Tagged: Victor Martinez

Hanging tough

We keep getting injuries, and that’s not good, but we’re still getting it done. I’ll tell you one thing — I can’t wait until my boy Pedey comes back. You know why? Because he won’t stop talking in the dugout, that’s why. He is talking a lot of trash, just screaming, that’s what we have to deal with now. You know I’m just kidding, Pedey! I hope he gets back soon. We’re going to miss him.

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It’s unbelievable, though, to go through all this stuff at once. After Pedey got hurt Friday, Clay Buchholz went out with that knee injury Saturday and then Victor Martinez took the foul ball off his thumb on Sunday. How often do you see injuries come up like this at the same time? We have to go through that every year but we don’t need that right now, you know what I’m saying?

But like I said, we’re putting it together. We’ve got no choice. You saw our bullpen that day in San Francisco when Buchholz got hurt. They went out and gave us eight great innings and we won. That was a total team effort. You can see everybody is trying to do something.

I’ll tell you one thing, too. I’m glad we’re done with Interleague. I was able to hit a home run in that water on Sunday in San Francisco, and you know I wanted to hit that water bad. But it’s not easy stepping in against a guy like Tim Lincecum after not playing for two days in a row.

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I wasn’t feeling the way I like to feel. Let me tell you something. When you don’t play for two days and then go against one of the best pitchers in the game, that’s not the way you want to go out there. But you’ve just got to go out and try your best, so I was glad it worked out.

Lincecum didn’t have his best stuff, but his delivery is funky. He might not have the velocity he used to, but you can still feel that explosion. When he used to throw 95 or 96, that had to be crazy.

This week, we faced not just Lincecum, but Ubaldo Jimenez. Those are two of the best guys out there. We got to both of them, which says a lot about our team. What can you do? You have no other options but to bring your “A” game  game and try your best.

I can put my glove back in storage for a while. But I had to use it this week, and that’s fine. I’m down with whatever. It’s not what you want to really do, because you’re not really used to it. But just go out there and have fun and try your best. Everybody knows you’re not out there every day, so I was saying to people early in the week, “Keep me in your prayers!”.

It’s hard when you’re not out there on defense every day. But I don’t put any of that on myself. When I got out there, it’s just to have fun and not try to worry about things. If you question yourself, you’ll make it worse.

Anyway, we’ll get back to the American League now. We’ll take a day off on Monday and then take it back to the house and play Tampa Bay.

As we get within a couple of weeks of the All-Star break, I feel great this year. I worked hard in the winter. I’ll just keep on working, and keep on hitting.

Looking forward to October

250_ortizhomer.jpgI think we go through a lot of things during the year, but this is the time of year you love. You want to play in October. I was talking to Melvin Mora when we were playing Baltimore, and he told me, “You guys look like you’re ready go to go the playoffs.” He told me he would like to have that feeling.

It’s just a different feeling you have this time of year. You can feel the cool breeze, and you know October is on the way. A lot of people at this time of year, they’re worn out, they’re ready for vacation. I’ve been in the postseason tons of times, and it’s fun. This time, I’m thinking about postseason. I’m planning my vacation for the end of November or December. Deep down inside, I don’t want my vacation to start before that.

I remember in 2006, we didn’t make it to the playoffs, and I felt like I had too much time off. It was like, “Jeez, what should I do now? I’m supposed to be playing now.” Then, I watched the games on TV, and it wasn’t a good feeling. Not everybody gets prepared to be playing in October, but this ballclub gets prepared to be playing in October.

We’ve made some moves the last couple of months that are going to help us get where we want to go. Alex Gonzalez played here before; he knows what our goals are. Victor Martinez, this is his first time playing here, but he faced us in 2007 in the playoffs. He knows what this team is capable of doing. Their mentalityis just easy for them to make the adjustment here. They have an idea of what’s up.

Those guys, they bring a lot of energy and that hunger. They’re ready to play. Victor said to me, “I was so close to getting a ring, and you guys just kicked my butt. But now, when you can’t beat the enemy, you join them, so that’s why I’m here.”

Victor keeps me going during the game. Oh, yeah. He’ll be screaming at me, he will punch me. He’ll do whatever it takes.

By the way, everyone should check out my new restaurant in Framingham, Mass., Big Papi’s Grille. I go there when I can, and it seems like people have fun, people like the food. Man, I’m telling you, it’s really good. We have everything over there: seafood, steaks, all kinds of salads and appetizers. We’re adding things every couple of weeks, and people love it. Stop by!

Last time I was there, I hung out with some friends for three or four hours, and it was a good time. You might bump into me and my friends any time.