Sox feeling confident heading to Tampa

It may be in a dome and it may be against one of the best teams in baseball, but when the White Sox travel down to Tampa for the start of the NLDS, manager Ozzie Guillen wants to make one thing clear: Tropicana Field isn't the Metrodome.

"We've actually played pretty good down there," said Guillen, whose biggest postgame explosion this summer came in the manager's office in Tampa. "We should have swept them, that's why I was mad."

The Sox, who were 3-4 at Tropicana compared to 1-8 in the Metrodome, will send Javier Vazquez (12-16) to the mound in Thursday's opener against a pumped-up James Shields (14-8) of the Rays.

"It's an amazing feeling for me," Shields told mlb.com.

The same goes for Guillen, who played his last season in the majors (2000) as a member of the Rays.

"I feel proud to be the first manager to start against that team in the playoffs," Guillen said. "To me, that team made history this year and baseball should feel proud about that team.

"I respect that organization, but we're ready for them - right now. I think when the playoffs start, everything starts over.

"You have 11 games to win."