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AL DIVISION SERIES: WHITE SOX v RAYS

October 2, 2008

Joe Maddon

ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA: Game One

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Joe Maddon.

Q. What volume level did you have "Start Me Up" this morning?
JOE MADDON: As loud as I could handle. Zim was in the other room, so I have to be respectful of Zim. Had it been Guy Lombardo or Tony Bennett, I could have turned it up a little louder. But The Stones I respected Zim in the other room.

Q. Joe, what were you thinking on the drive over today?
JOE MADDON: Geez! Wow. On the ride in primarily just going over our scouting. We had some long meetings yesterday, and I'm just trying to keep -- not that I'm trying to get really smart about the whole thing, but I'm just trying to keep together some thoughts. Batting order, thinking about Carl hitting in the 5 hole, what that's going to look like. Bullpen-wise, the role of David Price, things like that.
Just trying to really play the game before it happens. I normally start on the ride in. Then once we got here, a lot of things going on today that are a little abnormal. But prior to coming in here right now I was able to go over some of my stuff again. I really like to try to play the game before it ever happens, so that began on my car ride.

Q. How much are you just looking forward to getting the first pitch out of the way? As you said, a lot of abnormal things going on during the day and just getting ready to play baseball and finally playing some ball?
JOE MADDON: Yeah, that'll be fun. Although being that this is our first trip to the dance, I want to make sure that everybody enjoys the moment, too. This is all fresh and fun for all of us. Being here at the Pit Tropicana Field, what's gone on in the past, I want to make sure everybody takes the time to understand the magnitude of what we've done to get to this particular point.
Of course I want to get the first pitch in. No question. Everybody does. It's no different than any other sporting event. But just walked out on the field prior to and saw all the folks out there, and all the anticipation, it's tremendous.
So I'm looking forward to the first pitch, but I want to make sure everybody understands and enjoys what's going on now.

Q. Two teams lost, two home teams lost last night. But what is your biggest concern heading into the first? We're in uncharted waters, you've been there and done the Angels in 2002. So you would know a little bit about what it takes to win in postseason. What is your biggest concern heading into the postseason?
JOE MADDON: The biggest concern or the thing you want to see happen is that your starting pitcher gets out well. Again, pitching and defense, for me, for us I've been going over their stuff a lot, like we all have. You look at and I keep talking about continuing along the same path and not trying to do anything differently.
So for me it's about pitching and defense, again, and just wanting to try to keep it very similar to what we did during the season.
You want to see Shields get out good. You want to see him get deeper into the game and be able to match up our bullpen like we have all year.
Offensively, there's no reason to expect we're going to go out and score 10 runs. That's not what we've been all about. I just want to see good at-bats. You look at Vazquez, you really want to get his pitch count up. Hopefully by the fifth inning that wouldn't matter. Just playing our same game.
I know it's a five-game series. I know the season's much shorter right now, but I just want to see us go out there and do the things we've been doing all year. Again, just my experience is if you can play the same game you've been playing all season, you have a pretty good chance of being successful.

Q. I want to ask about a couple of unsung guys. Could you describe the roles that were played during the season, and what you anticipate their roles to be, Tim Bogar and Fernando Perez. How do you see them playing any role this week?
JOE MADDON: Again, several things have already happened today that I just said, "Bogey, come here, please." And he's been able to take care of things. He's been invaluable in regard to bringing together the scouting, what he does during the course of the game, watching the opposition, bringing different thoughts to us postgame.
Again, there's just so many things that occur during the course of the day people don't even understand or realize what happens in our clubhouse.
Bogey's -- the best way -- and I've asked him to do it all year is to stay ahead of us. And he does that really well. He stays ahead of us. He just brings the day up -- wraps the day up into a nice little package with a bow on it. He's great at that.
So he's been invaluable all year in terms of organizing us and keeping us heading in the right direction. Who was the other?

