Jose Oquendo
Jose Oquendo
José Manuel Roberto Guillermo Oquendo Contrerasis a former Major League Baseball infielder and a third base coach for the St. Louis Cardinals currently on medical leave of absence . He is the longest tenured third base coach in Major League Baseball. He also served as manager of the team representing Puerto Rico in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic...
felt good guys impress impressed looking people type watching
He's his own guy, but being around those type of people has to impress you. You see people you admire, like Rodriguez, and it has to be a positive. But watching him, he's just as good as those guys. I know he was impressed by the guys he was looking at, but he also felt like he belonged. He did belong.
among came fewest meant people planned
I wanted to give him one at-bat, because a lot of people came out to see him. But then I planned to go to Eduardo Perez. It meant a lot to him. He'd had among the fewest at-bats on the team.
careful expect experience knows leave says unless wants
I'm going to be careful with him. He's probably going to be in the lineup, unless he says otherwise. He's probably going to be a DH for us, unless he comes out and says he wants to play first base. I'll leave this up to him. He has experience enough that he knows how much he can play. I expect him to play.
definitely expect leave says unless
I expect him to play. He'll definitely be in the lineup -- at DH, unless he says otherwise, unless he says, 'I can play first.' I'll leave it up to him.
came forgotten heritage latin proud received
These are very proud people. They are proud of their heritage and haven't forgotten where they came from. I don't know how it will be received here, but it is something big in Latin America.
boys strikes threw
He threw strikes and my boys were anxious.
ask beating canada puerto sure
Be sure to ask him about Puerto Rico beating Canada.
ball charge deep milwaukee plays range tremendous watching work
The things that I know from watching him in Milwaukee and Arizona, the thing we're going to work on is to charge harder. He kind of plays deep a little bit. He has tremendous range and a tremendous arm. Sometimes he has to charge the ball more and not lay back.
bragging fans looking passion people respect rights rivalry
The passion is going to be a lot more than in the first round. This is what people were looking for. There's a lot of rivalry between islands. Fans are going to take it like a fight. We're going to take it as bragging rights and respect each other.
feels hitting hope work
We hope he can do something tomorrow. We'll see how he feels after he does some hitting work in practice.
close competition tradition
There has always been a tradition of competition between the islands, because they are so close to each other.
run runs
We'll be aggressive. The more runs you score, the better. Every run counts.
address swung talking team
We swung at too many first pitches. We'll be talking about that to the team because we need to address that.
game good next rest round tonight win
This was a good win for us, but it's not over. The game tonight is over but the rest of the round is not, so we have to think of our next game.