Who's Next? Where do the Red Sox want to play on Tuesday night?

Mientkiewicz: "I don't care who we play, at all. I just hope that the games in that series go 38 innings apiece and the pitchers all get worn down."

Arroyo: "Obviously if it's the Yankees it would be sweeter. But if it's Minnesota, that's fine too."

Damon: "Why not? Isn't that the way it should be?" And: "If we have to do that dance again, we will."

Schilling: "No preference whatsoever."

Lowe: "I guess it's politically correct to say we want to play the Yankees."

Foulke: "It doesn't matter to us. We're moving to the second round.

Millar: "You don't get an extra ring by going through Yankee Stadium. Our goal is to win a ring. I don't care who we play."

Embree: "I'm sure this team would love a repeat of last year - just to go through there - but it really doesn't matter at this point."

Varitek: "Is there small incentive (in facing New York)? Yeah. But when it comes down to it, I don't think it matters."

John Henry: "I want to play a National League team."

From Gerry Callahan's Friday column that prompted the "Go Yanks!" Herald cover: "The road to the World Series must go through the Bronx. ... Even after they dispatch the Angels, the Red Sox will say they don't care who they face in the ALCS, and maybe they don't. ... Of course, the rest of Red Sox Nation doesn't have to be so coy when the Yankees and Twins square off tonight and tomorrow, so let's just say it. Go Yanks. Rarely in life does one get such an opportunity to right a wrong, to rewrite history, to get, shall we say, even. ... If the Yanks advance, the Sox get the chance to settle all their scores ... [T]his has to happen and it has to happen in New York, the scene of the crime ..."

Howard Bryant, Boston Herald: "Every now and then, when you need a good bellyaching laugh, just remember this thought: When he first came to Boston, David Ortiz was expected to be the backup to Jeremy Giambi. ... Ortiz took Washburn's only offering of the day, a hanging slider, and sent it into the Monster Seats and the Sox toward their destiny. They can now sit on the couch and watch Minnesota and the Yankees fight for the right to play a soaring Red Sox team that doesn't believe there is a team on this planet that can beat them four times."