trying to stay focused and not look at the standings or read the paper or anything like that. Just come to the field with a job to do every day and take care of business.

No. I got hit right in the nipple. Not fun. He said on the mound he didn't mean to hit me. He just pulled a four-seam fastball. He said, 'My bad.' He said he was sorry.

I don't have a choice, you know. Come out here and do what they tell me to do. That's all I can do. Just be quiet, go about my business, just act professional, that's part of my job.

I couldn't see the spin of the ball.

I felt like I made a nice throw to home. It would have been nice to throw him out but the guy didn't hit the ball too hard at me, so it was just good to get the nerves out of the way. I caught the first fly ball that came to me and the second one was a hit.

I felt like I had a good start, then had a bad month of June and been pretty consistent since the all-star break, ... I'm not disappointed with my season, but it definitely could have been better.

He's got so much untapped potential. He's a good player already right now and there's so much more inside of him. That'll be tough for Rios to break out if he's not getting a lot of at-bats, though.

I seem to handle it well. I go into it with an open mind, ready to learn, listen, be an open book, let people help me.

We had fun here. It was fun trying to play spoiler,

We never give him any support it seems, especially against Baltimore. He did well the whole game, he's been looking pretty good so that's a good sign for us.

The wind was blowing pretty hard, left to right, so I knocked it down pretty good. I just made a quick adjustment, it looked a little funny, but he's out, right?

I want a chance to be an everyday player again, no doubt. Everybody on the team wants to play every day. Two years ago, I hit (.268) against lefties.

Orlando was a big part of the clubhouse. He kept everybody loose, and he was good for the team.

A couple balls off the helmet, going into the dugout, the first baseman's not there, that's awesome for us.

It really hurt. He nearly took my nipple off.

It's funny. You just kind of roll with the punches, try to get as many years in as possible and try to win. The most important part for me is having fun at what I'm doing. I've thought about things so much in the past and stressed myself out. I've got to put up numbers here (in Florida) and there (in Toronto).

It was nice to get a couple of runs early and quiet their crowd, but when Manny hits his home run, it was 'here they come again,'

I've done it before. I'm not nervous about it. I'm confident that I can make the transition. I've already talked with Vernon (Wells) about it. He said: 'Anything in the gaps I've got' so I should be fine.

I'm not in competition with Alex (Rios). Writers keep asking if we like each other and, yeah, we like each other a lot. But all this is out of our hands. All any of us can do is go out there and play when our name's in the lineup.

I'll play the platoon role if I have to, but I'm going to go out and play as hard as I can to try and win that job for sure. I think everyone will say that, too. If it's for the good of the team, I'm willing to do it. I want to win, and that's the bottom line.

I haven't had any problems. Playing every day pretty much has helped me a lot. Just getting reads off the bat, just getting your footwork right, getting good jumps, making a good first step.

He's positive. You might be going through a little rut in the field and he just finds a way to make you feel like you're good and you belong. He's great for young infielders because he understands how hard it is.

He said on the mound he didn't try to hit me. I just looked at him and said, 'Come on man.' It really hurt. He nearly took my nipple off.

He said on the mound he didn't try to hit me, ... I just looked at him and said, 'Come on man.' It really hurt. He nearly took my nipple off.

He said on the mound he didn't try to hit me,

You want your 1-2 guys healthy. We've got to get them out there as soon as possible.