[CHRONICLE] Kent with sharp criticism; calls Purpura unprofessional

Very nice, thanks for the link!

 

I noticed that he never mentioned Lance Berkman... I don't think those two were very fond of each other.

 

How can you not love Fat Elvis???

 

I don't think Kent liked his "hipster doofus"-like attitude towards the game... probably thought he was too aloof about things. I don't think Lance liked Kent's isolatory nature... probably thought it couldn't be good for the clubhouse.

I do remember some of this being discussed here last year. I don't think any of it is official.

 

from what i heard..you're thinking right. there was a serious rift in the clubhouse last year. it was smoothed over...winning seems to cure a lot...but it was there, to be sure. some very different people.

 

I love that . I have watched it 5 times in a row . Thanks man .

 

pretty sad that the best thing us astros fans have to cheer about is winning a NLCS game 5?

 

fat elvis vs. the p*rn stash

 

i always liked kent and i still do. i disagree with him, in that i think if he was here this season he'd definitely be better off than in LA. beacuse of that weak division they're only slightly closer to the playoffs than we are even though their record is worse.

if you look at how hot he was in the first month, there's a good chance we're the current wilcard leaders with kent.

 

That game 5 had 3 historic things. Beltran's catch to rob Renteria in the 8th was the greatest defensive play in Astros history, Backe had one of the best pitching performances in franchise history, and Kent's walk-off shot is the greatest play in Astros history.

 

I don't know man. We have never, ever really won "THAT" game. Everytime in a big post-season situation, we have never had anyone come through like that (billy hatcher 1986 excluded).

I will say that I got to go to that game with my older sister. We used to go to games all the time as kids. It was kind of a rough time in my life. My dad scored two tickets and gave them to us. Like I said, we've been to a million games but that game was, and always will be, special. We had a great time. Slammed beers at S'Lainte's (sp) because they had .75 bud lights after the game. It was just the greatest game, at the greatest time, and I'll never forget it.

For christmas my sister put all of our momento's from the game in a nice wooden shadow box: the ticket stubs, the terrible towels, the sports page the next day. She even got a picture of the scoreboard after the game.

Needless to say, I tell this story every time someone tries to tell me sports is stupid or pointless... one of the greatest nights of my life.

 

Its better than being a Rangers fan.

 

Jeff Kent is a professional baseball player, no? So, everything he says related to baseball must be true.

 

What were you listening to when you came up with that gem?

 

Pete Mayes and the Texas Houserockers - Live at Double Bayou.

I admit it's a misrepresentation of what you said in another thread, but it's Friday, people suppose be misrepresentin'.

 

Hilarious!!

 

Another article from the Chronicle on Kent and his character:

July 9, 2005, 1:30AM

Kent walks the walk, but skips the talk
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

He was never much for small talk. Jeff Kent didn't see it as part of his job description.

That's probably why he declined to speak to Lance Berkman that day in the training room two summers ago.

"Hey, J.K., how's it going?" Berkman said as Kent walked through the door.

When Kent said nothing, Berkman repeated the greeting. He figured Kent hadn't heard him. Kent had.

"What is it with you guys?" Kent snapped. "You think I've got to walk around saying hello to everyone? I see you every day."

He wasn't much for interviews, either. Players loved watching a television crew approach Kent before a game. They knew what was coming.

Kent would roll his eyes, groan loudly and say something like: "I don't have any use for you people."


A quiet sort
If the reporter was smart, he'd smile, turn on the microphone and get some of the best quotes in the clubhouse. Some got mad and walked away. Their mistake.

When Mike Lamb was traded to the Astros last year, he was warned about Kent.

"That first day, he walks right up and introduces himself," Lamb said. "Guys were coming up going, 'What was that all about?' "

When did their second conversation take place?

"Well ... ," Lamb said.

Phil Garner tried to crack the ice with Kent before a game one day. He finally gave up and asked: "You don't like to talk, do you?"

"Nope," Kent said.

And if you think these stories tell you what Kent was like during two seasons with the Astros, you'd be wrong.

No, he wasn't much for small talk. No, he wasn't much for hanging with the guys.

"I don't do dinner," he told a teammate who asked.

All he did was play. He played hard and he played hurt. He cared, too.


It's about winning
When Jason Lane was sent up to pinch hit against Cubs pitcher LaTroy Hawkins late last season, it was Kent who pulled him aside.

"He told me, 'Look, here's how he's going to pitch you,' " Lane said. "And he said, 'Here's what you have to do.' He gave me a game plan and a big shot of confidence. I got the game-winning hit.

"That conversation told me how much he cared about winning. I think that's the thing I learned by watching him. All that matters is winning.

"He doesn't always care what people think of him, but he does care about winning."

He cared in other ways, too. When Jared Fernandez was removed from the starting rotation in 2003, Kent pulled the pitcher into a corner of the clubhouse and wrapped an arm around him.

