Posts tagged Ozzie Guillen at FanHouse

While most of the blogging world has been celebrating the resignation/firing of Jay Mariotti at the Chicago Sun-Times on Wednesday, it's not just those of us who read him that are happy to see him go. The Chicago White Sox have long been one of Jay's favorite targets. Whether he's ripping on team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, manager Ozzie Guillen, or even play-by-play announcer Hawk Harrelson, Jay never had anything nice to say about the organization.

So when the news reached the White Sox in Baltimore on Tuesday night that Jay's reign of terror was coming to an end, the Sox were quite happy to hear the news.

''When people wish the worst on people, you have to be careful because the baseball gods are going to get you,'' [Ozzie] Guillen said. ''He was not asking just for my job, he was asking for thousands and thousands of people's jobs over the years. I'm not going to say I will get the last laugh because I will get fired from this job. But the day I get fired is the day I lose interest in this game.

The White Sox lost more than first place in the AL Central last night after falling to the Boston Red Sox 6-2 at U.S. Cellular Field. In what was his first start since returning from a stint on the disabled list with elbow tendinitis, Jose Contreras had to be helped off the field after rupturing his right achilles tendon while trying to cover first base in the second inning.

Obviously the injury will put an end to Contreras' season, but there are fears that at 36 (if Jose Contreras is 36 years old then I'm 12) this injury could bring Jose's career to an end. It's something that crossed the mind of his manager, Ozzie Guillen.

"Those kinds of injuries, I don't know how you can come back," Guillen said. "The only thing I hope is that he can pitch again."

As for what the Sox plan on doing in Contreras' absence, they haven't announced yet, but the team did pick up Horacio Ramirez in a trade with the Royals earlier on Saturday. Guillen is also toying with the idea of having D.J. Carrasco, who came on to replace Contreras after the injury, move from the bullpen to the starting rotation.

There's also the possibility that the Sox may make a trade, with the recently waived Jarrod Washburn being a candidate. Chicago had shown interest in the left-hander before the trade deadline, but balked at Seattle's asking price. I wouldn't be surprised if Kenny Williams kicked the tires on current free agent, and member of the 2005 White Sox, Freddy Garcia either.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Before the season started, the Detroit Tigers were the popular pick amongst baseball fans and experts alike as the eventual World Series champion. After adding Miguel Cabrera to a potent lineup that already included hitters like Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen, Curtis Granderson, and Ivan Rodriguez, there was talk that the Tigers would score 1,000 runs this season.

Who knew they'd need to? Though most people were aware that the Detroit bullpen would be a problem area, I don't think anybody thought they would be as bad as they have been in 2008. So now here we sit on August 7th, and the Tigers find themselves in a tailspin.

After building up some momentum in recent weeks to get back into the AL Central race, the Tigers have now lost six in a row to fall three games under .500. They're also on the verge of being swept by the division leading Chicago White Sox and falling 9.5 games out of first place, which could effectively end any hope they have of playing this October.

So will the Tigers pull the plug on their season tonight, or are they going to rise up and start mauling people again? Find out after the jump.

Ozzie Guillen doesn't end. He just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started interviewing him not knowing who he was, and they'll continue interviewing forever just because Ozzie Guillen doesn't end. He just goes on and on, my friend. Some people started interviewing him not knowing who he was, and they'll continue interviewing forever just becau-

Supporting the White Sox is a lot like being Luke Wilson's character from Idiocracy. It's a righteous cause, but more often than not you're left wandering around thinking they're all dumb****s.

Tonight's Dugged-out is after the jump.

Ozzie Guillen is still being Ozzie Guillen, despite his two-game suspension, which he received for tossing threats in the direction of the Kansas City Royals after a weekend fracas. See, Ozzie knows what he could have said to get a longer suspension, but he didn't, because he is a man of disciplined verbal restraint:

"I wish we were like 10 games up or 20 games down, then I'd get a 10-game suspension," Guillen said after the penalties were handed down in the wake of Sunday's fight with Kansas City. "But my team is going through a pretty tough time right now, and I have to be with them 100 percent. I let my club down for two days. I almost broke his hand," Guillen said. "He touched me. I can't touch you, you can't touch me either. But no, he said I bumped him right before that situation."

One: If I was Joey Cora (and, to be clear, I am not), I would be a little hurt by Ozzie's comments. Are you saying Joey Cora is too incompetent to coach a baseball team for ten games? That's cold, Ozzie.

Two: If threatening an entire baseball team earned Ozzie a mere two-game suspension, I really, really, REALLY want to hear what he would say if he had his eye on a ten-game break. I'm picturing at least three epithets and the invention of brand new, never-before-heard swear words. Do it, Ozzie! Do it!

Even when Ozzie Guillen is right he's wrong.

