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When I was up there at the plate, my purpose was to get on base anyway I could, whether by hitting or by getting hit.

A lot of hitters stay away from the plate, some are close up, some are forward, some are back. The thing about hitting is this: You have to know the strike zone. That's the most important thing. Hit strikes and put the bat on the ball.

He stopped everything behind the plate and hit everything in front of it.

Hitting is like swimming. Once you learn the stroke, you never forget it.

Some batters, and good ones too, scoff at the whole theory of place hitting, calling it a myth. They are wrong, however.

Joe Torre would tell you to make sure you can hit the ball on the outside part of the plate.

I can't very well tell my batters don't hit it to him. Wherever they hit it, he's there anyway.

If I get two strikes, I'll go to a pitch maybe that will help induce that a little bit.

You get to the big leagues, and you think, 'Can I do this stuff?' Then you take the first pitch down the middle for Strike 1, and you think, 'I could have hit that.'

When I hit, I felt I was in control of the home-plate area, and it was important that I felt that way. If I let the pitcher control it, it would give him an advantage.