I remember my family talking about all the destruction they had there, ... One thing I feel very happy about is helping people because my family struggled before and other people helped out.

Ortiz said. ''Vladi says he doesn't remember it, but that his family always talked about the help they received from the US.

The operation is far from being over. It's just one of its stages, ... Its final goal is the total destruction of terrorists and their bases on the territory of Chechnya.

I swung after they took me out (Thursday), ... I just wanted to make sure I could tell (manager) Mike (Scioscia) I was OK. I didn't want to wait until (Friday).

I always swing at bad pitches, ... But lately I was swinging at even worse ones.

I think it probably seemed like I was anxious because I was swinging at bad pitches. I was thinking about it, but I'm going to keep swinging. Sometimes it looks bad and sometimes it doesn't, but I'm not going to stop swinging.