Tagged: Division Series

Tough way to see it end

Wow, to have it end like it did, that’s  not the best feeling. You’re mentally prepared to keep on playing, but things like this happen. It kind of shocks you for a minute.

We tried, man. The Angels are a great team. Those guys are playing really good. You have to give them credit.

To be one strike away in the ninth and not finish it, what can you say? That tells you how crazy this game is. You’ve got one of your best pitchers on the mound. You’ve got one strike to have another game. I don’t remember anything like that happening to Pap before. This game is something where you just never know. Anything can happen any time and it was his day today.

Pap is our man. He made good pitches. Like I say, those guys had been playing great, coming through and that’s the game.

Getting swept, that’s another thing you don’t think will happen, but that’s how the game goes. We’ve finished people off in three games before, too. That tells you as quick as you can beat someone, the same thing can happen to you.

We were ready for another game. We almost got one. But things didn’t happen and you saw the result.

How did it happen? We faced good pitching. Those guys pitched really good. They held us down. I told you, you’ve got to come with a mindset of playing good baseball and trying to win, and we did. We played a good game, but they bounced back. It never seemed like the end of the day would be like this.

This year is in the past. Next year is a new year and I’ll be ready to play. This year is behind me, believe me. I don’t deal with negative stuff too much. I’ve always been like that. Even after my first two months, I put it in the past. I’ll forget about that and keep on going to the next season. It was a year where I learned a lot of things and I can put them in play the following year.

One more thing. Thanks to the fans for supporting the team and I all season.

Trying to bounce back

Papi275.jpgWe came out here in the past and were able to take Game 1 from these guys, but that’s not how it’s going to be this time. They had a great pitching performance this time. John Lackey was on. He made good pitches. What can you do?

You play to win, especially in a short series, so we’re not going to change our mindset just because of one loss. Just because you lose a game, you can’t change anything. You want to come the next day with the same mentality, ready to go, and let it happen.

When you have pitching like Jon Lester and Lackey going against each other, you know that it’s usually just going to be one mistake that’s going to be the difference and change the whole game. Too bad that the mistake from Lester was against one of their best hitters. I know Torii Hunter, I know him well. We’re close friends, and we played together in Minnesota and I know how he is. He was fired up and when he’s fired up, look out.

We had a little bit of a layoff coming into Game 1. There were no games in three days. I’m not going to make excuses, but I hate layoffs.  That’s how it goes sometimes this time of year. You’ve got to get used to it.

I didn’t have a good night at the plate, but Lackey was making nasty pitches. They don’t want to make a mistake to me, you know that. They pitched me real carefully. That’s how it is. When good pitchers pitch in that kind of game, they want to make sure they stay on top of their game.

We’re excited to get out there again for Game 2. We have Josh Beckett. You can’t ask for much more than that. Everyone knows what he’s done in October. He’s been pitching great and we need a quality start out there.