Youkilis: 'I'm Definitely Over It'
BOSTON (CBS) -- After being traded away from the only professional baseball organization he's ever known, how long would it take Kevin Youkilis to move on emotionally and mentally?
As it turns out, not long at all.
The new White Sox third baseman spoke Thursday in the visitors' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium. It was scattered with significantly fewer reporters than were there for his visits in a Red Sox uniform, and he told them that he's already moved on.
"Oh yeah, I'm definitely over it," he said, according to the Metro. "The past few days have been a lot easier. Once that first series is over, kind of getting on a plane for the first time and knowing where to sit and where people sit on the bus, it's like being a rookie again. I'm over that now and I am just excited."
Though Youkilis went 0-for-4 in Thursday's win over the Yankees, he had gone 5-for-12 with a pair of RBIs in his first three games with Chicago.
"I'm in a better place mentally," he said. "I'm just enjoying myself. So that's the best part about it. My wife called me and said you look so happy out there and it's so great to see you out there and having fun."
As far as stirring up any old problems with the Red Sox or manager Bobby Valentine, Youkilis declined the invitation.
"That'd be a question you'd have to ask the people in the other organization," he said.
However, Youkilis did say that he's "better off" without the rivalry between his old Sox and the Yankees.
"It's a better thing as a player when you don't have that rivalry with all that hoopla — a 4 o'clock game on Saturday, an 8 o'clock game Sunday," he said.
