AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v WHITE SOX

October 5, 2005

David Ortiz

DAVID ORTIZ: Obviously, good pitching can dominate good hitting. I would say hitting is not an easy thing to do, especially if you're facing good pitching, but, like I say, it all depends. I mean, really good pitching can stop good hitting, so it depends on what type of pitcher you have up there.

DAVID ORTIZ: He's a good pitcher. He's tough. The one thing I always seen that I like about him, he's the kind of pitcher that he likes to challenge a hitter. He's not one guy that's going to be messing around. He brings what he has. I was talking about it with him in the All-Star Game, and I like to see pitchers aggressive out there, especially when they're on my team. When he's on top of his game, you're right, he's tough to beat.

DAVID ORTIZ: The energy and agressiveness were there. The thing is, like I always keep saying, if you see the game that we win in the past, the game that we won in the past, you can see that when our starting pitcher held the opposite team down for 5, 6, 7 innings, it's hard to come back and win the game after you give up, 6, 8, runs and you're facing good pitching. Like I said before, good pitching could stop good hitting.

DAVID ORTIZ: I think Kevin did what you're supposed to. If the ball is hit behind you when you're at second base, you need to try to move over, but you guys know the White Sox, they have a really good second baseman. That guy, his first reaction was -- because he knows how hard the ball was hit to him, the first reaction was looking at third base and knowing that he'd have a guy on second base that is not as fast as Johnny Damon or somebody else can be. He takes his chances. I don't know if you remember that when they show that play, they show Guillen and he was panicking for a second, because it's a play that normally you go to first base, but it all depends on what kind of player you have playing second base and what kind of decision he makes at the time. I don't think it was a bad base run. He went to third base like anyone else would normally do. The guy makes the decision to throw to third base and, boom, the play happens.

DAVID ORTIZ: We've been in worst situations. We have come out of it, you know, and won. This is the first game. We've got to win three games to keep us out. This is the first game and we're going to try to win tonight, and if anything -- hopefully nothing different than what we expect happens, but if something happens, we've got to do what we're supposed to do. I think this is the first game, and pretty much, we always start that way. I don't know why.

DAVID ORTIZ: I guess that's the way we got to do it. Everything got to come our way for us. You have been here, I would say, longer than me, and you know how everything goes, and hopefully it's not for bad. I guess when you come out in a short series and you lose the first game, I guess, you know that you have to bring some more into the game, because you can't let chances walk away from you that easy. I remember in the 2003, we lost our first two games against Oakland, and we ended up winning the series, and last year was the best year that we won that series against Anaheim in the first three games. Like I say, our pitching is the main key right now. In Playoffs, if you have good pitching, you've got chances. I hope whatever happened yesterday doesn't happen again.

DAVID ORTIZ: Everybody knows that Freddy Garcia have good stuff. I always compare Freddy Garcia to Mussina. He's the kind of guy that you've got to be patient with. Hitting, to me, has been a learning process. I guess I keep on learning about the game more and more and more, and right now, what I do is just analyze the game, and the pitching more than anything, and I guess it has been working for me through the years, so I have a pretty good idea what I want to do when I get to the plate. I go out there and think about what I do before I make a move, and with a pitcher like Freddy Garcia, you need to know you got to be patient.