“I like to play hard. Always.”

I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect.

No more excuses about being young.

Byrd has always been that kind of pitcher.

2004 has to be my year. No more excuses.

He threw hard, but a good fastball.

My only worry was that he didn’t throw me a sinker.

I work hard on my defense.

When you go to home plate with a lot of confidence,

I want to be consistent from the first day of the season to the last.

I love hitting-that’s my favorite part of the game.

I’m an immigrant myself.

I don’t like to play slow or softly.

You feel that you can hit any pitch.

I’m confident, but not so confident that I’m cocky.

It’s something I take pride in, but it’s nothing that I want to brag about. It’s part of my game.

Trying to trick you, keep the ball low, in and out.

I grew up with nothing, so whenever I got to where I could have something I felt like I needed to have everything I couldn’t have when I was young.

I like to write sad songs. They’re much easier to write and you get a lot more emotion into them. But people don’t want to hear them as much.

I was in New York and had lunch with Oliver Sachs and compared notes with him – he is someone I really like.

Like it or not the American people support the term ‘background check.’

It’s more fun with someone who really likes it. I can’t imagine having a lasting friendship with anyone who is not interested in food.

Xavier, who looks just like Zeus, not that I have any idea what Zeus looks like.

Those are the kind of people who like the kind of music I’m making.

I’ve been a lot of places, and my wife, Denise, she likes a lot of the fancy restaurants.