Ozzie on not walking Hunter in the 8th:
"I'm never going to walk the go-ahead run, I don't care if it's Babe Ruth at the plate. I don't care if it's Pete Rose, Barry Bonds. They can call me whatever they want. Behind this kid, it's not Ozzie Guillen hitting. It's (Michael) Cuddyer. We have to respect that. He's got a lot of speed, Cuddyer can hit the ball out of the ballpark, (or on) the ball in the gap, Hunter will score. Hey, he just got a base hit. Good for him, but I'm not going to walk the guy to put myself in situation where you can lose the game. The only thing he can do is tie it, and he did."
Any thought on walking Morneau to face Jeff Cirillo in the 10th?
"Not really because all of a sudden I have to put this kid (Masset) in a spot with the bases loaded. We talked about, we were worried about him, but all of a sudden if you walk him, you have to make sure he throws a strike. He's a kid. He just left one ball up. It's not his fault. It's the guys that pitch before him. You have to be realistic. I put this kid in a spot where he shouldn't be and I'm not going to blame the guy. The bullpen didn't hold the guys up late in the game."
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Toby Hall threw at full velocity to second on Monday and tested his right labrum yesterday in a four-inning simulated game:
"I don't have the same arm I did [before the tear], but it's only going to get stronger. For seven weeks into it, for me to have 80 percent of my arm, I feel pretty good about it. I'm ready to get out of here."
Hall and Thome are both scheduled to go for rehab assignements at AAA-Charlotte sometime this weekend. Thome is expected to be back for the series against the Yankees that begins Tuesday. He won't play 1st base and will be relegated to pinch-hitting duties for the series against the Cubs that comes afterwards.
In other news, Juan Uribe is expected to return to the lineup tonight, while Rob Mackowiak, who has a homer and 3 RBIs against Ortiz, could be the DH.