prior, wood, zambrano

"Cancel all prior commitments, Mark Prior to pitch for Lugnuts Thursday."
Lansing Lugnuts Web site, advertising Mark Prior's rehab start.

"[W]e're going to do this the right way. We're going to do it in a way that when I do come back I'm ready to pitch completely healthy. We're not going to rush it so I get 1 extra start and on the flip side cost me 3 or 4 starts."
Mark Prior (Daily Herald - 5/21/2004)

"I'm sure the first time out we're not going to go to 140 [pitches]. But I expect to go out and pitch the way I pitch. When I'm healthy, I can go out and throw 120 pitches, and I expect to be able to do that."
Kerry Wood (Chicago Tribune - 5/18/2004)

"Two years ago, I would have kept pitching. Maybe even last year. But things are different. We're not trying to win anything in May now. I know we have a great team and we've got guys who can step in and fill roles, as they've been doing as guys have been going in and out of the lineup. I just think it was a smarter move than I would have made in the past."
Wood (Chicago Sun-Times - 5/21/2004)

"I had a terrible problem with my mechanics my first year with him, and Larry [Rothschild] helped me a lot. I was opening my shoulder too soon toward home plate, and my arm was dropping all the time. Larry got me to stay on top. I appreciate everything he has done for me."
Carlos Zambrano (Chicago Sun-Times - 5/18/2004)

"No, soccer."
Zambrano, when asked if baseball were his favorite sport (Cubs.com - 5/22/2004)

fountain of youth

"I feel like I'm 95 years old right now. I'm going through a tough time. The first day it happened, I knew it was serious. I was in serious, serious pain. I couldn't even stand up."
Sammy Sosa (Daily Southtown - 5/20/2004)

"I used to be 95. Now I'm 45. In a week or two, I'll be 35 again."
Sosa, a couple days later (Cubs.com - 5/23/2004)

more lemon stuff

"We're not upset that it got out there; it was good to get a little air time."
Paul Bako, on the "Lemons" (Chicago Sun-Times - 5/20/2004)

"We never really defined it. Obviously, a lemon can be a bad car. Lemons are also something you can make lemonade out of. They freshen water. It can do a lot of things. So it's for each person to determine how they want to define it."
Bako

"Goody's more the leader; he's in the big chair. It's fun and a little fraternity we've got going on. We pull for each other, no matter what. But when another Lemon is playing, it's like, shoot, we want him to get a couple knocks."
Bako

"It's a pretty prestigious group; they don't just let anybody in. Had [Mark] Grudzielanek not got hurt, I'm certainly in the fraternity. I mean, I was in for two days and then out."
Todd Walker (Chicago Sun-Times - 5/20/2004)

"Every time we hit and get on base, we look at each other and squeeze."
Jose Macias (Chicago Sun-Times - 5/20/2004)

miscellanea

"Mo is my clutch man, Sammy is my star and Aramis is my RBI man."
Baker (Chicago Sun-Times - 5/23/2004)

"Yeah. You got any better choices?"
Baker, on whether Sergio Mitre will stay in the rotation (Daily Herald - 5/23/2004)

"That was one of the hardest balls I've ever seen hit."
Clearwater manager Mike Schmidt, after Cubs prospect Brandon Sing hit a grand slam (Daily Southtown - 5/21/2004)

"My teammates told me I had to do it."
Todd Hollandsworth, after sprinting out to right field a la Sammy Sosa (Chicago Tribune - 5/23/2004)

"He's playing right? You're kidding me. Couldn't they find anyone taller?"
Sosa, on Jose Macias (Cubs.com - 5/20/2004)

"I can see the headlines. They will say, 'Dempster throws after Prior in front of a crowd of 17 - 12 of which were on his pass list.'"
Ryan Dempster, on his rehab start at Lansing (Daily Southtown - 5/22/2004)