« Down without much of a fight
Main
PawSox improve to 2-0 »
April 6, 2007
SAMMY SOSA (on his RBI single in the first inning): “Sometimes you don’t have swing hard to get a hit.” --AP
RON WASHINGTON (Texas manager on Sosa's soft single that gave the Rangers their first lead of the season): “We finally caught a break right there." --AP
TIM WAKEFIELD: “It’s one of those days where the guy on the other side pitched really good. After the first two innings, I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I felt like I settled down after that. I pitched well, we just didn’t win.” --AP
SOSA: “The first couple of games every year, it’s still the same thing, people want get two hits in one at-bat and want to be the hero every day. It’s only a couple of games. Come see me in six months when everything is there. You have to believe in yourself, no panic.” --AP
MICHAEL YOUNG (Rangers shortstop on the team's first win): “It’s definitely nice to get the first one out of the way. It doesn’t matter how you win as long as you get one on the board. We come home and everybody was making such a big deal out of three games. It was almost like they were ready to talk about the Cowboys again.” --AP
DUSTIN PEDROIA (on the Red Sox hitting woes): “They were calling the high strikes today and we were popping them up. We hit some balls well, but not enough to get going.” --AP
DAVID ORTIZ (talking about his offensive struggles): ``Sometimes, at this point in the season, I’m trying to fix things. I always have to go through that point and fight, fight, fight. I’m very mechanical when I’m hitting, so if I have one thing wrong (with my swing), it’s tough to get hits. I’m trying to figure things out. It’s a fight. I go through it every year for the first five-to-10 games until I get it right.’’ --SEAN McADAM
ORTIZ (on the Rangers defense shift): ``I’m used to it. I don’t even think about it anymore. When I hit a ball in the right place, they’re not going to catch it. (The shift) is going to be there as long as I play baseball -- I better get used to it.’’ --SEAN McADAM
WASHINGTON (on wearing the No. 42 for Jackie Robinson Day): "It means a lot to me. I only know what I've read about Jackie Robinson, but I know he opened up baseball for blacks and I read the comment where if he had one hiccup, if he did one thing wrong, it would affect every black in America. That's some serious pressure right there. I don't have any pressure compared to that." --MLB.com
FRANCONA: ``A walk and an error, and they end up scoring, as so often happens. (Wakefield’s effort) should have been good enough to win.’’ --SEAN McADAM
WAKEFIELD (on settling down): ``I was getting the feel for the stadium. Usually, the wind is blowing in my face here, but today, it was blowing at my back. I pitched well. But it was just one of those days when the other guy pitched well and silenced our bats.’’ --SEAN McADAM
ROBINSON TEJEDA (Rangers starter): ``I just kept the ball down. --SEAN McADAM
WASHINGTON: "Pitching and defense. We pitched and we caught the ball. That's what I've been preaching." --MLB.com
TEJEDA: "This game means a lot to me. First game, Opening Day. For me it was great. It was on my mind that I needed to give these guys a win." --MLB.com
FRANCONA: "He threw his fastball up in the zone from the first hitter to the last hitter he faced. We continued to not get on top of it. I don't know how many fly outs we had. A couple firm, but for the most part, just kind of lazy fly balls. We just couldn't quite get extended." --MLB.com
BRAD WILKERSON (Rangers outfielder on the win): "It's big right now. We have a reputation where we don't pitch and we don't play defense. We're not swinging the bats particularly well, so to get a win like this gives us a lot of confidence. We need to win games like that to compete for the division." --MLB.com
Posted by Corey Bourassa 
at 6:24 PM | Permalink
