Garland on whether he considers himself an ace:
"What’s an ace? Any given day, any given guy can go out there and win a game. Any given day a guy with the best stuff can go out there and lose. What do you really consider an ace? Do you have to win so many games then someone says you’re an ace? Yeah, I won a lot of games but if you look at some of my other numbers, you might not think that. It’s a team sport. That’s what it comes down to. You can have someone who strikes out every single baseball player and still not get a win because you don’t score. You really can’t say someone’s an ace in my eyes. People do it, they’re going to continue to do it as long as the game is around, they’re going to label you, they’re going to number you, they’re going to tell you what you are. But if you don’t go out and do your job, you’re not going to be around."
Ozzie's take:
"Garland? Of course. I’m the type of guy, I don’t believe in aces. I think my ace is the guy who’s on the mound at that particular time because all of a sudden when you name an ace, that means because he makes more money or wins more games? That’s tough. But you can only live with that ace for one game. I think can he be No. 1 for another team? Of course. Can he be number one for us? Of course. Our organization, the way we look at stuff, I don’t mind Garland being the Opening Day pitcher at all, it’s just the way we look at stuff the team we faced, I think Contreras, I don’t say he’s better than him, I just feel more comfortable the way we set the rotation. But can he be the No. 1 on any team in baseball? It’s no doubt in my mind."
Erstad, LF; Iguchi, 2B; Thome, DH; Konerko, 1B; Dye, RF; AJ, C; BA, CF; Uribe, SS. Buehrle to start, Garland to follow.