Paradigm

After the third such incident, Duquette ventured down into the locker room. “I said, ‘Manny, let me ask you something. I was just wondering why you get back in the batter’s box after ball four.’ He said, ‘I don’t keep track of the balls.’ He said, ‘I don’t keep track of the strikes, either, until I got two.’ Then he said, ‘Duke, I’m up there looking for a pitch I can hit. If I don’t get it, I wait for the umpire to tell me to go to first. Isn’t that what you’re paying me to do?’ ”

-Waiting for Manny, by Ben McGrath (New Yorker 4/23/07)

"I think baseball is best enjoyed day-to-day, moment-to-moment, but best understood year-to-year, from 10,000 feet up."

- Theo Epstein, December 6, 2009 in the Boston Globe