JP:
You used to be Mel Clark?
Mel Clark:
Yeah. I used to be.
[taking a picture with George Knox and Roger]
Photographer:
It looks like a prison photo.
George Knox:
You don't think as a team, you don't play as a team, you don't even LOSE as a team!
George Knox:
[the Angels have lost their fifteenth straight game] One more loss! One more loss which could've been a win! And you call yourselves professionals. I have never, ever seen a worse group of twenty-five players! You don't think as a team, you don't play as a team, you don't even LOSE as a team! You've all got your heads so far up your butts, you can't even see the light of day! One more loss and I... I'll do this...
[throws a chair at a rack of bats]
George Knox:
to each and everyone of you!
George Knox:
[after Roger tells him about the real Angels] Great! A psycho kid. David, you'd think they'd screen these people.
George Knox:
Any loss is hard.
Ranch Wilder:
But this one really got to you. You leave Cincinnati after ten years of winning ball clubs - although the really big one always seemed to be just out of reach - and you come out here to manage our Angels. Now, expectations were high that you could turn this team around. But that just doesn't seem to be happening.
George Knox:
You oughtta know how one incident can change the course of events.
Ranch Wilder:
Well, you know, you play the game. You take your chances. Sometimes, you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
George Knox:
Yeah, you're an expert at that.
Ranch Wilder:
I could say the same about you.
George Knox:
Well, actions speak louder than words.
Roger Bomman:
Dad, when do you think we're gonna be a family again?
Mr. Bomman:
From where I'm sitting, I'd say when the Angels win the pennant.
Roger Bomman:
God... if there is a God... if you're a man or a woman... if you're listening, I'd really, really like a family. My dad says that will only happen if the Angels win the pennant. The baseball team, I mean. So, maybe you can help them win a little. Amen. Oh, A-woman, too.
Mel Clark:
I've got nothing left.
George Knox:
Yeah, you do. You've got one strike left.
[turns to dugout, Roger walks out flapping his arms like angel's wings]
George Knox:
57
You've got an angel with you right now... just got here, and he's going to help.
ffb
Mel Clark:
The kid sees an angel?
George Knox:
Yeah, he must. That's the signal.
[gradually all players and crowd, even those in the office, stand and flap their arms]
George Knox:
[moved by seeing the crowd] It could happen.
Mel Clark, George Knox:
Okay.
George Knox:
[laughs] Go get 'em for the championship!
JP:
[Repeated line] It could happen!
[last lines]
Al the Boss Angel:
We're always watching
Ranch Wilder:
[hands JP a business card] Hey. I'm Ranch Wilder. The voice of the Angels.
JP:
I know who you are. I heard you on the radio. You sure do have a big chin.
Ranch Wilder:
Everybody's a critic.
Maggie Nelson:
[stands] Um, excuse me. I'd like to say something on behalf of George Knox.
Hank Murphy:
What's your name? What's your business here?
Maggie Nelson:
My name is Maggie Nelson. I take care of foster kids. One of these boys is the child who can see angels. He could stand up right now and tell you what's going on and I'd know you'd just laugh at him. But, when a professional football player drops to one knee to thank God for making a touchdown, nobody laughs at that. Or when a pitcher crosses himself before going to the mound, no one laughs at that either. It's like your saying it's okay to believe in God, but it's not okay to believe in angels. Now, I thought that they were on the same team.
Hank Murphy:
Is it your belief, ma'am, that angels play baseball?
Maggie Nelson:
Since the all-star break, yes. We all need someone to believe in. Every child I have ever looked after has someone: an angel. You've got to have faith. You've got to believe. You have to look inside yourself. The footprints of an angel are love, and where there is love, miraculous things can happen. I've seen it.
[sits]
Mel Clark:
[stands] I'd also like to say something. I don't know if there are any angels here other than the twenty-five of us in uniform. But I know there is one thing I won't do: I won't play for anyone but George Knox. I believe in him.
Triscuitt Messmer:
[stands] That goes for me, too.
Rest of Angels baseball team, Roger, & J.P.:
[stands and nods in agreement]
George Knox:
Thank you. All of you.
Wally:
I can't believe it - he's got an angel!
George Knox:
You can't go through life thinking everyone you need will one day let you down. If you do, a very bad thing will happen. You'll end up just like me.
Al the Boss Angel:
No one can see me or hear me but you!
George Knox:
There's a thing called "talent." They don't have it.
[Finishing a prayer]
Roger Bomman:
Amen. Oh... and A-woman, too.
George Knox:
Gimme the ball, Gates.
Frank Gates:
It ain't my fault. You need a new outfield!
George Knox:
You're outta here, GIVE ME THE BALL!
