Quote: Wagner on Team and Perez
Billy Wagner, speaking about Oliver Perez, while talking with Michael Kay, during his weekly interview on ESPN 1050:
“It’s not a question of effort, it’s a question of focus. You have to focus, and know that, yeah, I don’t have my best stuff today, but some how you’ve got to compete…Oliver Perez is an unbelievable athlete and an unbelievable talent…but, it’s a situation where, I know you’re playing the Pirates, but it’s a situation at this point in the year where that you wanna be going on the road with something positive. If you lose to them 5–3 or 8–4, yes, a loss is a loss, but it’s how you’re losing the game, ‘So I had a bad game, so be it.’ Well, you can’t look at it that way. You’ve got to be able to look at yourself and say, ‘Is that the best I could do.’”
Wagner, on whether the team is playing sloppy:
“I can never question how our team goes down and competes. We compete. Every guy that comes in there is about winning. That’s our whole goal. It’s not about being an individual…It’s about winning. The errors and stuff like that, that’s gonna happen. But, as a pitcher, you want to be able to pick those guys up. You’ve got to find a way to pick those guys up. A pitcher prides himself on going out there, a guy makes that error, and the pitcher picks him up and we’re able to go back out there and win. I can tell you right now, there’s many of times I go out there and pitched and they make the greatest plays ever yet every one comes up to me telling me how great I am. I know I’m not that good. If these guys behind me aren’t playing and making plays for me we’re not gonna win and I’m not gonna look good.”
Asked why he went through the media to address this situation, and not directly to Perez and his teammates, Wagner said:
“Well, we have. There are a lot of us who have gone to Oliver and said, ‘Hey, we need you to pick it up, we really need you to come out here and have a strong showing, we just used seven guys in our bullpen and we need you right here, we can’t really afford a two-inning stint here.’…Look, I love the kid. I think the kid is fantastic. But, he’s got to understand, I’m not saying Billy Wagner is any better than any one else, because I definitely don’t think that. But, I also believe that when we show up to the ball park we have got to put a better effort coming out there. I know he wants to win, no doubt about that, but we have to figure out how we’re gonna stay focused. If he gets mad at Billy Wagner for saying this, but he goes out there and wins ball games, great. I’m all for it…We’re not sitting here going, ‘I don’’t like Oliver Perez.’ That’s what a lot of people want to sit there and stir the pot at. Look, we care for this guy, and we can’t go nowhere, we’re not going to the playoffs, we can’t be a dominating team if we do not have an Oliver Perez who can come out there and find ways to win. You know what, if he goes out there and he battles and he’s coming up short, we’re not gonna have a problem with that. But, you’ve got to battle. You’ve got to go out and find a way…I want to win and I know everyone in that clubhouse wants to win, but sometimes you’ve got to say something. You might have to stir the pot.”
…wagner is using oliver as a scapegoat for a much larger idea here, which is Team Unity, Picking Each Other Up and Fight, three things this team had in 2006, but lost last summer and has never really gotten back…this is clearly wagner trying to shake the team’s cage…i hope it works…
To listen to Wagner’s entire interview, go to ESPN 1050.
