AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v INDIANS

October 6, 1999

Sandy Alomar

Bartolo Colon

Travis Fryman

A. (TRAVIS FRYMAN) It means a lot to me. When I was going through the rehabing process for that period of time, it gets a little bit monotonous and I think one of the things I used to help keep the work level intense was the desire to want to play in the post-season, the desire to want to play well; so to get a chance to win the ball game tonight, to come up in that situation, believe me, I've been thinking about that for a few months now.

A. (BARTOLO COLON) He said it was gratifying for the whole team, not just him, the whole team. There was a lot of pressure and he pitched a great game.

Q. It was noticed, Bartolo, that you were pumping your fist on some of the plays by Roberto and Omar. How meaningful was that for you?

A. (BARTOLO COLON) He say that he was very emotional every time that one of our infielder make a great play. Those guys help a lot.

A. (SANDY ALOMAR) Well, one of the pitches in the fifth inning, he threw a fastball about 88 mile an hour. I thought it was about 80 not 88. That's one of the advantages of having the speed board over there. When we saw that it was 88, I said, wait a minute, 88. It can't be a change-up. That's too hard. His change-ups are about 81-82 mile an hour. So Omar said maybe something is wrong with him. So sure enough, he didn't come back in the sixth, so we figured something was wrong with him

A. (TRAVIS FRYMAN) We came in in the sixth inning and I heard Omar say hey, new pitcher, guys. I thought he was joking around to kind of lighten the guys up a little bit. I looked out there and I saw Lowe walking in and for me personally, it was kind of hey, we got a chance to get back in the ball game, too.

A. (SANDY ALOMAR) Then Lowe stuck it to us.

A. (TRAVIS FRYMAN) Yes. Then he stuck it to us. But I think any time you face a Pedro Martinez, you have to perform at a very high level but you can't make many mistakes. When you see him come out of the game, it gives you a greater sense of confidence that you can win the game and Bartolo pitched brilliantly, kept us in the game so I think it was a big pick me up for our club.

A. (SANDY ALOMAR) Well, we kind of went through the same path together. It's very gratifying to play in the post-season. Every year, this team is expected to win and we go through aches and pains and bumps in the road, but the bottom line is that you play baseball to play in the post-season and there's nothing more gratifying than to have the opportunity to play especially since my brother is here and seeing Travis coming back. It was kind of like a race, who was coming back first and we did it.

A. (SANDY ALOMAR) Well, definitely, Bartolo is a very mature guy now. He's got better poise when he's pitching and he pitches faster than he used to pitch, so he keeps the defense alive. Last year sometime in the second half he was a little bit slow when he'd pitch and he was a little bit lazy, but now he has a lot of confidence and it's kind of nice to see a guy like Bartolo with that type of arm be able to keep us in a game that long, especially in the second half.

A. (SANDY ALOMAR) Well, it means a lot. By no means is the series over. Bret Saberhagen is a tough customer. This is a tough series for both teams. Don't expect that since we beat Pedro it's going to be easy. It's not. Bret Saberhagen has done great against us. Their bullpen is great. So it's not over, to me it's not over. We have the advantage of winning the first game, especially we haven't done that since 1995 when Tony Pena hit the home run to win the first game.

A. (TRAVIS FRYMAN) The only good thing about that at-bat was the result. I did everything up there I didn't want to do. The first pitch fastball in, I check swing. When you're in that situation, you're thinking stay gap to gap up the middle of the field and be patient because he's got to come to you and I check swing a breaking ball and, like I said, everything was wrong about that at-bat except the result; so I got a fastball up that I was able to get on top of and get the hit but it's not an at-bat I want to teach somebody how to hit in that situation.

A. (TRAVIS FRYMAN) Yes.

A. (TRAVIS FRYMAN) I think any hitter will tell you they go up there and they do some things they didn't want to do, they get behind in the count. They step out, take a second, try to collect themselves, get a little poise and get back in there and then try to bear down and not repeat those same mistakes. When I check swung at that curveball, I stepped out and you do a lot of talking to yourself and you get back in there and hopefully take a better approach to the ball and I was able to do that. So most hitters would tell you the same thing, though that was not a textbook at-bat, but the result was good.

A. (SANDY ALOMAR) Well, I'll tell you, I was so focused on the game I didn't see the rally caps. I was trying to see if the pitchers was falling into any patterns but our bench was great, outstanding. Every single inning, they were on top of the dugout, on top of the play cheering for us. Carlos Baerga. Enrique Wilson. Dave Roberts. Those guys on the bench, those guys are as important as we are and they deserve a lot of credit.