It’s even more of an honor now that I’ve met him, … You can just tell what a great guy he is.

(I) took one the opposite way, finally, … It felt good. I felt like I’ve been able to see the ball better. If you do that, you’re going to be able to hit.

The first at-bat I was trying to go out and get everything instead of trusting my hands, That’s what happens when you trust your hands.

I think we all probably dreamed about it. If you don’t have dreams, you’re in it for the wrong reasons. But, honestly, nobody could have expected what happened to happen.

You can’t worry about that and let it put pressure on you. That’s not the right mind-set. We know what we’ve got to do this year.

Baseball doesn’t make sense. I’ll never get this game, and I’m never going try to figure it out. I’m just going to have fun every night and play as hard as we can.

None of it’s hit me, … After the season I’ll look back at it but right now I’m taking it day by day.

I felt like that was the hardest ball I’ve ever hit. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been hitting, but it sure felt like it.

All I wanted was a number, … I couldn’t care less what number they gave me.

It was like everything in Atlanta was brighter; the ball just looked so big I couldn’t believe it. I just got locked in. Every pitch looked like a beach ball coming in there.

I don’t think I’ll realize what’s going on until after the season, … Then I can sit back and look at it and say, ‘Wow, what a ride it’s been.’

It’s a big win — no doubt. We don’t want to get swept two series in a row, especially by the team that’s ahead in our division. Hopefully, this will give us some confidence.

I think she’s in a tough situation with what she’s trying to do. I don’t think she was worse than the others, I don’t think she was better.

We knew we had clinched in the sixth, … But we wanted to win. We wanted to earn it.

We knew we had clinched in the sixth. But we wanted to win. We wanted to earn it.

If it weren’t for Phillip Wellman I wouldn’t be here right now. He’s the one who got me going, taught me about patience at the plate and who showed me how to work. You’d go...

I tried to run it off, but after running from second to home you could feel it. If felt good to get in here and get some ice on it.

So we didn’t want to watch any — we watched a little bit of the Yankees game, but we didn’t want to watch any highlights of our game or anything.

What was impressive was that we fought back. Even a couple of times we had runners at first or second, we hit into a couple of double plays, we were still able to come back...

I was talking to Chipper [Jones] last night about how we’ve faced some pretty good pitchers and how it’s been good for me to see them.

I hope he keeps doing it. Bobby always fires ’em up. When he gets going, the fans get going.

He just told me to keep playing hard and make sure that I’m a better man off the field than I am on it,

We want to get to the [National League Championship Series] and give ourselves a chance to get to the World Series and win it. I think if anybody in this clubhouse is not thinking that,...

I feel like lately I’ve been able to see it better. I’m waiting for my pitches again. When you do that, most of the time you’ll hit.

If you let that stuff get in your head, yeah, you’ll have a sophomore slump. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing. I’m stronger and more experienced than I was last year.

He might think, What the heck did that guy just swing at? But he’s not going to say it to you when you come back. I’m sure he’s thinking it.

My best memory is coming down here and seeing [David] Justice and all those guys. It’s good to be out here, with everybody. I’m just having fun with the kids and the fans. It should...

I didn’t know until today, … I thought it was going to be an article. I didn’t know it was going to be that big of a deal.

It’s fun because a lot of young guys have come up in this division. We’re all trying to do the same thing, and that’s win a title.

It felt good just to hit a ball solid like that. To feel it go out of the stadium, to be honest with you, kind of gives you the confidence that you can play the...

If I go on an 0-for-30 streak, I’m going to be quite [upset],

They’re not going to let Chipper and Andruw beat them [in the postseason]. They’re going to make the rest of the lineup beat them. So it was big for us to be able to come...

I can’t worry about that kind of stuff. I’m not going to. You can’t just say you’re going to be patient. The way I see it, you figure that stuff out.

Let me at him!

We’ve won 14 in a row, and people always want to knock you off. You use that as motivation. You don’t want to be the guys who lose.

I felt like it was a big enough moment in the game where we needed to get something going. Right when I hit it, I figured it was one of my best bunts ever. I...

Doc said I was real lucky. About a centimetre over it could have been broken, so I feel fortunate. It hurt bad. At first, it’s such a tender bone, it just hurt so much.

You don’t want to look at one game and put too much emphasis on it,

This is going to be a neat opportunity. It’s going to be great to be able to go out there and have ‘USA’ across my chest. It’s certainly an honor.

It was awesome to be able to be a part of this.

Maybe in the long run, this is going to be good for us. Maybe it’s a wakeup call, and we’ll realize we’re not just going to walk out there and win it.

When you’ve got guys like Andruw (Jones), Chipper (Jones), Julio (Franco) and Marcus (Giles) in front of you, you have some RBI chances. A pitcher doesn’t want to pitch to those guys. He’d rather pitch...

Mickey Mantle wore it, … I just enjoy it.

She’s going on with her life and gets her chance to see her friends, and she’s going to be a senior, … I know she’s happy for me for what I’m doing and she’s doing...

I’m forcing [pitchers] to throw strikes, and when you do that, it makes baseball a lot easier. I felt like too many times last year I didn’t put any pressure on the pitcher.

We wanted to be able to win on our home field, … We knew we had it, but at the same time, we wanted to earn it.

It seemed like 30 (home runs) didn’t even matter for years. So I think what’s happening is great for the game. We are bringing the purity back. I know people love to see the ball...

I was just in second grade, and I’m watching the Braves go to the World Series, … I mean, the World Series! I figure it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

Myrtle Beach was a big hurdle for me because of my eye. But I came back and showed I was fine, and that was really like turning the corner for me. I knew I was...

I thought he would go to first. It was a break for us that he threw it a little high. It’s a tough throw for any pitcher.