We’ve got to be ready. They’re trying. I’m pretty sure they’re going to step up when we really need them. At the right time, I bet you they’ll be out there for us.

This means a lot because Edgar was one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen.

Pretty much we always start that way. I don’t know why.

It’s not as easy as it looks, … Hitting is tough, man. If you’re consistently on, people are going to notice.

It’s a good feeling, especially when you have a guy like Wakefield out there performing the way he did tonight, … You want to do something for the guy. I felt terrible the one inning...

We’re fine, it’s passed already. Everyone’s going to come in tomorrow and try to win some ball games.

Johnny always played hard here. I wish it had been different.

They had it made in 20 minutes. They were talking about history and stuff. I don’t know.

I was talking to him during the game, and the way I heard him talking it reminded me when he pitched that one game in New York last year where he was bleeding to death....

I talked to Manny like a week ago and he was going to Italy tomorrow.

It’s not that I was going crazy out there. From the very first pitch, he made a bad call on me. Am I going to be taking that? No, bro. I got to let him...

It’s not easier. When you take anything for granted in this game, the games comes and eats you up.

He seems happy. I read in the news that he wants to stay in Boston. Something like that, right? That’s good. Sounds good to me. Having my man around once again. Hopefully, things never change.

I thought the ball wasn’t going out,

About time. We need him.

We see a great uncertainty in how effective this screening process is.

The way those guys are playing over there right now, you got to bring your ‘A’ game to beat them.

I’m still sort of fighting myself. Every year it’s the same. You start a little off of where you want to be. I’m not going to see too many good pitches to hit, so I’ve...

This is not Pittsburgh, this is not Kansas City, this is not Minnesota, … This is Boston right here. We’re in first place. It doesn’t matter what’s going on. You just got to kick it...

That guy never gets down,

The three years that I’ve been here, this team always has been hitting well. They let Pedro and D-Lowe go. That was the question: How our pitching would be.

We’re still facing a good situation. We control our own destiny.

He said that he wouldn’t give his vote to a D.H., … Well, bro, let me tell you, the D.H. is the one that won the game against you the other night. You shouldn’t go...

so I can focus on what I have to do.

You get used to it. I take it as it comes. They say I have a natural ability to do it.

What we did in 2004 was great for the Boston fans. They had waited a long, long time. It made me proud to be a part of it and make so many people happy.

He didn’t? … He’s coming home with me tonight. So I’m going to ask him.

This is the way it’s supposed to be,

I want to stick around. Hopefully, I stay here the rest of my career.

Never, … Well, I did one time in winter ball, but I was playing Rookie League ball back then. These guys have been pitching me [on the] black the whole series, so I was like,...

The atmosphere is something that pretty much every Latin person has in their blood. Everybody has a lot of passion for baseball.

Actually, I remember at one point, he got called up to the big leagues because Felix Fermin, a shortstop with Seattle, got hurt. Alex went up there. When Felix Fermin got better, they wanted to...

You have to bring your `A’ game. Those guys, man, you can’t give them a lot of chances, … They’ve been coming back on us the whole season.

You have to, otherwise they beat you up. Believe me, bro, the first time when I didn’t do that, they smashed my head so hard I had a headache for five days. Trot Nixon and...

The atmosphere is pretty much what every Latin has in his blood.

That will be great. Wakefield, he knows himself, he’s very confident, especially the way he’s been pitching this year, … And I’ll tell you, I’d throw Wakefield against anyone right now.

He was born to hit. Manny has like, what, (13) years in the big leagues doing the same thing over and over and over? There’s no doubt about it. That guy’s a hitter.

[Which is to carry the burden of a Nation too often maybe. But he just keeps coming through, doesn’t he?] When you’re out there playing, … you don’t think about the game being on your...

It’s cool to deal in the good times, but let me see you face the bad times. Let me see how you take it when things aren’t going well. And he might be one of...

He was good, like always. He was spotting the ball, throwing all kinds of different pitches. It wasn’t his best day, but he was spotting the ball really good today.

We play these guys over and over, and you go to the plate with an idea. And then they change everything.

I think it’s discrimination right there against the D.H., … It’s a position, bro. Who are the guys making the big money? The hitters.

This guy is something else,

Crazy, man. But whatever they do, they can’t catch the ball if you hit it off the Green Monster.

It’s an honor because Edgar was one of my superheroes when I was coming up.

We make enough money to at least donate something we can send down there to help out. We challenge all baseball players to come out and do the same thing, especially the players from the...

We are happy because we went through a lot this season.

I’m not involved with it. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m just thinking about the season coming up right now. Hopefully I stay here for the rest of my career. I like it here.

That’s the Manny everybody knows. That’s Manny being Manny,

That’s my boy. I talked to him a lot before and after he went to the other side. You come to camp and see a bunch of new faces get in the mix. It’s something...