He gave less to the veterans. He stayed to himself.

Most days, he walked in without a word to anyone, dressed quietly and killed time by reading hunting and fishing magazines.

He'd explode at times during games. Baserunning mistakes would set him off. But so would his mistakes.

"You'd see him over there slamming his helmet into the rack again and again," Jeff Bagwell said. "You'd see him talking to himself.

"He was harder on himself than he was on anyone else."

Yet when the Astros visited terminally ill youngsters at Texas Children's Hospital, Kent took over.

"It was one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen from an athlete off the field," Astros general manager Tim Purpura said. "He had this one kid laughing. The kid is from Austin. Jeff told him he was building a water slide and wanted him to come to his home.

"He was absolutely charming to the young guy and his family. That's the Jeff Kent memory I'll keep."

Kent played down the stretch last season even with a pair of ankles that were a swollen mess.

He'd fouled a ball off one ankle, then the other. And he kept on playing. He wrapped the ankles before games and iced them afterward.

The Astros never have had a better clutch hitter. They've probably never had a player more singularly focused on winning.

His walkoff home run in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series gave the Astros their finest moment.

Most nights, Kent would decline to shake hands when returning to the dugout after scoring a run or hitting a home run. But that night he skipped down the third-base line screaming, "One more, one more, one more."

The Astros were unable to get that one more victory, but on that night, at the end of a wonderful two-month run, they had a ballpark rocking and a city captivated.

Kent signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers a few weeks later after Astros owner Drayton McLane bungled negotiations. Kent returned to Minute Maid Park as a former Astro on Friday night.

The Astros hadn't known what to make of Kent when he arrived in 2003. He'd gained a reputation for surliness during six seasons with the San Francisco Giants.

"Most of the people who criticize him have never played with him," Lamb said. "He's a good teammate. I wish he was still here."

The Astros were perfect for Kent. What he found in Houston was a clubhouse that also cared about just one thing — winning. They accepted the fact some people are different.

"He's got friends in this clubhouse," Berkman said.

The Astros made Kent's personality part of the daily conversation.

"Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Bagwell would say as Kent arrived for work.

At the end of the day, Bagwell would say, "I'll call you later, OK?"

"Please don't," Kent would say.

No matter.

Kent has hit more home runs than any other second baseman in history. He collected his 2,000th career hit Friday. He has punched his ticket to Cooperstown.

"Oh, I'm just old (37) and broken down now," he said in the visitor's clubhouse. "I'm going to play a little more and get back to my ranch."

No, he's not.

He's going to keep playing because he loves the competition and the winning. He probably even loves his teammate even though he never would admit it.

"To see someone with that kind of personality is entertaining," Bagwell said. "It shows you the different type of people who can come together for the same thing — which is to win baseball games. Nobody wanted to win baseball games more than Jeff Kent."

In the end, nothing else matters.

richard.justice@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3259071
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I liked Kent, wish we still had him. Too bad Gerry the Hun left and we had Purpura to bungle things. The biggest mistake we made in the offseason wasn't failing to resign Beltran, it was putting everything else on hold until we did.

 

Kent's bat in the middle of the order is the one thing this team really needs right now.

LOL!

 

When they walked Berkman, I was like, ahh ****. Here comes the double play.

As soon as he hit that shiieeet.

That was my fondest Astro's Moment. I was only two or three years old for the Billy Hatcher homerun.

It's not like Hatcher's homerun was a game winner though.

Kent's was.

 

Kent softens comments about Astros GM

July 8, 2005
HOUSTON (AP) -- Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent had a softer approach Friday to his recent comments about Houston Astros general manager Tim Purpura.

Kent called Purpura unprofessional in a story in The Houston Chronicle, saying he had wanted to stay with the Astros when he was a free agent after last season, his second in Houston.

He also said that Purpura, who had just taken over the job, made public the team's offer of $7 million for one season and ``that shows you the unprofessionalism of him.''

Before the Dodgers-Astros game on Friday night, Kent's first time back in Houston, the tone was different.

``We tried to come back and that was what we wanted,'' Kent said. ``But the circumstances at the time came together where I was meant to move on. There's no hard feelings and I hope people don't make a bigger deal of it than it is, because it's not.''

Earlier Friday, Purpura responded to Kent's original comments.

``Jeff was a great player for us,'' Purpura said. ``Obviously, Game 5 of the playoffs (when Kent hit a walk-off homer against St. Louis) will live in the memory of all Houston fans.

``Jeff feels the way he feels. I'm sorry he feels that way.''

Kent had also said Purpura ``didn't really know who I was,'' during negotiations last December.

``It's very difficult for a player and general manager to have a close relationship,'' Purpura said. ``But we tried to get to know him. I think that goes both ways.''

Kent was enthusiastically met by several Astros on the field before the game.