Finally getting to play in a postseason game last night was definitely a thrill for Jason Bay -- and for more reasons than the obvious.

Yes, it marked the first time the former Pirates left fielder had played meaningful baseball in October.

But for at least three hours last night in Anaheim, he didn't have to answer more questions from the media.

"It's been astronomical," Bay said yesterday of the attention he has received from the Boston media about his first playoff experience.

And this was before his first playoff game, after 771 major league games that for the most part were irrelevant.

"They all want to ask the same stuff," Bay said, exhaustion clearly apparent his voice.

It went like this:

"Jason, how do you feel about playing in the postseason?" someone asked.

"I don't know," Bay said. "I haven't played a game yet."

"Jason," someone else asked, "how do you think you'll handle playing in the postseason?"

"I don't know," Bay said. "It's all speculation at this point. I don't have anything for you."

Bay paused, thinking.

"It's been otherworldly," he said.

Well, he could still be a Pirate and not have to face the questions.

"Oh, I know the alternative," Bay said, laughing.

Bay played on six Pirates teams that finished a collective 139 games under .500 and never sniffed meaningful October baseball. Or meaningful October baseball questions.

The Pirates traded Bay to Boston July 31 as part of the deal that sent Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ramirez had worn out his welcome with the Red Sox.

"The marriage just soured at the end," Red Sox first baseman Sean Casey said.

But the team didn't just unceremoniously dump Ramirez.

"To get a player of Jason Bay's caliber back?" Casey said. "Wow!"

Casey, who played for the Pirates for half of the 2006 season, immediately began talking up Bay to his Red Sox teammates.

"I told the players, 'The way he plays and the way he goes about his business are second to none,' " Casey said. "I was so glad we got him. He's a great teammate -- one of my all-time favorite teammates -- and a great player. And he's such a good dude."

Casey made Bay feel right at home after the trade.

"The first couple days are kind of weird," Casey said. "When I got traded to Detroit [in 2006], it helped to have Todd Jones and Dmitri Young -- guys I'd played with in Cincinnati -- there."

"He made it easier," Bay said. "Going from Pittsburgh to Boston is not an easy transition. In a 24-hour span, everything changed. It took a little getting used to, but it helped to have Sean there."

Bay made quite the positive impression on his new teammates. Immediately.

In his first game Aug. 1 at Fenway Park against Oakland, Bay walked twice and scored twice, including the winning run in a 2-1, 12-inning victory after he tripled with two outs.

"My first game against Oakland felt like a playoff game to me," Bay said. "And we had big series against the Yankees and Tampa Bay. The novelty kind of wore off."

Bay usually batted sixth in the potent Boston lineup and wasn't required to be Jason being Manny.

"He could just fit right in," Casey said. "In Pittsburgh, it was like if he didn't go, we didn't go. Here, if he's scuffling, we still go. We have a lot of big bats."

None was bigger than Bay's in August. That month, he batted .315 with 4 home runs, 29 RBIs and 22 runs scored.

Fairly productive, it would seem.

"What? Are you nuts?" Casey said with typical flair. "He got big hits! Big home runs! He scored runs! He played great defense! I think he was more than [the Red Sox] thought he'd be."

Bay slowed some in September, perhaps because he missed a couple games to race back to Boston from St. Petersburg to witness the birth of his second daughter, Evelyn Jane, Sept. 19.

"Made it by 47 minutes," Bay said proudly.

Still, he finished his two-month stint with the Red Sox with a .293 batting average in 49 games and 9 home runs, 37 RBIs and 39 runs scored in 184 at-bats.

The Red Sox before Bay's arrival were 61-48. Afterward, they were 34-19 en route to becoming the American League wild-card entry.

Boston played the Yankees in the final regular-season weekend, meaning Bay was across the diamond from Xavier Nady, another former Pirates outfielder traded away six days before Bay.

The Yankees missed the playoffs.

"We chatted," Bay said. "I don't think he was like, 'Dang! I wish I was with Boston.' But I think he was disappointed. Having both of us make the postseason, that would have been the cherry on top.