AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v ATHLETICS

September 30, 2002

Tim Hudson

TIM HUDSON: I was aware probably a few days ago. You know, I guess we looked at the rotation and obviously the way it was following, I would be right on turn to start game 1, with one extra day's rest. But, you know, we had the luxury of clinching the division a few days early, so I think we had -- probably had the option of maybe giving Zito a little bit of rest, or Mulder, to maybe split them up. But I don't know, I think either of us, any of the three, I think, can start in game 1, 2 or 3. I don't think -- it really doesn't make a difference.

TIM HUDSON: It's exciting. Obviously, game 1 of any series is a huge game. It's a five game series. You always want to try to get off on the right foot, you know, by winning that first game. (Inaudible) has a lot of confidence in me, which is very encouraging for me to go out there and try to win. It's going to be tough, we are going against Radke tomorrow. He has been tough on us all year, their whole team has been tough on us all year, but I am excited about getting the opportunity to go out there and starting game 1 and, hopefully, I can give our team a chance to win.

TIM HUDSON: I think it's pretty important. I don't think we really realized the first in 2000, 2001 exactly how important it was. I know we were really excited about just making the post-season, and I think the experience that the Yankees brought to the table, I think may have been the edge that got them over, that -- the reason they beat us the last couple years. But we do have some experience. Obviously, we haven't gotten past the first round, but hopefully, with the experience that we have gained over the last couple years in the post-season, hopefully that can, you know, maybe give us a little bit of an advantage, but it's going to be tough, you know, I know they are excited about being here for the first time in a while, and we are going to have our hands full, there is no question about that.

TIM HUDSON: Not really. I think baseball is baseball, and play-off baseball is as prime time as it gets, whether there is cameras around or people in the stadium, or what. And we are all still playing for the same thing. I don't think we are going to -- I think the crowd is going to be great tomorrow. Whether it's a day game or a night game, whatever, I think it's still going to be exciting. I think Reed will be ready to play, (Inaudible) is going to be ready to play, so regardless of when we play, it's going to be a lot of fun.

TIM HUDSON: Well, from my past experience, I think the big thing in play-off baseball is whoever usually pitches well and plays good defense and makes the fewest mistakes are usually the ones that win, and I know the last couple years that's been one big reason why we have come up short, we have made some miscues on defense and we didn't quite make the pitches that we needed to in big situations. You know, I think that's something that we probably learned from last year, and I think we have been playing better baseball this year. I think fundamentally we have been better, and I don't know, I think we just have to go out and keep doing what we have been doing. And Minnesota is a very fundamentally sound club, that's something they do well, that's something they have been doing well all year, so they are ready for this kind of test, I guess.

TIM HUDSON: Well, I mean, it was one of those things where I was just trying to do a little too much. It was the first time in my career where I actually had a struggle of four or five, six starts in a row. It's usually -- every year usually pitchers go through a struggle and it's usually for a few starts, and once my struggles got back two or three starts, I started wondering when I was going to come out of it and started trying to do maybe a little too much, and after awhile, after I was pretty much fed up with it, I was just going to go out there and relax and just pitch my game and trust my stuff, and that's when things started turning around.

TIM HUDSON: I think everybody understands that this stadium is definitely a better hitting stadium during the day than at night. It's probably one of the biggest -- one of the stadiums that has the biggest difference from day to night, but it won't change my game plan at all. When I am going good, it's usually when I am getting ground balls and when I am getting ground balls it means the ball is not going to carry. So I don't know, it's just -- it's very different during the day, there is no question about that.

TIM HUDSON: I don't know. Honestly, I have little experience with coming back on a short day's rest. Last year I came back a day early in the playoffs, came out of New York and I felt just as good coming out of the pen then as when I started, so with that experience, I feel like everything is -- you know, I think everything is going to be fine, coming back and using a three-man rotation this time around. As far as preparation, I think the only thing that you can do is just cut down your throwing in between starts. I normally throw two bullpens in between starts, I will just probably cut that down to one, and other than that, just try to cut back and most of the throwing and some of the workouts in between.