AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v WHITE SOX

October 3, 2005

Ozzie Guillen

OZZIE GUILLEN: We're going to start with Jose, Mark, and Garcia because I like Freddy on the road. Jose is the best we have. It would be right for us to give Jose the first shot because it's his turn. I'll use my regular lineup just like every day. Backups will be Ozuna, Perez, Blum, Widger and Willie Harris. I like Ozuna on offense, not defense. Blum will give me the opportunity because he can play all four (infield) positions.

OZZIE GUILLEN: We're going to stay with Duque. We cannot use McCarthy to start until the fifth game. That's why I'll put El Duque in the bullpen. He did a pretty good job in Cleveland pitching one inning, then two innings. McCarthy did a tremendous job for us, but he won't be able to perform in the next few days.

OZZIE GUILLEN: It's hard to believe that we're going to compete against the world champions. With 99 wins we should get a little respect, a little love, but honestly I kind of like it that way. I was with a team a couple years ago that wasn't supposed to win one game, then all of a sudden won the world championship.

OZZIE GUILLEN: I'm a winner. I like to show people how good we could be. As long as you believe in your players, just stick with them, we'll see what happens. We've been on the top since April 1st. We've proved that we're that good.

OZZIE GUILLEN: One of the reasons we brought El Duque here was because we were thinking about the situation. Having these two guys together makes Jose feel more comfortable. We have a couple of Spanish coaches, including myself. I knew Jose would feel better here than he was in New York. It's different around the clubhouse with the people around him. I've always believed that Jose has a great arm. At the beginning of this season, if you look around, you'd think that Jose would be my first start for the playoffs, you'd think I was crazy. No one doubts that Jose has the best arm of our starters. He's not the best pitcher, but he's the best arm. I think one of the reasons why we are where we are is because he's come up big for us every time we need a big win. He's there for us.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Those two guys are my favorite players. We pitched good against them this year. With Jose pitching, I don't want Ortiz to beat him. I will take the chance with Manny. Some people get caught saying "Don't get beat up by these guys," but they forget about Varitek, they forget about Damon. I think the key for us and anyone playing the Red Sox is keeping Damon and Renteria off the base paths.

OZZIE GUILLEN: I thought Hermanson did a tremendous job, but right now I'd put Jenks in tough situations, and he's come through. Right now at this point I think Jenks is going to take the shot. I know Jenks has prepared himself for this.

OZZIE GUILLEN: The biggest thing to me was that the regular season was a battle. Once you get to the playoffs, you have to win just eleven games. Regular season we won 99 games and we went to the wire. Obviously there's going to be more media attention, but I think the way we played all year long was like a playoff game. I talked to the guys. I told them it's one thing that happens just once in your life, just to be in the playoffs. Some people play a lot of years in this game and never have this opportunity. Just believe in yourselves and continue to play the way you've been playing and take your chances because I'm going to take mine.

OZZIE GUILLEN: I'd rather have five guys hit 20 home runs than have two that hit 50 because that would give you more run production. We never thought we would hit 200 home runs this year. You have to execute especially in games. You're going to win a lot of games by one run. If you don't execute with your clutch hitting, then I don't think you're going to win the game.