As the questions increased Thursday, White Sox designated hitter Carl Everett found more ways not to comment about his turbulent time in Boston four years ago.
But in a 15-minute interview, Everett picked his spots to bob and weave and throw some oral counterpunches.
His only response to a Boston-related question came in the form of whether he enjoyed playing at Boston.
“It’s a hitter’s park,” said Everett, who played for the Red Sox in 2000-01. “There again, there’s no special feeling in this park, not even when I played here.”
When asked if he had any positive memories in Boston, Everett responded: “Yeah, but do they matter? No. I come to play baseball. I don’t come to play ballpark. You’re basically just repeating questions. There isn’t going to be anything about me and this ballpark.”
Everett, who had his share of run-ins with ex-managers Joe Kerrigan and Jimy Williams here, is expected to get booed by the Fenway Park fans when he is introduced in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. But Everett looks at it as a sign of respect.
“Haven’t you heard what Barry Bonds said?” Everett said. “They don’t boo you if you’re bad.
“They know you’re somebody. You pay your ticket to say, `Boo, boo, boo’ to me? You’re the idiot. Keep booing. It doesn’t matter.”
Everett went on to say he doesn’t watch sports because of criticism.
“There are times you see these guys watching football, and they said, `You should have caught it,'” Everett said. “`You go out there and run with shoulder pads.’ That’s what I say.
“I have no time to criticize someone else, and that’s what you tend to do when you watch other sports. That’s why I’m not a fan, because fans tend to criticize. And I’m not into criticism.”
Everett is 3-for-8 in the ALDS and started the Sox’s dramatic five-run rally Wednesday with a single. But he insisted he wasn’t in a slump as others suggested when he batted .204 in September and October.
“Over 10 days you might say a guy is 0-for-30, but you don’t see if that was a good at-bat or moving guys over,” Everett said. “That’s why I don’t believe in that word `slump.'”
