The Cowboy Upset Payback Tour Continues

'They don't pay me to be a complete player.
They don't pay me enough to hit 45 home runs.'

Kevin Millar is Swinging at Everyone Now That He Has a Few Hits

"It makes me a little hotter to know who I lost, and I check 'em off. I know who was on my side when things aren't going great." -- 6.14 Kevin Millar on NESN

If you wanted to sign Carlos Delgado, or voted for John Olerud, or did not cheer the Cowboy when he was down and out... he's got your number and your name.

The Ultimate Whiner Line

6.15 Millar follows up his NESN whining with a call into WEEI's Big Show: (Excerpts from Millar) "Buckley likes to talk smack in his articles and doesn't want to give credit when I'm hitting. So Buckley I'm trading you for a Miami Herald writer. I think your stories suck. Buckley's articles suck, and so I'm trading him for a Miami Herald. (Steve Buckley: So you did see the column I wrote last week praising you right?) No. All I hear about is the negative that you write. I'm going around seeing who's on my side when things start going good. (Steve Buckley: So it comes down to who's on your side?) ...What happened last year? We won a world championship, first time in 86 years. We brought more happiness to this town. I'm not done talking, it's my turn. Second of all, I don't care about the back of the baseball card the first three months. I worry about the 162 game schedule. And by the time the years all said and done, every player that has a track record will be right where they are. I laugh at you guys yelling about Manny Ramirez. He's three RBIs behind Derrek Lee, who's everybody's praising as being a triple crown threat..."

"There's more that I bring to a table than the back of a baseball card like I said. There's intangibles that we all bring to this clubhouse. We were world champions last year. First three months I could hit .110, it doesn't matter what Kevin Millar's hitting. And the last three months, we played the best baseball we ever played and won a world series for the first time in 86 years. Alls said and done, patience. This is a long season and it cracks me up. Like each night, each day, each two weeks. All of a sudden this guy stinks, that guy's great... do you buy stock low? Or do you buy stock high? And right now, it's a good time to buy stock right?... Not my stock, it could have been Rent... you guys are throwing Renteria on the Pike... (Glenn Ordway denies he ever ripped Renteria; wrongly gives Whiner Line credit for Rent-a-Wreck; blames callers and Dennis and Callahan show)... It doesn't matter about anything other than my teammates when that door's closed. And we compete and we believe in each other. So I could care what Buckley writes, or what you guys write or say because this is all fun to stir it up on the radio and get some press. My point is, it's always nice to sit here an say 'yeah, you know what, we want Delgado at first, Soriano at second, Troy Glaus at third' and this fantasy baseball team. But you know what? They don't pay me to be a complete player. They don't pay me enough to hit 45 home runs. If that's the case, they go get Delgado and pay him $16 million. Go get Troy Glaus and pay him $15 million. But without me and Billy Mueller here, you don't have Schilling and Faulk here. You don't have this guy here. So that's all about making a team. A team that runs the same way, you understand what I'm saying?... I've never told you I'm the best player ever. I never told you this and that or Mark Bellhorn or Trot Nixon or Billy Mueller. But these are things, this is a team, this is a machine. And it runs together and we pull together... (talks about individual players who have struggled at times) This team is fine... we're still right where we need to be. We're three games out. This team's just now getting ready to get on fire and we're the boys of summer for one reason, when it heats up, we roll the pole."

On taking the heat off Renteria: "Because this guy was new to this situation and all I told him what a great place it is to play here and you're gonna love the city and within five weeks he's getting booed at his home field. He's never seen something like that. So I wanted to say 'boo me.' I'm the bad player. Let this guy play. This guy's a freakin' All-Star, he's a World Series champ. He's done a lot in this game and give him some space and let him play. That was my point. (Talks about how he's always available to the media after games, good and bad, and how he doesn't listen to the radio but gets his info from guys that listen, e.g. Schilling)"

On his struggles: "Imagine being the guy doing it. You imagine that? How much time do you think I sleep at night? Zero. And I'm on the video every night. But it's not lack of effort. There's no rhyme or reason to it. You lose confidence as a human being... When you're not hitting you don't sleep. I don't. I live, eat, drink Red Sox baseball. That's the way I live. Some guys they go home to their family. They forget about the game. I watch baseball. I have the baseball package at home. I love this game, and I thrive this game... when I'm not doing well, no one hurts more than myself. Understand that. But on the flipside, when I'm not hitting, I'm on the video room and what happens is you start tinkering, and then you lose your confidence and it's like a snowball effect. And all of a sudden one day you come to the field you find one adjustment, you get that one line drive up the middle and it locks in for two months. They're no rhyme of reason. You're hitting a round ball with a round bat. It's hard. (Talks about going to an open stance for the first time last year on June 17, came back and opened a little too much, then was leaking too much, then he came back to a 'virgin of open stance' this year)..."

On how he hears about criticism on the radio: "Mostly Schilling. He's the one guy. He knows everything. He knows all your names. He knows every single... the morning show, evening, late. He's probably listening to the show during the game. Schilling's great for that. No doubt about it (he's online listening right now). That's what Schilling brings."

On this team... and Buckley's articles: "This team will make another special run this year. This is the same club. Nobody was booing Mark Bellhorn when he went deep of John Lieber in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium. Or when he homered off Julian Tavares off the foul pole. This guy hasn't changed. He's gonna go through struggles. Who cares? (how many months it is into the season)... I love it (playing in Boston). I love it. I wouldn't be on the show if I didn't care. I could be this quiet guy and answer all the right questions, give you all the right answers and that's all I do. So say what you want to say. Buckley thinks I suck and that's fine. I think his articles suck. So we're even... Nah. I haven't read it (his article). (Steve Buckley: You know what, I don't know if you're kidding or if you're serious and that's fine but you're apparently reading what you want to hear.) Have you ever written a nice article about me? (Buck: You want to bet on it?) No, I'm asking you a question. (Buck: The answer is yes. And I'll bring it down and I'll show it to you smart ass alright? I'll bring it right down and I'll show it to you.) Alright how many bad articles have you written about me? (Buck: You had a little press conference a couple of weeks ago, and you talked about Olerud coming to the Red Sox and I wrote a column the next day in the newspaper saying that you are a standup guy and you showed your value to the club on that occasion. That was the next day. It was like two weeeks ago.) I gotta high-five you then. Now can you high-five me for hitting now? (Buck: Absolutely.)...