While the umpire crew chief may have apologized for his ejection on Sunday, the commissioner's office was less understanding for Guillen's post-game comments. After Guillen admitted in a fit of anger that he's asked a pitcher to hit a batter on purpose in the past and warned the Royals that it could happen again, Major League Baseball decided to suspend Guillen two games. Unlike when a player gets suspended, Guillen cannot appeal the decision, meaning he won't be allowed in the building tonight and tomorrow as the White Sox host the Tigers.

If it makes him feel any better, at least MLB isn't singling him out: the Royals had three people suspended. Miguel Olivo got five games for rushing the mound and Zack Greinke got five games for hitting Nick Swisher with a pitch. Because Greinke's bean ball came after both benches were warned, skipper Trey Hillman was handed an automatic one-game suspension.

I'm sure Guillen can't be happy about the suspension, but it was completely predictable -- you just can't admit to hitting a batter on purpose and expect the commissioner's office to look the other way.

Well, this is hardly surprising: something Ozzie Guillen said may land him in trouble.

Guillen went on a verbal tirade following Sunday's brawl-filled game with the Royals, upset at being ejected in the fifth after umpire Tim Timmons decided that D.J. Carrasco was intentionally trying to hit Miguel Olivo. Guillen admitted that he's asked his pitchers to bean players in the past but denied doing it on Sunday, and then gave a not-so-subtle warning to the Royals, saying, "I signed a five-year deal with this club, and we're going to play Kansas City a lot."

The ironic thing is that Guillen was technically in the right -- the umpire crew chief eventually apologized to him after viewing the tape and realizing that Carrasco was simply erratic and not being a headhunter. But does being justifiably upset excuse what was said in anger? That's what the the league office is trying to decide.

Sunday was a pretty frustrating day for the Chicago White Sox. Not only were they getting their butts kicked by the Kansas City Royals, and saying goodbye to their position atop the AL Central in the process, but there was also a bench-clearing incident in the fifth inning of the game.

With the Sox down 7-0, reliever D.J. Carrasco threw three straight pitches at Royals catcher Miguel Olivo's head. All three missed making any contact (because nobody in the White Sox bullpen should be expected to hit their target these days) but after the third one, Olivo took exception and charged the mound. The typical baseball fight ensued where there's a lot of pushing and shoving, but aside from Olivo's haymaker on A.J. Pierzynski (who was trying to play peacemaker), not much happened.

The best part of the scrum was probably Ozzie Guillen's tirade after being ejected in which he slammed his hat on the ground and got into the umpire's faces. Luckily for all of us, Ozzie still had plenty to say after the game, and the never shy manager shared his thoughts for the world to hear.

Guillen said his eruption was due to the fact that the umpires ejected him because they said he brought in Carrasco for the sole purpose of plunking Olivo, which Ozzie firmly denied.

While I'm still getting used to seeing Ken Griffey Jr. in a Chicago White Sox jersey (the jersey looks good, though the number 17 just seems awkward), Junior is probably still adjusting to life inside the circus atmosphere of the White Sox clubhouse. Still, that doesn't mean he's completely forgotten about where he's come from.

That's why Griffey issued a statement through the Reds PR department to thank fans for supporting him over the last nine seasons in Cincinnati. Ken also issued an apology to the fans for the throat slash gesture he made at broadcaster Jeff Brantley after hitting a home run. Brantley had been critical of Junior on the air for a while, and Ken just wanted him to know what he though of his opinion.

Of course, now Griffey realizes there were probably better ways he could have handled it.

"I really do understand that the overwhelming majority of fans wanted so badly for me to succeed," Griffey said. "Additionally, I would like to sincerely apologize to those fans offended by my wrongful actions last Saturday night. It was an overreaction on my part to what I felt was a series of public, inaccurate and unfair remarks about me."

You'll notice that while Griffey apologized to the fans for making the gesture, he didn't apologize to Brantley. Luckily for Ken, he now plays for Ozzie Guillen whom I'm sure will do something even more ludicrous to make everybody forget about Griff's transgression entirely.

So the White Sox have lost their last three games, and are in danger of losing their spot on top of the AL Central if they lose to the Minnesota Twins tonight. You know what that means don't you? Yep, it's time for another Ozzie Guillen rant complaining about something.

This time Ozzie is getting tired of hearing about Paul Konerko, and to respond he pulled the "your critics" and "don't understand" and "diapers" cards out of his Rant Hat (patent pending), and here's what we ended up with.

"I don't understand the people out there," Guillen said Tuesday night. "I don't get it. I sit with [general manager] Kenny Williams and we try to do stuff, and we get pounded like we don't try or don't care or do good for the fans or for us.

"And I don't get it. I trust my players. I think they're good talent and will play hard for us.

"And hopefully the result will be the right one. Because if we win this thing, Billy Martin, Earl Weaver, all those guys will be in diapers with what I'm going to say, because I'm going to rip a lot of people apart if we win this year, because enough is enough. What are we going to do to satisfy people?"