Shadowing Practice: Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz relive the 2004 ALCS | FOX MLB - Learn English Speaking with Video
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14 years ago today the Red Sox were in the midst of an 86 -year wait for a World Series title themselves.
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That street looked to continue.
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Boston dropped the first three games of the ALCS to the Yankees
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but in game four the fortunes of the franchise would soon change forever.
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Big Papi and Alex take it away.
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Thanks KB.
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So we're gonna go down memory lane a little bit here Big Papi.
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I remember 2004 I was 28 years old you were 27 well at least 27.
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Hey, be careful, man.
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And we were up 3 -0.
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We had just beat the piss out of you in game three.
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We were thinking, we're going to the World Series.
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And we have Mariano Rivera on the mound.
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He pitched a clean eighth inning.
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And here comes goofy Kevin Millar.
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He concerned me for two reasons.
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Number one, he's a right -handed hitter.
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Righties always saw and hit Mariano better.
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Better, yeah.
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And Kevin, as goofy as he is, that man can hit.
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Oh, yeah.
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And he knows the strike zone.
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Oh, yeah.
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And I also knew that he didn't give a crap about Mariano.
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He was going to fight him tooth and nail.
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High -off walk, and there's life for the Red Sox.
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Before Mallard drew that walk, did you think it was over?
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You know you're facing the best of the best at the time.
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But your instinct and what you are supposed to do is just fight back.
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And that's exactly what we end up doing.
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We have Dave Roberts coming in, still in the bag.
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Roberts is going.
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Passada's throw.
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Oh, Roberts, for sake.
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Fasada throws a bullet.
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Perfect, yeah.
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Jeter makes a perfect tag, just gets in there.
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What are you thinking at that point?
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We have men in second with Mariano pitching.
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That is something that you barely see guys getting to first base when Mariano was in the mound.
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But getting to second base, that just, you saw the whole crowd going crazy.
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You saw, it seems like everything come back alive.
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But I had a question for you, Adol.
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When you guys, as the Yankees, start feeling the pressure, when you guys start feeling like you guys were in trouble?
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When Miller was at the plate, and I knew very vividly in my mind
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that the home run as a walk -off was that day game in Fenway earlier that year.
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And I also knew he won the batting title.
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But because it was Mariano Rivera, I felt like we had Superman on the mound.
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Up the middle, Roberts will come to the plate.
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Bill Miller has tied it.
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I'm watching the whole thing, and now the motivation and the momentum, it feels like it's going our way,
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even if we were 3 -0.
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It almost felt like at that point you had nothing to lose.
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You were playing with the house's money, and we had all the recourse on us.
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We had to now finish, and we had the responsibility to close.
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And obviously, we never closed.
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But I'll share one thing with you, Poppy, is, and this was a bad feeling that I got.
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In the bottom of the eighth inning, after the eighth was over, Mariano just had a one, two, three, and you're feeling pretty good.
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I went down to get an extra set of batting gloves.
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It was super cold that night.
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And I couldn't get in my locker because it was full of plastic, and all the champagne was ready,
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and everyone's ready to party.
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And I was so pissed off that I said, screw the batting gloves.
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I said, why are these things up? and I just kind of walked out.
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And I just didn't like that, because I am a believer that you never celebrate till it's truly over.
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The temperature continues to fall here in Boston as we move to the bottom of the 12th, the 4 -4 game.
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You know how we approach pitchers.
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We go back to the history that we have with them.
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And you make up your mind.
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As I was getting mature and getting more experience, I used to work on history and results.
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And it was three homers that I hit during this playoff that I expect those pitchers to give me those pitches.
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Control, Paul, when he was with the Blue Jays, he had that front door fastball that he would throw right at you and boom, come back to the play.
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And the minute I saw him coming out of the bullpen, I went to looking for the front door fastball.
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Ortiz into deep right field.
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We'll see you later tonight.
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I'm glad that the homerun you hit of Quantro decorated your life.
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It ruined mine.
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And decorated yours, too.
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Exactly.
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Anyways, this is the most torturous segment I've ever done in my Fox career.
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Thank you very much, Papi.
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So like therapy.
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KB, back to you.
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I'm a therapist.
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The doctor, Papi.
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Thank you.
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Who Will Love This Video?
This video is perfect for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to practice conversational fluency and understand casual, real-world dialogue. If you’re working on shadowing speech or using a shadowing site to improve pronunciation, the natural back-and-forth between Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz is ideal. It’s great for those aiming to follow sports-related conversations or just sound more like a native in relaxed chats.
Words & Idioms to Add to Your Toolkit
The conversation is packed with colorful phrases. Here are a few to steal:
- "Beat the piss out of you": To win very decisively (casual, slang). Example: "Our team beat the piss out of theirs in the final game."
- "Fight tooth and nail": To struggle fiercely. Example: "She fought tooth and nail to get the promotion."
- "Walk-off": A game-ending play that wins the game immediately. Example: "He hit a walk-off home run to win the series."
- "Come back alive": To regain energy or hope. Example: "The crowd came back alive when the underdog scored."
How to Nail the Accent & Flow
To practice shadow speech with this video, focus on the speakers’ casual tone and rhythm. Notice how they shorten words (e.g., "gonna" instead of "going to") and use pauses for emphasis. Pay attention to stress in phrases like "fight tooth and nail"—the bolded words get extra weight. For pronunciation, mimic the way "Mariano Rivera" is spoken (mah-ree-AH-noh ree-VEH-rah) and the quick, sharp delivery of "Oh, yeah!" Use a shadowspeaks approach: pause, repeat, and try to match their pace. This will help you sound more natural in everyday conversations, whether you’re talking sports or just catching up with friends.
Learning English with videos like this makes practice fun and practical. So grab your device, find a shadowing site, and start mimicking—you’ll be sounding like a pro in no time!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.