This Week In Mets Quotes: All Dickey, All The Time

Thank you, R.A.

"I just kept trying to go, because they'd come and I wanted to give them that gift. And thankfully it worked out." —R.A. Dickey [Newsday]

Couldn’t have happened to better people

"It wasn't long ago when we were just hoping to get to the big leagues and keep the house. My hopes never got beyond job security, and now we have this incredible storybook ending.” —Anne Dickey [ESPN]

You’re the best! Around! No one’s ever going to take you down!

“Who doesn’t want a Cy Young Award? What kid didn’t grow up wanting to be the best? I’m no different. I want to be the best. I’ve always wanted to be the best.” —R.A.Dickey [New York Times]

Dickey pitching is definitely my favorite piece of art

“Growing up, you just want to compete, and then once you have the weaponry to compete, you want to be really good, and then when you’re really good, you want to be supernaturally good. For me, there’s been this steady metamorphosis from just surviving, to being a craftsman, and then, ultimately, the hope is to be an artist in what you do. This year is kind of representative of that for me.”—R.A. Dickey [New York Times]

If it’s one thing that everyone knows about Dickey, it’s that he’s ‘single-minded’

“To do it with a club that is this many games under .500, to me, is just remarkable. I think the single-mindedness and intelligence of R. A. probably was needed to shut out all the white noise that was going on around him.” —Ron Darling [New York Times]

Trust me, no one took this the wrong way

“I hope everybody doesn’t take this wrong, but this was about R. A. today. It was about his connection with the fans, his connection with the city.” —Terry Collins [New York Times]

I think it definitely meant the most of things for all Mets fans in that moment.

"I really hope for that. That's one of the reasons I moved my start in the first place was to try to share a milestone such as that with the fans here. It would mean quite something. It may mean the most of things for me in this moment." —R.A.Dickey [ESPN]

It would be interesting if he faced R.A.

"We want to get Adam Greenberg his first 'official' Major League at bat. Of the 17,500 players who have played in the major leagues, no player has ever had his MLB career end on the first pitch — except Adam Greenberg. Due to Major League rules, when Adam was hit, his at bat was recorded as a plate appearance, not an official at bat. We would like to see Adam make it back to the big leagues for the official at bat he earned.” —Filmmaker Matt Liston on Adam Greenberg who will face the Mets for his first official at-bat [NBC]

I’ve never heard an athlete so eloquently state that he wants a raise

"It’s different in that you accept the first contract trying to be compensated for 13 years of playing the game and finally getting a chance to take care of your family. This mentality is different, because I’ve done that now. I have more freedom to really weigh things.” —R.A. Dickey [NJ.com]

Dickey for GM

"If I don’t see them pursuing David hard, I think it would be a message to everybody that they’re content to spend the next five or six years rebuilding this organization. Rather than trying to be competitive, and trying to rebuild it at the same time. I think you can do both. I think [doing both is] what they want to do. But if you see them not really pursue him hard, that’s the message that I get. Unless they trade him and get multiple, big-league pieces back.” —R.A. Dickey [NJ.com]

If Dickey’s happy then I’m happy

“The truth of the matter is, if a hitter hits it good it should be a home run, and it is now. It’s perfectly fair, and more than that I think it looks really natural the way they did it. Aesthetically, it fits.” RA Dickey [New York Post]

While David Wright finishes his season strong, his cliché computer is struggling

"I don't think you can sit back and really enjoy this until you're done playing -- or, maybe, enjoy it a little bit in the offseason. I'm not programmed, and it's a little odd and uncomfortable talking about something individual like this, when we've had our struggles in the second half and haven't done what I think all of us feel like we were capable of doing. But I'll enjoy it at some point -- probably not tonight. I have to get ready for tomorrow. But at some point I'm sure I'll enjoy it because it's a nice accomplishment and I'm very proud." —David Wright [New York Daily News]

Is he just talking about Jordany Valdespin?

“We’ve looked at that, because we’ve looked at, for example, pitches per plate appearance -- first half, second half. And they’re down significantly in the second half. I think that sometimes has to do with the mix of personnel. If you go back and look who they had in the lineup consistently over the last year and a half -- because really the ‘buy-in’ was over the last year and a half, it wasn’t a half-season and then we canned it and did something else. I think it was over the last year and a half really when we had that ‘buy-in.’ But when you start mixing in some additional personnel that maybe doesn’t approach it that way, I think it can have an effect on the overall approach. That’s not an indictment of anybody. But there are certain players that we have had playing over the last two or three months that don’t reflect that approach as well as others.” Sandy Alderson [ESPN]

Canadian Serious Smacktalk

“Nobody wants to not have a job. I’m hoping I can turn this around. I have been hoping that for a while. I understand there are scenarios, but this is my job and I take it very serious. It’s very hard to fail, but it happens every day. It’s not something that you can take a couple of weeks off from and come back with a fresh outlook. This is something you have to grind through, and I take it very seriously.” Jason Bay [New York Post]

Oh come on, the New York media wouldn’t do something like that

“I don’t think it causes a lot of long-term harm as long as the situation and the relationship is managed internally. I don’t think another club two months from now is going to put a lot of stock in a story that was written toward the end of a season. I think what’s more important is we have a good line of communication with the player, make sure that the player is confident in us and that we’re being straight with him. I think the biggest risk is the stuff comes out and suddenly it’s attributed to me or someone else, even though the person is not named, and it ends up creating a problem in our relationship with the player.” —Sandy Alderson regarding reports of Ike Davis going to movies after games [ESPN]

Does Ike have a girlfriend yet? Those late night movies might be a serious sign of depression if he’s going alone and talking about his unborn kids

"It's a cool milestone, I guess. It's something you can always tell your kids — you hit 30 homers in the big leagues. But, obviously, if I would have hit 29 this year I still would have been happy with the power numbers, for sure." —Ike Davis [ESPN]

Could’ve stopped after this first sentence

"The difference is I'm just not awful. The first two and a half months I was terrible. I felt like I had never played baseball before. I kept saying I'm not going to play this bad forever. I don't think it's possible for anyone to do that. You guys can pick up a stick and do better than I did. But I told you there's better things to come. I don't know if I've had the greatest season of all time, but I definitely made myself feel a little better about this season working through stuff and grinding and seeing you can come from pretty far behind and still have a pretty good year.” —Ike Davis [ESPN]

Should’ve pitched to the score more last year

"Last year, I was 8-13. I didn't change my perspective, change my mentality. It's just the way things have ended up this year, but it's fun." —R.A. Dickey [ESPN]