updated 6:04 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2006

TUCSON, Ariz. - A.J. Pierzynski crouched behind the plate for a round of spring training batting practice Wednesday and already was chirping.

“Swing the bat,” Pierzynski told teammate Pablo Ozuna. “It’s right down the middle.”

And when Joe Crede got plunked by a pitch from Freddy Garcia, there may have been more than early season wildness to blame.

“A ball got away from Freddy, but I think A.J. may have been behind it,” Crede said with a laugh.

Pierzynski can stir it up. Early season, middle of the season and — as he proved last year in the playoffs in helping the White Sox win the World Series — the postseason.

And after one championship year, Pierzynski’s life has changed and his reputation as an agitator has been enhanced.

He spent his offseason in Florida with his young daughter and wife, but found time to participate as a manager in a pay-for-view professional wrestling match. He recently passed out T-shirts in the White Sox clubhouse commemorating the event.

He also made GQ’s list of the 10 most-hated athletes, signed a three-year, $15 million deal with the White Sox and hung out with friend Johnny Damon.

“Yeah, I got recognized more at home. That’s for sure,” Pierzynski said. “People do, when you do some of the stuff that happened to me.”

Most of what made Pierzynski a savior to his teammates and a villain to others happened during the AL championship series against the Los Angeles Angels last fall, when he was involved in three controversial plays that all went Chicago’s way.

The series turned and everything seemed to roll in Chicago’s favor after Pierzynski reached first in the ninth inning of Game 2 after a strikeout when an umpire ruled that backup catcher Josh Paul didn’t catch a low strike three.

Pierzynski initially headed to toward the dugout but turned and ran to first, setting up Joe Crede’s winning double that evened the series at 1-1.

Replays and pictures of the play have been shown everywhere.

“I signed so many of those pictures. Somebody made a lot of money off that photo,” Pierzynski said. “I know that. It’s good. It helped us win. That’s the biggest thing.”

In Game 4, an umpire did not call interference when Pierzynski’s glove tipped Steve Finley’s bat, causing a double-play grounder.

And in the eighth inning of Game 5, Pierzynski reached after Kelvim Escobar tagged him with his glove — while the ball was in the pitcher’s hand. And after Pierzynski and manager Ozzie Guillen argued, the call was reversed, and the White Sox went on to clinch the pennant.

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“Controversy always follows that guy everywhere. It didn’t seem as though he was looking for it,” Crede said. “It just seemed like it happened to him the playoffs. The strikeout could have changed the shape of the game just like that if he would have walked back to the bench. But he was heads-up and ran to first.

“When Escobar tagged him with the glove and didn’t have the ball in the glove, a lot of guys would probably have run back to the bench. But he stayed there, and he knew the rules of the game.”

Pierzynski spent three full seasons with the Twins before he was traded to the Giants for the 2004 season. Known for annoying tactics like stepping on opposing players’ bats, Pierzynski’s reputation in his year with San Francisco took a much bigger hit when he was a called a clubhouse “cancer” by a teammate.

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Chicago decided he was worth the risk following a decent season on the field with the Giants and signed him as a free agent. Even though he batted a career-low .257 a year ago, he hit a career-high 18 homers and worked well with a pitching staff that was the strength of the team. He had three more homers in the postseason.

“I want to prove what we did last year wasn’t a one-time thing,” he said. “I was on a mission last year and I’m on a mission again this year.”

Pierzynski said he and his wife sat down one night to watch the DVD of the World Series.

“It’s such a long season and so many crazy things happened that you kinda , ‘Oh I forgot about this and that.’ As far as what happened to me, people remind me about it all the time.

“I just kind of laugh about it. It’s in the past now. Now we can move on.”

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