I noticed over the summer, 90 percent is placing the barrel on the ball. That's all you need, and that makes a big difference.

Some games, I want to have the game in my hand, but I know we have a lot of great pitchers and their concentration is just pitching. Right now, mine is third base and hitting the ball.

I had to take it out of there. I didn't want it to die on us.

Talentless and incompetent as I am, there are two things I can do, and two things only: walk, with my own two feet; compose, composing my poems.

Real haiku is the soul of poetry. Anything that is not actually present in one's heart is not haiku. The moon glows, flowers bloom, insects cry, water flows. There is no place we cannot find flowers or think of the moon. This is the essence of haiku. Go beyond the restrictions of your era, forget about purpose or meaning, separate yourself from historical limitations—there you will find the essence of true art, religion, and science.

Haiku is not a shriek, a howl, a sigh, or a yawn; rather, it is the deep breath of life.