Norm Charlton

"I'm glad Lou has the confidence in me to let me pitch in a close game like this, especially with the guys we have in the bullpen. That eighth with all those lefties, is pretty much the role you'd expect to see Arthur pitch in." -Norm Charlton, in continuation of getting to pitch in that situation

"We're not going to score 10 runs a game, but we score enough because of our pitching and defense. That's what drives this team. It would be nice to have Texas' offense. But do you want Texas' pitching and defense too? No. That's no secret.'' -Norm Charlton

"We certainly didn't want to lose that one. Hey, if you said we'd go 5-1 against the Yankees and White Sox, then lose one in 14 innings, you take that - every day."-Norm Charlton

"If I can't preach it out of you or reason it out of you, I'll beat it out of you." -Norm Charlton, on his triple major of Religion, Philosophy and Physical Education at Rice University

"We have guys in here who speak Spanish, guys who speak Japanese and some guys who don't speak much at all. It works." -Norm Charlton, on the Seattle Mariners bullpen

"Not much gets by Lou," Norm Charlton said. And not much has gotten away from Seattle 35 games into the season.

"I'm the guy nobody thought belonged on the team. And I'll tell you this, I'm having a blast. A year ago, I was sitting at home - you don't think I'm going to enjoy every minute of this? It's fun." -Norm Charlton

"People thought I was done? I don't blame them. I haven't exactly had great years the last couple of seasons. But one of the reasons we're playing so well this season is that we get along so well in this clubhouse, and no one could have expected that, either. I mean, look at the guys in this clubhouse - we've got guys from Japan, from Venezuela, from the Dominican, from Puerto Rico, from Texas, from the Rain Forest ... and every guy in this clubhouse gets on every other guy, from Pat Gillick on down. We laugh. We have fun. And we play our [posteriors] off on the field." -Norm Charlton

"We came from five runs down Friday night, and nearly came from 8-0 down to Radke in Minnesota. It didn't matter they tied it in the ninth, we were going to win. And we did, didn't we?" -Norm Charlton

"Is 36-12 hard to believe?" Charlton asked. "Hell, yes. Do you think Tampa Bay thinks I'm the same guy they released last spring?"

"There were times here we'd have a four- or five-run lead, the bullpen would come in, and guys would go, 'here we go again.' Now when we have a one-run lead, guys go, 'Here we go again - it's over. Slam the door.'" -Norm Charlton

We've taken all 16 losses pretty hard. We don't expect to lose." -Norm Charlton

"He's been hitting well since he got that 'N Sync haircut." -Norm Charlton on Bret Boone

"I was charting the game and Freddy through 113 pitches, 85 of them fastballs. It was like he was challenging them: Here it comes, see what you can do with it. They didn't do much." -Norm Charlton