28 Quotes by Craig Monroe

You can tell he's a straight-shooter. Everything seems to be very upbeat. A lot of people talk about whether he still has it, but you could tell he definitely is going to command respect.

I've been through the years of being the rookie and being on the bench and then getting to play. And to be honest with you, now I'm as confident as ever. It's time for me to step up. It's time for me to be a leader. I can voice my opinion and try to push guys, but not really forceful. Just prove to them that I'm here to play, I want you guys to be ready to play and let's just go out and play hard baseball.

They've been outstanding. With Kenny here, I really think his influence, how he goes about his business, it's rubbing off. These guys are learning. They have somebody that they can go to with questions.

They got the hits when there were guys on base, and they scored more runs.

It's just one loss. We're 5-1. We feel great about going home.

It's exciting for us as a team to be able to go out and have pitching like that. Our pitching staff has done an excellent job. Things are going to be fun around here.

It's not sad because this will give him an opportunity to continue his big-league career. It's obvious here he wasn't going to play. I personally think that when you've done some of the things he's done in this game, there's an opportunity for you somewhere else. I believe in my heart he's going to get an opportunity.

It's confidence. I feel I'm maturing a little bit. A couple of years ago, I would've tried to do too much.

I wanted to set the tone. I didn't want to be the guy who you walk guys to get to. That doesn't make you feel like a good hitter.