The frustration of watching an offense that can't convert baserunners into runs is taking its toll on Ozzie Guillen. The White Sox scored just four runs in three straight losses to the Rays this weekend and were 3-for-30 with runners in scoring position. On five separate occasions they got a runner to second with no one out and came away with no runs. When your pitching staff is holding the opponents to less than three runs a game, that frustration becomes too much to bear. Guillen blew his top on Sunday after the Rays outlasted the Sox to win in 10 innings. He said he expects GM Kenny Williams to make some changes before the team takes the field on Tuesday.
"It can be me. It can be (hitting coach) Greg Walker. It can be the players. It could be anybody. I'm sick and tired to watch this thing for a year and a half. I'm not protecting anybody anymore. [Bleep] it. If they can't get it done, Kenny should find someone to get it done."
Word filtered back to Ozzie's boss and he interrupted a family dinner to offer his thoughts on the situation.
"It's just not a good idea to throw your boss under the bus, especially when that boss has had your back as much as I have had his," Williams wrote in an e-mail. "I expect this team, if the leadership remains positive and the players stick together and continue to play hard, it will be a fun summer.
It is indeed a questionable choice to turn your back on a man who has supported you through profane tirades, feuds with players and the bad taste choice to reserve a spot for a blowup doll in the team's locker room. If he worked under a lot of other GMs, Guillen would probably be looking for other work right now but Williams has always had his back, something he should remember.
That said, he's damn right about the White Sox offense. Something does have to change and I'd be worried if I was Greg Walker. The Sox have been a bad offensive team for the last two seasons and Walker has to bear some of the responsibility for that. Guillen's still the manager of a first-place team, hard to make a move there, but Walker might want to forgo the green bananas.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2008 @ 1:20PM
Gritty said...
What does he expect? They're vastly overperforming as is!
http://grittyandclutch.blogspot.com/2008/06/news-report-ozzie-guillen-does.html
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6-02-2008 @ 7:19PM
RLN said...
Ozzie is absolutely right. Big salaried players like Tome and Konerko are totally toast. The pitching has been great but if the offense has to rely on Quentin and Alexi, the Sox are in trouble.
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6-02-2008 @ 8:59PM
Chris said...
Guillen is a baby, how he has been a Manager at all is a mystery. His tirades at first were cute, but he has never been a good Manager to his Team or to the city of Chicago. He is a disgrace!!
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6-02-2008 @ 9:14PM
Whit said...
Please. It's always been more fun to watch a class team from the
north side lose, than to watch a pathetic non-team achieve in a
league that can't even manage around a pitching rotation. The mouth
of OZ is merely a symptom of a classless and over matched
organization.
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6-02-2008 @ 10:53PM
Odie said...
Oh, and Whit you just demonstrated classless Cub fan. Instead of enjoying your first place team you rant on something you obviously know little about. Nobody was calling the Cubs a class team until maybe this year.
You think anyone was calling Sammy Sosa, Moises Alou, Mark Prior and Dusty Baker classy guys just a few short years ago. Try contributing to an intelligent conversation rather than ranting on the crosstown rival.
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6-02-2008 @ 10:53PM
Odie said...
I'm not an Ozzie supporter, but why is that Lou Piniella and Jim Leyland get applauded for lighting a fire under their under-performing teams by going on similar tirades, and Ozzie's just crazy and should be fired.
I know he hasn't done a lot to endear himself to the public with some of the things he has said, and that is an understatement, but this tirade put blame everywhere including himself. He is right, something has to change and their is nothing wrong with saying it. You can't continue to lose games when your starting pitching is giving consistent quality starts.
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6-03-2008 @ 9:41AM
Whit said...
There IS no cross town rival, Odie. Your own Mouth of OZ made that perfectly clear when he whined about everyone loving the Cubs even when they lose, instead of the classless Sox, even when they win. As for enjoying my first place team? We Cub fans certainly are, something you south siders seem unable to accomplish. Thanks for your comments Odie, you help keep sportsmanship in perspective.
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6-03-2008 @ 12:55PM
Slim said...
Sorry Odie, but you're talking apples and oranges. While Leyland's famous rant was certainly worthy of being fired, and Piniella has had his moments, neither of them or any other manager in baseball has ever REPEATEDLY thrown EVERYBODY but himself under the bus and caused such decimation to his own club as Guillen. He bites the management hand that feeds him, he crucifies his staff and players, actually naming a fellow coach (Walker) as cannon fodder and wonders why his own fans, not to mention the local media, wonder where his brains are located. His including himself in this latest tirade is self serving at best. The previous poster mentioned that Guillen once ranted that Chicago loved the Cubs more than the Sox even though the Sox were World Champs. I'm not a particular fan of either Chicago team, but if that's true, then Guillen has made his own bed and needs to pull up the blankets. If his management skills consist of misguided, badly phrased rants and raves and blow up whoopie dolls, then he is doing you, the fans and Chicago no service. I wish my hometown had a first place team.
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