Q. Fernando Perez.
JOE MADDON: Fernando, yeah, this guy's been truly a surprise in a sense. We all knew what he was about, the speed guy, switch hitter, very good outfielder, et cetera. But the thing that Fernando has impressed me with the most is his calmness. He really, when he comes out every day he's able to stay in the moment.
There's been moments during a game this year already, him being a rookie, in September some meaningful moments. I'm able to call him over and just have a conversation with him. We go back and forth regarding what I like him to try to do and whatever. And he's solid. He's right there with you, and he's able to take the information and process it and do it.
So that's the part, I know he's bright. We've talked about our S.A.T. average went up dramatically the moment he walked into our clubhouse. But to see him do it in a baseball sense in the moment is really nice. So he gives us that. He is able to play all three outfield positions well. He gives us the speed.
Furthermore, offensively, you've seen him do some pretty good things at the plate also on both sides. So he's somebody who I honestly was not counting on coming into this month as being this impactful, but where we're at right now, I can see him playing a pretty big role to move this thing along.

Q. How do you keep Scott Kazmir from thinking too much when he's out there, if, in fact, that's been part of his problem?
JOE MADDON: That's part of all of our problems. We all tend to think too much. You really want to try to promote the idea of just reacting in the moment. You practice diligently for how many ever days prior to a particular moment, then we all have a tendency to attempt -- we don't want to overthink it, but we just do.
For him, you want to continually tell him to go out there and pitch. See the glove, throw to the glove, and just attack the zone and just let your natural abilities take over.
I think for all of us, when you get away from that moment, you just have to continue to really remind yourself to the point where eventually it just kicks in and all of a sudden you get into that unconsciously competent moment, which we're all seeking.
So he's not far off that it's all about feel. And again, I really try to refrain from talking to the guys about that too often or too much because I think it is something that can get in the way. You're attempting to help, and all you're doing is hurting them. So you have to be careful with what you're saying and how you're saying it, and how often you say it, and when you say it.
So with Kazmir, he's extremely talented. He's one of the best young pitchers in both leagues. We've just got to let him keep going out there, and at some point he's going to arrive at that moment where it's just going to happen. He's just going to feel it. I know it's in the near future. So I really have a lot of confidence in the start tomorrow.

Q. Talk a little about I like your phrase "soak in the atmosphere." It's a little unconventional because usually teams at this point you hear managers or coaches saying avoid the distractions; focus on the job you need to be doing. Are you doing it on purpose, telling this team to soak up the atmosphere, go outside, look around, take in the scenery a little bit as a way to relax them so they don't come in tight?
JOE MADDON: Why deny it? It's all there. It's all there for us to see. And believe me, we're all amped up a little bit today. And they're going to do that naturally.
The point is, and I really believe this, the attempt is to make every day the same. That is the attempt. When you're able to control yourself in that way, then you're able to go out and perform at your best, always.
So it's theory, but I think it's right. And some guys are going to be able to do it more freely or easily than others. But the attempt always has to be there to have them react to the day that way.
As we move this along -- and again, this is just the beginning. This is our first foray into this October thing, which is kind of fun. And I don't want it to be our last, by any means. This is just a beginning for us. So as a manager, I'm cutting my teeth in this arena, and so are most of our players, and that's a good thing. But while you're getting ready to play your game as you normally would, I want you to enjoy it.
That's one thing we did in the All-Star Game a couple years ago in Chicago. We're walking in after the team photograph, and I remember walking in and just telling myself, listen, soak all this up. It may never happen again. And I did, and I was able to take that, relaying the moment walking in from the photograph, team photograph in centerfield, walking in, looking up at the ballpark and saying, hey, this is pretty cool. I want our guys to do that also. There's nothing wrong with that. I think it's the right thing to do.

Q. To get back to Kazmir for a second. Given some of his struggles with consistency this year, how close of an eye do you keep on him tomorrow or how short of a leash do you have with him?
JOE MADDON: Well, that's always a moment-by-moment situation. I'm not going in there thinking that we're going to have to do anything dramatic. I'm looking for him to pitch into the 6th or 7th inning tomorrow.
He's like everybody else. Again, the guy's exceptionally talented. It's about his fastball command. I've seen him do it in the past, which tells me he's going to do it again. So you just have to battle through the difficult moment sometimes, and the guys that can grind it out -- we hear that phrase a lot in our game -- but when you play this many games this many days in a row, you have to be able to have that mindset. And I believe Kaz is of that ilk, so you just have to stay with him.
The moment's going to arise where he starts to feel more comfortable and feel it. And at that point you're going to see him really step up.

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