Frank Gates:
You want the ball? Here you go...
[makes as though to hand it over then tosses it]
Frank Gates:
Go get it. Want my glove?
[repeats the gesture]
Frank Gates:
Go get it!
Ranch Wilder:
[broadcasting offscreen] Gates has thrown the ball and his glove into the stands.
George Knox:
[jumps Gates] Get outta here! You're finished, Gates! You're washed up! You'll never pitch again!
George Knox:
[on when Mel can play again] How's never sound? You blew your arm out, played on too many pain pills.
Mel Clark:
Pain pills? You were the one stuffin' them down my throat five years ago in Cincinnati.
George Knox:
Hey, it was your decision to swallow 'em! I had a brain. When you couldn't play, I transferred you. Got rid of you. I never thought I'd get stuck with you again.
Mapel:
We do it all summer / And it's a big bummer / No matter who we play / We give the game away./'Cause we can't win / That would be a sin / We even lose the games / before they begin ...
George Knox:
Save it, Mapel!
Danny Hemmerling:
I guess no matter how many times you hear that song played in a Major League stadium, on a warm afternoon, it's still emotionally evocative.
George Knox:
Drop dead. I got sunscreen in my eye.
[the players are touching a post as they walk into the locker room]
Frank Gaits:
Why do you idiots do that after you've lost?
Ray Mitchell:
It's for good luck, man.
Danny Hemmerling:
After 15 straight losses, I say we find something else to rub.
Pablo Garcia:
How about Triscuitt's head?
Triscuitt Messmer:
Hey, don't even think about touching me anywhere.
Jose Martinez:
[stops reaching for it] Fatty pants.
Whitt Bass:
You know, maybe we should do this *before* we lose.
Ranch Wilder:
Whit Bass takes the mound with his oddball antics that are now well known to the fans.
Wally:
That's right Ranch. This season alone we've seen him lick dirt, eat bugs, and floss his catcher's teeth in the dugout.
Ranch Wilder:
[switches off Wally's mike and on his own] None of that, may I add, seems to have helped his pitching. He's 2 and 11.
Ranch Wilder:
I'd say the fans seem a little bouncier today, wouldn't you, Wally?
24
Wally
ff3
:
That's right, Ranch. As we saw last game ...
Ranch Wilder:
[Turns off Wally's mike for the second time] Easy Wally, less is more.
Hank Murphy:
Ranch?
[Ranch turns to face him, grinning as though he supported the play]
Hank Murphy:
You're fired.
[exits]
Ranch Wilder:
You can't fire me! I have got a contract! I AM RANCH WILDER!
Wally:
[cheerfully] Easy, Ranch. Less is more.
Ranch Wilder:
[flinging the stats book and pamphlet the assistant offers him aside, after Clark's first two pitches fail miserably] I'm checking to see if Dan Prince pulled a muscle during his warmup tosses. There has to be some reason why Knox would make such a radical change. I have personally checked the stats, sports fans, and Mel Clark has not started a game in this decade.
Al the Boss Angel:
Even though you can't see us we're always watching.
Hank Murphy:
You feeling better today, George?
George Knox:
Why would I be feeling better?
Hank Murphy:
Commissioner's fined you $5,000 for you jumping Gates. And word has it Ranch is pressing civil charges for you popping him.
George Knox:
[grins] Come to think of it, I *have* felt better since I slugged Wilder.
Hank Murphy:
Your pistol's smoking, pal.
George Knox:
I hadn't made the connection.
Hank Murphy:
I know you two have been at each other's throats for a long time.
George Knox:
Yeah, we've been at each others throats since he spiked my knee and ruined my career.
Hank Murphy:
Accidents happen, George.
George Knox:
It wasn't an accident. When you slide into a catcher with your nails up, it's on purpose.
George Knox:
I want you all here, in uniform, at 9 tomorrow! We're all going to work on fundamentals!
[the team groans]
Norton:
Fundamentals? In the middloe of the season?
Whitt Bass:
I thought the game started at *1*.
George Knox:
It *does* start at 1. And you're a jack-ass!
Whitt Bass:
No, i'm a pitcher.
[Knox storms off]
Jose Martinez:
Well, you're a pitcher and a jack-ass.
Pablo Garcia:
Si - it's very common.
George Knox:
You can't go through life thinking everyone you need will one day let you down.
George Knox:
I could never leave J.P. He's coming too!
Drunk Fan:
Hemmerling for Mitchell? Go back to Cincinnati!
George Knox:
Hey, let's keep the profanity down!
Angel players:
HUH?
2a
George Knox
ed2
:
I mean it! No swearing!
Ray Mitchell:
That eliminates all speech for most of the team.