We're going to miss him big time but we know we're going to get him back, too.

We're going to give him as much playing time as possible this week, so we can make up our mind. I'm sure when you get to this point in your career you consider all the possibilities, and I'm sure he's doing some evaluation of his own abilities. So, yeah, these are important days for him.

Some of it has to do with the fact that we have a strikeout pitching staff. I always liked my teams at the top of the league in defense and double plays. Any time you can get two outs on one pitch, it's a lot less pitches for your pitchers. A lot of times, it gets you out of the inning out of trouble.

No. He pitched so well the last time out. This time out, he's a different pitcher. Sometimes you have to figure it out yourself. He has the stuff. You could see from the last time out. It was just a bad day.

He's had that from time to time. That's the first time he's had it this year, but when a guy comes to you and says his back is really tight, you can't leave him in there. It's just unfortunate that it happened tonight at the end of this trip, a bad road trip.

I talked to him last night and this is the first time he's been in a playoff situation. I just told him to go enjoy it.

It is a little strange to be watching baseball that counts at this time of year. I know our guys are really excited.

Just because you can hit, doesn't mean you know how to play winning baseball, ... That's what I'm trying to instill here, and it's not easy to do in the short time I've been here.

Other than the second home run by Dunn, the rest were legitimate. He missed location all day. That's the first time I have seen four solo home runs in each of the first four innings.

We don't have a whole bunch of kids, ... Really, we have two kids as (position) players. Most of our kids are pitchers. We're going to play them. They're going to get ... I can't say the majority of playing time ... (but) they're going to play.

We sent him out to see if he can find more consistency. One time he's real good, the next time bad.

Yeah, I have a pretty good idea. I'm just not going to say right now. We still have time to see. It depends how the rest of the club shapes up and what we need offensively, defensively and speed-wise.

We didn't have our team, No. 1. A lot of times you get new guys and they have a hard time adjusting to Chicago initially.

Well there is always guys that don't get along. Whether that becomes public or not, that is another story. We don't have fights but guys don't get along sometimes. You're in this small building, a bus, you're on a plane, you are in some confined area with the same guys everyday for a long time with a lot of egos.

Every time I think about giving him an off-day, he hits two or three home runs. Maybe I'll start thinking about that off-day. You don't want to give him time off against the Cardinals.

Every time I think about giving him a day off, he hits two home runs. Maybe I'll start thinking about that off day for him.

Todd did a good job playing first base in Spring Training. He likes playing first base. He'll play first most of the time and second base some of the time.

We had a hard time holding up our end of the bargain.

To me, and he may not like it, but I point to him all the time as the way to be. It's not his personality to accept that, but I single him out, which I don't do that often. I say, 'Hey, this is how you want to go about your business. This is how you want to perform. This is how you want to work on fielding, hitting, bunting, everything.

I've seen some greats leave the game. You never want to see them leave and you'd rather see them leave on their terms and leave on top. It's not over with yet. You don't know if somebody is going to offer Sammy a job here soon or what is going to happen. But Sammy has been one of the great players of the game for a long time and a guy who meant a lot to Chicago and a lot to the game. ... I just hope he gets a job somewhere.

Sometimes when you're 40 years old, it taps you on the shoulder and it's time to get out.

Sometimes he has great command of the strike zone, and the next time ... It's a matter of being more consistent. He is throwing the ball good.

Right now, we're very satisfied with where he is. If something was to happen with his knee, this was prime time to have it happen.

A lot of it depends on the strength of your starting pitching. If your starting pitching is good, you won't need 12 too much. Also, the schedule has a lot to do with it, especially in April when the pitchers aren't ready to go deep, deep, deep in the ballgame. You don't even know at that time if you'll need five starters. You might only need four. You hate to lose that guy's endurance by not pitching. It'll work itself out by the time we get ready to leave.

It's not over with yet. You don't know if somebody is going to offer Sammy a job here soon or what is going to happen. But Sammy has been one of the great players of the game for a long time and a guy who meant a lot to Chicago and a lot to the game. . . . I just hope he gets a job somewhere.

It's the first time I've seen four solo homers in the first four innings.

That's the best he's looked so far this spring. It's the right time for him to get it together.

It's better now than later. He's been working out real hard on his lower half all winter, so fortunately this is the time of year when he shouldn't be set back too far.

I try to have businesslike camps all the time with mixing in some fun in there with a little laughter in the workplace at the same time.

This is judgment time for who's going to be playing next year too. You're not only playing for now. You're playing for 2006 as well.

This is judgement time for who is going to be here and who's going to be playing next year, too,

It's not about Kerry as much as it is about us. It's about where we are realistically and where he is now and to find out, when that time comes, the severity of whatever is in there. If it's nothing, we're pleased. If it's something, then we'll take care of it and give him ample time to rehab so he can start the season on time next year.

That's a good time to talk to people. They're usually loose.

If you know Carlos, when was the last time you saw Carlos take it easy? This is something out of our hands. The main thing we want to do is make sure he's in the best shape. After he leaves here, he's out of our domain and control except for reports.

I'll think about it when the time comes. My thing is if I can keep it simple, don't distract my team, and if the team wins, everything else takes care of itself.

He's the guy who's doing it the most correctly. That's why he has Gold Gloves. To me, and he may not like it, but I point to him all the time as the way to be. It's not his personality to accept that, but I single him out, which I don't do that often. I say, 'Hey, this is how you want to go about your business. This is how you want to perform. This is how you want to work on fielding, hitting, bunting, everything.

I don't really spend a lot of time thinking back, but it means a lot that my son is here to see this. He never saw me play and is starting to ask about my career.

He throws strikes, he's not afraid. He doesn't pitch away from the bat. He knows how to pitch. He has three good pitches. He's still trying to get a feel of his breaking ball some. He's been impressive. It's the first time I've seen him and I like what I see.

He threw a ton of pitches. He threw a lot of near strikes, and he wasn't sharp. We thought that was the time to get him out of there.

He's lost some valuable time and he's lost some valuable experience in there. We don't know if he's quite back to where he was before, even though he's throwing the ball very good.

If he's in long relief, that's just like starting. If he's in long relief, we have a pretty good idea as far as time to get loose and get ready. It's not like I have to hurry up and get him ready for one batter.

I can remind Carlos all I want. But when you get out there against Cuba or whoever and start banging it around ... I think he'll forget exactly what I told him. That's how your competitive juices flow. If you know Carlos, when was the last time you saw Carlos take it easy?

All day it was just a matter of us cutting down on the walks. It seemed like every time we walked someone, they scored.

A gutsy performance by Mark. We knew we were going to keep him between 90-100 pitches because the last time out he threw 130. We were really watching him this time, that why we took him out so early.

The easiest time to hit is when you first get there because nobody knows you. After that, you've got to make adjustments. Once you get around the league, 'You don't like this, you don't like that. You chase this ball.' That's when it becomes interesting once people have a book on you.

The field's a lot faster than ours. That ball got to him a lot quicker than he expected. We'll try to get him some more time at second base, especially with the split squad coming up here.

And he has to work on his base stealing. We were told that when he gets thrown out, he shuts it down. He'll be fine. He left with a good attitude and thanked us for the amount of playing time that he got.

We were trying everything to get him his victory. It was a great run by Greg. The guys wanted to win for him, and we left him in in the ninth to have that opportunity.

The only mistake 'Z' made was on Delgado. It was supposed to be a fastball away, and it came back over the plate. He made some great pitches and had a big triple for us. It's a great feeling to have that kind of offensive support from everybody.

He did a great job in that inning.