Quotes by Jay Payton

“We get two hits one night and nine runs the next. If someone can come up with a magic formula on why that happens, he could make millions. Thats just baseball.”

“[OAKLAND: Top starters Rich Harden and Barry Zito will get an extra day of rest next week. Dan Haren will pitch Tuesday at Detroit and Kirk Saarloos on Wednesday. ... DH-1B Scott Hatteberg has a strained right stomach muscle, though he played Saturday. Manager Ken Macha is considering keeping Hatteberg out of the lineup Sunday and Tuesday, giving him a total of three days to rest with Mondays off day. ... Macha would like to get LHP Ricardo Rincon into a game soon. He hasnt pitched since Monday. ... OF Jay Payton is feeling the best he has at the plate in a long time. He has five homers in his last 11 games, and he homered in consecutive games for the third time since joining the As on July 13 in a trade with Boston.] Right now I feel as good as I ever have, ... A couple of minor things make a world of difference.”

“Thats mainly why I wanted to get out of Boston. Fortunately, its worked out well ? maybe a little better than anticipated. But I felt confident. I thought I could help a team win.”

“We were contagiously all bad at the same time, now were contagiously all swinging the bats pretty good. Baseballs a funny game. You cant figure it out. When its good, you just try to enjoy it as long as you can.”

“I didnt have anybody to throw to, so I had to take off for second. I was just trying to cut him off and slide in front of the bag,”

“I didnt want to go headfirst because Im thinking, if he goes feet-first, then I get spiked. I guess he wasnt really thinking about that too much because he went in headfirst. I thought I might have broken his arm or something at first, but he was OK.”

“Thats mainly why I wanted to get out of Boston, ... Fortunately, its worked out well -- maybe a little better than anticipated. But I felt confident. I thought I could help a team win.”

“I was just trying to cut him off. I didnt want to go head first because if he goes feet first, I get spiked or cleated in the head. I thought I broke his arm at first. Im glad hes OK. I felt bad for him. I cleated him pretty good.”

“Its about as bad as it gets. Those are the last two guys in the world you want to face with a guy on third base with less than two outs.”

“[BOSTON ? Tie game, runner in scoring position and David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez due up in the 10th inning.] Its about as bad as it gets, ... Those are the last two guys in the world you want to face with a guy on third base with less than two outs.”