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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES v DODGERS

October 15, 2009

Raul Ibanez

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Game One

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES Â– 8
LA DODGERS - 6

Q. There are many people in this series that think that the Dodgers set their roster to kind of neutralize your left-handed hitting. How important was it you scored eight runs in this game all against left-handers?
RAUL IBANEZ: I don't know, we've faced a lot of left-handers throughout the course of the season, and so you try to ignore whatever the other team is trying to do and just try to focus on your game and what you're trying to do.
You know, it's definitely important to come in here and win the first game, you know, against -- they're a tough team, and it's definitely important to win the first game, especially we started on the road. They had a great crowd today, and to be able to kind of win the first game is a nice thing for us.

Q. Talk about your teammate Mr. Ruiz. He seems to be eating the Dodgers alive. He's had amazing numbers with them. Is he just locked in with this team for some reason?
RAUL IBANEZ: I wasn't even aware of that, but he's been swinging the bat really well. Even towards the end of the season he was swinging the bat really well. He's had some great at-bats and really good approach at the plate. He looks great at the plate, and he's swinging the bat great.

Q. Do you feel refreshed by being in the postseason, and by that I mean the energy of the games and the fact that you've come up with some really big hits? Not that you didn't during the regular season, but clearly for the whole team there seems to be maybe something that's intensified. Do you feel that with the team, and do you feel it with yourself individually?
RAUL IBANEZ: The postseason, once it starts, it's like whatever happened before that point is irrelevant. It's done now. It's like a new start. You start over, and obviously there's a lot of intensity in the games, and there's a lot of energy. And I think as a player, yeah, you definitely feed off of that energy.
You know, our team is a great team, and what I mean by that is we play together and everyone pulls for each other, and it's incredible to be a part of. It's a bunch of unselfish guys. Everybody is playing for the club and putting the club first, you know, every pitch, every at-bat, and guys with picking each other up and positively reinforcing each other all the time. So it's great to be a part of.

Q. Sherrill just walked two guys, and maybe conventional wisdom is you take a pitch, but you swung at that first pitch. What are you thinking there at that point? You saw the slider, just to jump on it?
RAUL IBANEZ: You know, I'm really thinking not trying to do too much. You know, he's a very good pitcher. I faced him in the American League a little bit and obviously played together with him for a long time in Seattle.
So you know, you're definitely not trying to do too much. He's tough. He's a tough pitcher. He's tough on left-handers. You're trying to do less, and a lot of times in this game less is more. So you're really just trying to stroke -- get a decent pitch to him and stroke a line drive somewhere.

Q. Can you talk about how this was just such a typical Phillies win? You guys get a huge inning, then you got jams, the pitcher seemed to get out of them, and how you guys keep doing that, especially on the road?
RAUL IBANEZ: Yeah, we play really well together as a team. And like I mentioned a little bit ago, it's a team. It's a great environment. Guys are pulling for each other. Guys are sticking together and trying to string quality at-bats together. You can feel the excitement when it builds up in the dugout. But at the same time, everybody is playing for the same reason, and it's just to win. That's the only thing that matters.
I saw for the sixth months of the regular season, I saw it even in spring training, some of the excitement in the dugout during spring training when I got there, it was great to be a part of. It's an entire group of guys pulling in the same direction. It's incredible.

Q. I was wondering if you believe that Game 1 kind of sets the tone for the entire series? And if so, how important is it that you make a statement by scoring eight runs against this Dodgers pitching staff?
RAUL IBANEZ: You know, I'm not into like the whole statement thing and setting tones and stuff like that. I think that each game is different. Each game is unique. I really look at it more like a black-and-white thing. We came out today, it worked out for us. We won this game against a tough pitcher and a tough staff, and then tomorrow is a new game.
It's a nice way to start. It's definitely a nice way to start. And at the same time you've got to refocus and understand that they're coming for you again tomorrow, and you're coming for them, and you've got to try to get it done again tomorrow.
But it is great to start off that way.

Q. A bit of a follow-up on that. Can you talk about the importance of winning on the road? You don't have the home-field advantage; you have to win one on the road. You do it in the first game.
RAUL IBANEZ: Yeah, I think we played really well this year on the road as a team, and I think for a while there early on we were playing -- I only know this because you guys told us, but we were playing really well on the road, and we weren't playing so well at home, and then it kind of started balancing out. You knew you didn't have the home-field advantage, so winning the first game is definitely a nice thing.

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