From the Locker Room: TA Knows What Time it Is
As much as the heightened status of today's do-or-die Game 3 pulls leadoff hitter and team heartbeat Tim Anderson, the more he resists and just goes about his business.
"Everybody know what it is: Do or die," Anderson said pregame. "We know that. We need a win today. Gotta try to go out and get a win ... This is the game you wanna be in. Who wants it the baddest. Hopefully we ready, and keep it moving."
When confronted with the idea that a good starter (Chris Bassitt) made the Chicago bats fall cold yesterday, how does Anderson look at the challenge of Mike Fiers, who has historically pitched extremely well against the White Sox?
"Just treating it like a regular game, regular season," TA said. "Going out and doing my job the way I know how ...Today’s a new day. That was in the past. We start something fresh today. We gotta go out there a stick to our plan."
Still, Anderson knows that a win here and an advance to the final four of the AL playoffs could be franchise-altering.
"Definitely can. Winning would be huge," Anderson said. "Something we’re looking to do. Keep changing the culture to get on the winnings side of things. We gotta get this win today.
"We have to get it."
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Tim Anderson footage courtesy of the Chicago White Sox.
Actor (final credit: murdered by Albert Einstein in "Carnage Hall"), musician (Ethnocentric Republicans), and Nerf hoops champion, Wiffleball aficionado and onetime bilingual kindergarten teacher, Brett Ballantini also writes about baseball, basketball and sometimes hockey, for the NBA, MLB, NHL, and Slam, Hoop, Sporting News, the Athletic, SB Nation and others. He was CSN Chicago’s Blackhawks beat writer when their 49-year Stanley Cup drought ended in 2009-10, and took over the White Sox beat after that. He currently is the editor-in-chief of South Side Hit Pen and beat writer for Inside the Rays. He also wrote a book about Ozzie Guillén but is running out of space, so follow him on Twitter @BrettBallantini and he'll probably tell you even more about himself than you ever wanted to know.