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Sweet Lou’s Lines: ‘Outside of that, we’re OK’

4 years agoTony Andracki

It’s impossible to tell the story of baseball without uttering Lou Piniella’s name.

He spent 18 years as a player, suiting up for the Yankees, Royals, Indians and Orioles and compiling a career .291 average in more than 1,700 games.

Piniella then managed for 23 years including four on the North Side of Chicago, at the helm for the Cubs from 2007 through the middle of the 2010 season.

He oversaw a Cubs team that made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons in 2007-08 and won a World Series ring as the skipper of the 1990 Reds.

All the while, Piniella was one of the most quotable guys in the game, prone to hilarious one-liners and a unique perspective.

In honor of the baseball legend, we’re revisiting some of Piniella’s best quotes.

Quote:

“Our pitchers aren’t pitching very well and our hitters aren’t hitting very well. Outside of that, we’re OK.”

Date:

March 4, 2007

Context:

The Cubs had just lost 13-2 to the White Sox in a spring training game and this was the money line from Piniella’s session with the media afterwards.

“Well, it’s the truth,” Piniella said of the quote in a recent interview. “You’ve gotta tell the media the truth – they’re out there watching games. You can’t fool the fans. If you stink on the field – whether it’s the manager, whether it’s the coaches or whether it’s the players that aren’t getting the job done – you don’t lie to the media.

“And on that particular day, we were terrible. Our pitchers weren’t pitching well. At the same time, our hitters weren’t hitting. So there wasn’t much I could say except that we stunk that particular day. But I also went on to say we would come out the next day and try a little harder and play a little better and in spring training, that’s the time to get these bad games out of your system.”

It worked, because the Cubs came out and won the next game 6-5 over the Mariners in another exhibition contest.

It all played out well in the regular season, too, as Piniella led the 2007 Cubs to a first-place finish with an 85-77 record. Five of the team’s wins came against the White Sox in the annual Crosstown Classic series.

Sweet Lou Title 3 Trans

 

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