AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS v ATHLETICS

October 5, 2002

Mark Mulder

MARK MULDER: Well, it's going to be a challenge. You know, they played a good game today, they took advantage of our mistakes and, you know, this is my second chance for this, kind of to redeem myself. Didn't give as good of a performance as I would have liked to have last year, and I will get another chance this year, so it's going to be fun.

MARK MULDER: I don't have a problem with it. You know, I don't know how Huddy felt today, but by the time tomorrow rolls around and, you know, with the adrenaline that gets going for the playoffs, it's not going to make a bit of difference whether that's two days or three days or four days. If you can't get up and feel good for a game like this, then there is something wrong.

MARK MULDER: Pardon?

MARK MULDER: No, not at all. We just made some mistakes. It wasn't like, you know, we played a great game and they whipped us, you know, we made a bunch of mistakes. They played well, they scored a whole bunch of runs that inning, and that was really about it. So, you know, we forget about it, move on, go to tomorrow's game.

MARK MULDER: I haven't done it in the big leagues. I mean, in college, I mean, I would pitch Friday and close on Sunday. But that's college, you know, and I -- all I did was eliminate one side. I mean, I still threw two days after I pitched. I pitched three days ago, yesterday I threw a side, took today off and I will pitch tomorrow, so it's really not that big of a deal.

MARK MULDER: I don't know if it makes a difference. It can go either way, because when you -- during a regular season, I mean, I might face Minnesota two starts in a row, one in Minnesota, one at home, so I don't think it matters, they are going to make adjustments to me and I am going to make adjustments by watching some tapes and learning what I learned pitching against them the other day, so I really don't think it makes that much of a difference.

MARK MULDER: I hope so, I hope they will show up tomorrow. We had day games on weekdays when school is in last week, so this is going to be a Sunday afternoon, I believe it's at 1 o'clock, so hopefully, they will all come out and they will be there strong.

MARK MULDER: Well, just being a little bit more prepared than I was last year. Well, last year was different, though. We got in at 3:00 in the morning and I pitched that night, so it seemed like everything was such a rush. This year is different. We are going to get back, the time change, 7:00, 8:00, whatever it is, and then it's a day game, I can do normal stuff, get to bed, what I need to, so that makes things a little bit easier, also.