White Sox look ahead to World Series

CHICAGO - Standing by his locker with two souvenir champagne bottles on a shelf behind him, A.J. Pierzynski shrugged Wednesday and said the chaos he created in the AL Championship Series is over. Now it's time for the World Series.

"They say you get what you can handle, and I can handle it just fine," Pierzynski said as the White Sox resumed workouts after a two-day break and started to prepare for Saturday's Series opener.

The White Sox claimed their first pennant since 1959 Sunday by beating the Angels in a five-game ALCS. The first two World Series games are in Chicago.

Pierzynski was in the middle of three pivotal plays, the most crucial at the end of Game 2 when he ran to first on a third strike that the plate umpire ruled hit the dirt, was ruled safe and set up the winning ninth-inning run, a victory that evened the series.

"The farther you get in the playoffs, every little move is scrutinized. It's fine if it is on me, it means it's not on anyone else," Pierzynski said. "What happened in the last series is over. It all worked out for us. And the best part is that I didn't do anything wrong. I'm becoming a villain and I didn't do anything wrong. I just did my job."

Pierzynski also created a ruckus by hitting the bat of the Angels' Steve Finley with his mitt in a play that could have been catcher's interference. And he was involved in yet another disputed call when he ran to first base and was tagged with pitcher Kelvim Escobar's glove and not the ball in Game 5. He again reached after umpires reversed their initial decision, starting Chicago's go-ahead rally.

"You read stuff and see stuff where people are calling me (names) and that I was trying to cheat and this and that," Pierzynski said. "I don't know what I did to deserve that."

WHO WILL START? Manager Ozzie Guillen expects to announce his Game 1 starter today, probably Jose Contreras or Mark Buehrle.

Contreras, who pitched Chicago's LCS-record fourth straight complete game in Sunday's clincher, would be going on five days' rest. He started both playoff series openers and is 2-1 in the 2005 postseason. Buehrle, who won Game 2 against the Angels, would have 10 days off if he goes Sunday.

"Either way we set the rotation, it's a lot of guys who are going to have nine days off, 10 days off," Guillen said.

If the starters are well rested, the bullpen has been on holiday, throwing just seven pitches in the ALCS, all by Neal Cotts. Some relievers will throw simulated games this week to get ready.

HOT TICKETS: Several thousand available tickets sold out in 18 minutes this week and large newspaper headlines blared Chicago's return to the World Series for the first time in 46 years.

"I'm still waiting to wake up, it hasn't sunk in yet," said Scott Podsednik, who spent most of his first nine seasons in the minors.

KONERKO IN ARIZONA: Paul Konerko, the MVP of the ALCS, missed the workout after returning to Arizona to be with his wife, who is expecting their first child.

BREWERS: Almost 14 years after Milwaukee traded infielder Dale Sveum, he is returning as its third-base coach. Sveum replaces Rich Donnelly, who was let go at the end of the season. Sveum was most recently the third-base coach for the Boston Red Sox for two years. The Brewers traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1991 for pitcher Bruce Ruffin.

DODGERS: The Los Angeles Daily News reported that the team, seeking to hire a manager, requested permission to talk to Texas Rangers pitching coach Orel Hershiser, a former Dodgers pitcher and World Series hero. ... Greg Miller, who was considered the organization's top left-handed pitching prospect before he missed all of last season and a good chunk of this one after shoulder surgery, will miss the rest of the Arizona Fall League season because of shoulder discomfort.

ORIOLES: Pitching coach Leo Mazzone reportedly reached agreement on a three-year contract, hours after the Atlanta Braves coach ended discussions with the New York Yankees. Mazzone has been in the Atlanta organization since 1979 and was pitching coach of the Braves since 1990. He will replace Ray Miller, who served as pitching coach of the Orioles since June 26, 2004. Mazzone and Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo are longtime friends.

RANGERS: Thad Levine was hired from the Colorado Rockies as assistant general manager. He was senior director of baseball operations last year. Levine, 33, will work under Jon Daniels, who at 28 is the youngest GM in baseball history.

TWINS: The team sued the operator of its stadium in a bid to secure a year-to-year lease instead of a long-term agreement to use the 23-year-old Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis. The team says a 1998 lease with the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission that the authority used to keep the Twins from being folded by major-league officials before the 2002 season ran out in 2003. Roger Magnuson, the team's attorney, said that the suit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, isn't a first step to moving the Twins out of the state they've played in since 1961.

[Last modified October 20, 2005, 01:20:19]