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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ANGELS v WHITE SOX

October 13, 2005

Jon Garland

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: Workout Day

Q. When people say now that you're a mature pitcher, what does that mean to you, if anything?

JON GARLAND: More experience, more time in the league, just more innings, just the chance to be out there on the mound and playing in the Major Leagues with the experience.

Q. Can you talk about drawing from past experience at any level when you've had a lot of rest? What does it do to you, give you more velocity? What happens?

JON GARLAND: Hopefully it doesn't make me too strong. With me it seems sometimes my sinker is better when I'm tired. Hopefully a long layoff and not being on the mound makes me too strong and takes away from the movement of the ball.

Q. With your guys' great road record and the Angels being such a tough place to play, it seems like an immovable force against an unstoppable object, how do you approach that?

JON GARLAND: We do have a great road record. I don't think it was that great out here on the West Coast. It's been kind of bad for us. We just need to come in and keep playing good ball. We can't worry about where we're at or who we're playing. We have to worry about ourselves and taking care of business on the field.

Q. The fact that you're from this area, is that sort of the frosting on the cake as far as you pitching in a playoff game tomorrow?

JON GARLAND: I just want to pitch, I don't care where it's at. I want to get on the mound and do the best I can for my team.

Q. Given the circumstances of the way the game ended last night, what are your thoughts on instant replay for the game?

JON GARLAND: I don't like instant replay in football, you know. I don't think it belongs in baseball, but that's my opinion. It doesn't mean too much to a lot of people.

Q. What went through your mind a couple years ago when you almost got dealt out here, and did it mean anything to you? Do you ever think of how it would be different if you got to pitch out here?

JON GARLAND: No, it's one of those things that happens. It happens all the time in baseball these days, trades, moving around. It happened to me in '98 as a young kid getting traded to the White Sox. It's business. You've got to understand that. If it would have happened, it would have happened, and I would have made the best of it.

Q. Considering the trouble you guys have had playing out West the last couple years, does it help at all to be out here a day early?

JON GARLAND: Possibly. Possibly. With the time change, but it's one of those things you can't let creep into your mind. If you let something affect you and you start worrying about it, it's going to roll over onto the field. Like I said, we just need to take care of business on the field regardless of where we're at and how we've done on the West Coast.

Q. Can you describe how you felt during this long layoff? Has it been anxious? What's going through your mind?

JON GARLAND: I've just been real anxious to get on the mound. I want to get out there on the field and help my team to the best of my ability and kind of sitting back watching and cheerleading a little bit. It's been great because I love watching these guys play, but at the same time I'm anxious to get out there and try and do my part.

Q. There's talk about whether you're over-rested, and I was wondering whether, considering your second half of the season, whether maybe you needed extra rest or if you were struggling from being tired at all.

JON GARLAND: I didn't get tired at all. It's just one of those things in baseball. It takes a lot to get a win. Early in the season things were going my way. Like Coop (Don Cooper) said the other day, it wasn't going my way. It flip-flopped in the second half. I pitched a lot of games I had a chance to win and it didn't work out. That's the way it goes. The ball rolls a different way some days.

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