The Beautiful Losers: An Oral History Of The Philadelphia Phillies

-- Larry Andersen, relief pitcher and current Phillies TV analyst

Loss number 9,153, May 7, 1997

"After the Cardinals had beaten us 14-7, Bobby Munoz, publicly criticized the pitch-calling of our catcher, Mike Lieberthal. So Terry Francona, our nice-guy rookie manager, called his first--and only--team meeting. He screamed, 'I'm sick and tired of you guys acting like p------ and airing out your grievances in the newspapers.' He went on like that for 10�minutes. When the meeting broke, he called me, the old veteran, into his office. I thought he was gonna chew my head off, but he just smiled and asked, 'How'd I do?' I smiled back and said, 'Man, you were awesome!'"

-- Rex Hudler, outfielder

Loss number 9,987, June 15, 2007

"If we have 10,000 losses and 8,800 victories, that means we're only a hundred-and-something wins away from reaching the .500 mark."

-- Charlie Manuel, arithmetically-challenged Phillies manager, after a 12-8 loss to the Tigers.

Loss number 9,988, June 17, 2007

"A local sports-radio host wants the city to celebrate the 10,000th loss with a parade. I think that would be a disgrace. The Phils are my grandfather's team, my father's team, my team, my sons' team and my grandchildren's team. We fans will endure this humiliation, and then maybe we'll start on our second 10,000."

--Ed Deal, 61-year-old ballpark security�guard