AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX v WHITE SOX

October 6, 2005

Ozzie Guillen

OZZIE GUILLEN: Tim has had a lot of success in the past in the post-season series. I think every time you go to face the ball somebody throw the ball different, he make a lot of difficulty to face it. We swing the bat pretty good against him in the past. Hopefully we do it tomorrow. I think this kid, him being in tough situation before, he know how to handle it. He's always pitched real good here. Hopefully we take the best advantage that we can.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, you know, we survive and we play good all year long because our pitching staff. You want to beat those guys. The only way you going to do it is shut the offense. I think this team has got the best offense in the league right now. You know, you look at the guys, you a manager, you say, "We not going to pitch around this guy to face the next." You don't have that space in this ballclub. Even Graffanino is batting nine. He's one of the dangerous hitter we have all year long. All of a sudden you have Mueller, you have Varitek, a lot of people. One thing about Boston, they always talk about Big Papi and Ramirez, but a lot of people forget about Varitek, Nixon, Mueller, Damon. These are really pretty good nine people to have in the lineup. It is not easy to go and face out there. We pitched pretty good against them. But that was our strength. I think that's our toughness. Our pitching staff has been great all year long and they just continue to do it.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, I don't know. I think I come here, is going to be different ballgame. I think for us is easier because we did it before. We play good on the road trip. Last time we clinch, was on the road. Hopefully we get this thing done as soon as we can. I would like to go back to Chicago, but you never know what's going to happen here. They know how to play in this ballpark. The fans here is pretty into the game. Like I say, every day, they know how to play the game. They're going to show up tomorrow and play the best game they can. We'll see what happens.

OZZIE GUILLEN: There's one thing I told my players, be careful, there's a lot of fans here, they love baseball. I was in the street today with my kids. I never thought I was so popular walking in the streets. I've been in this game for 20 years. Now they know me because I play against Boston. But you go out, I just told my players, you have dinner, stay the closest you can from the hotel. Couple issues happen in the past. I don't want anything bad and the fans get into my players, something happen. You know, my players, I'm not a baby-sitter. They do what they have to do. I try to stay away from them. But they know we come here to play baseball, not to have like a tourist. I think we have to be prepared for the game tomorrow and forget about party and whatever else.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, a few thing. I think our ballpark in the summer is not an easy ballpark to pitch. Every time we go on the road, (indiscernible) was pitching. Then we play Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland. Those ballpark, they pretty fair ballparks. Again, that was in our advantage. The reason we play better on the road is because we pitch better on the road. I think just one thing happen a year back, but the different thing is U.S. Cellular Field is pretty small in the summer, and you know our type of game.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, when you pitching in U.S. Cellular Field, like I say, in the summer, I think Freddy pitching right now would be fine because the ball is not carrying the way it carry in the summer. Believe it or not, that's going to be on your mind all the time while you're pitching. The wind is blowing, you know, it's hot in the air. You try to make the right pitch, it's not there. It's just one of those thing happen to the players. I think right now, that's why I picked Freddy to pitch in the road trip. Hopefully he continue to do what he doing all year long.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, Carl is always play good here, I don't know the reason, against Boston. He got his own reason. The misunderstanding, you know, I always make the best lineup I could to make my team win. In that particular time, Carl was not the hitter I thought should be batting third because he was really struggle. In that particular week, we need some offense. We not have any. Thank God I got the guts to do it. A lot of players make a lot of mistakes. You know, I play before. I play with great players. I play with real bad ones. I play with professional ones. I play with gamers. I play with guys you don't want to even see. I play with it all. The problem is, when the players -- the manager got to tell the players why you not playing, why you move down, why I move you up. That's respect. I'm not talking about Carl. I'm talking about baseball in general. I'm the manager, I make the best lineup. Who you to tell me why you play seven, six or eight? You tell the player, you batting third, I move you down to six, you look at yourself in the mirror and asking you why. You feeling good. You not going to move. That happen to a lot of managers. I made the best lineup. They don't like it. Go your way, get another job.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Not really. We don't have to. We don't have to. He's one of my players. He don't like him batting six, he got two choice: not playing or he batting six.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, yes, because I think this kid is a player, he's a gamer, he's a big-time player, he's a veteran, he know what he doing, he want to help his team to win, he want to help me to win. Like I say after the first game in the playoff, it's all about winning now. It's not about stats. I think Carl, he had a key hit for us in the past. He got the game-winning RBIs when we clinch in Detroit. He swing the ball better.

OZZIE GUILLEN: No. I think we have to think that way because when you enemy down, you got to keep him down because you wake up -- you make some noise and you wake up the monster, you going to be in trouble. Because I see those guys. I got a lot of friends in Boston Red Sox uniform. I know how they play. I know how loose they are. Seem like they don't even care. When you go deep in the heart, they want to beat you the best they can. You have to get this thing over as soon as you can. If not, you're going to be in trouble.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, I have to be there first. We do it tomorrow. Garland been pitching almost like seven days. We got to sit and think about it. I'm pretty much like stay with the same rotation. Give Garland the shot to start the first game. But, like I say, I made my rotation about who is the best pitcher I have. I got to say in my rotation, who is the guy who throw the ball best? I think the reason why Contreras was the first guy on my team, I think he was the best guy that was throwing at that particular time. But to me it's not fair to start with Garland with a 10, 15-day rest, and we got to figure out how we going to do it. But I going to go with the best guy. If Contreras start, we might start with Contreras, but I got to be in that position first to make the decision.

OZZIE GUILLEN: Well, we going to play the same way we play. I hopefully (indiscernible) get on base and take advantage of the knuckleball. Knuckleball, not easy to handle a knuckle ball pitch. We going to do the same way. We going to try to run the most we can and hopefully those people get on base and those people be on base to make thing happen. It's one thing about Wakefield, that kid show the way he's capable of throw the ball, is going to be tough. Hopefully we get him wrong day. But we should be good against him hopefully, like I say, we face him on the wrong day.