Link

 

Guillen ripped his team after they failed to execute some plays and went 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

 

"If they're not willing to play, there's going to be a lot of changes to this lineup pretty soon," said Guillen, whose team is in second place in the AL Central with a 31-17 record.

 

"The execution was terrible, horrible. We didn't lose this game because of a home run, we lost this game because we didn't do what we're supposed to do on the field from the first inning. We didn't bunt the ball when we were supposed to bunt the ball."

 

Guillen also might have been upset at Jermaine Dye, who didn't hustle and was thrown out by right fielder Alex Rios while trying to go first to third on Joe Crede's single. It was the last out of the 10th.

 

"If they want to be a bad team, they can continue to do that, I'll play somebody else. I don't care who they are and what they do. My job is to try and win games and that's what I'm going to do. If they don't like what I say, they can leave and do whatever they want to do," Guillen said. "We're better than this. We're way better than this. If you want to be in second place, keep playing like that. If you want to win, we have to be better and that starts right now. It's not because Detroit is winning."

I will admit that our team played poorly today, minus Jose and Thornton, but Ozzie didn't have his A game either.

 

Here are my Ozzie criticisms. Granted some of them are of the "hindsight is 20/20" variety:

 

1 - Why leave BMAC in against a tough lefty when Thornton was ready?

2 - Why wave Dye to 3rd when a single should have scored him from 2nd anyway?

3 - Why not have Pods steal 2nd and then have Uribe try to bunt? Much smaller chance for a DP. (Actually I believe I was against the steal at the time )

4 - Why keep Nelson in for a 2nd inning?

Edited May 28, 200619 yr by BigSqwert

After the team went 3/10 with runners in scoring position

 

Uh, that is pretty damn good. If the team hits .300 with RISP all year, it will be a good thing. Not sure what the reporter was thinking with that line.

 

Ozzie needs to calm the f*** down and remember that it's a long season.

Ozzie needs to calm the f*** down and remember that it's a long season.

What game were you watching? That was one of the worst games I've seen them play in a long time. Offensively that is.

 

Tek Janssen was at 58 pitches after 2 innings. How the hell did we let him off the hook?

Edited May 28, 200619 yr by BigSqwert

Uh, that is pretty damn good. If the team hits .300 with RISP all year, it will be a good thing. Not sure what the reporter was thinking with that line.

 

Ozzie needs to calm the f*** down and remember that it's a long season.

 

The point was that we only scored 2 runs and lost a winnable game.

 

And Ozzie is doing his job. Therefore, he doesn't need to calm the f*** down.

BTW - Anyone going to any of the Cleveland games during the week? I'll be there Tuesday and most likely Wednesday.

The point was that we only scored 2 runs and lost a winnable game.

 

You wouldn't know it from the quote I cited. The reporter implied that 3/10 with RISP is bad. It's not. If the point is indeed that "we only scored 2 runs in a winnable game", well, why did't he just come out and say it?

 

I don't believe in this "rah rah" s*** at all, not in baseball at least. The team will play up to its talent level. When Jim Thome goes 0-6 and leaves 5 men on base, the team is going to struggle to score runs. It has nothing to do with guys "not caring" and everything to do with a bad game from the middle of the order.

 

But that's baseball. Ozzie should relax. He doesn't need to be calling gues out right now, for the most part, this is a veteran team, they know how to take care of business over the course of a season.

 

What game were you watching? That was one of the worst games I've seen them play in a long time. Offensively that is.

 

s*** happens. It's a long season, like I said. It won't be the last time the team scores 1 run and loses.

 

Ozzie doesn't need to point fingers right now

s*** happens. It's a long season, like I said. It won't be the last time the team scores 1 run and loses.

 

Ozzie doesn't need to point fingers right now

This team has looked pretty bad in its last few road games. This is about the best time I could think of for Ozzie to go off.

Why is it that everyone gets pissed off when Ozzie says he wants to see the guys play better? It's called accountability and never settling for second best. I think it won us a World Championship, at least I think it did.

And you critiscized Oz yourself in this thread.

 

Look, Ozzie does one thing really well as a manager: he takes the pressure of his players by a) putting the blame on himself, and B) being a media darling.

 

His job, in May, after a tough loss to a good team, is to say, "I probably made a few calls today that cost us the game. I hope the guys go out and get a little drunk tonigth then come back ready to play tommorow". Or something to that effect.

Kap, everyone = chitownsportsfan

 

 

I hope the guys go out and get a little drunk tonigth then come back ready to play tommorow". Or something to that effect.

Get drunk? They have a 12:00 game tomorrow!

I'm not really "pissed off" at Ozzie. I'm just taking the loss at face value IMO. Sure, some things weren't done right today, but it's only one game, and not at all a pattern IMO.

 

I've said many times I think Oz is a good manager, but not without his faults.

Point taken chitown but I believe this team needs a kick in the butt right now.

Get drunk? They have a 12:00 game tomorrow! bang.gif

 

Ha, maybe not the time for that. Reminds me of my American Legion days--back when I was still a major league lightweight.

 

We had a road trip down to a big tourney, we were 1-2 after the first two days, and eliminated from contention in a fairly big mid-Michigan wooden bat tourney (one of the teams was Drew Henson's...before he started to suck and had all the MI HS records), we all got wasted the night before our 11 AM start.

 

The next mornign, I was playing LF and batting 3rd, being a slugger with a cannon for an arm, but a big gut and a loping gate as well. The first ball hit out to me, I misplayed as it bounced over my head on one hop; I managed to turn a routine single into a triple.

 

Ah, the power of booze.

Ozzie needs to calm the f*** down and remember that it's a long season.

 

Could of said the same thing about Leyland (as a matter of fact alot of people were) when he went off after the Tigers lost and were playing pretty poorly. Look what happened after he went off.

No doubt that the pen is killing us. No doubt the the middle of the order was a problem today. But the real issue is having two players hitting under .200 at the bottom of the order.

 

I'm a big supporter of BA, and I'm all for giving him time, but I'm starting to wonder if now, in a tight race with the tigers, is that time. Big Juan needs a break; fortunately we have Cintron ready to step in and do the job.

Ozzie is right, we have lost at least half a dozen games this year due to s*** execution and stupidity. We are better than this and he should be pissed off, there is no excuse for today, it was an embarassment and we better wake the f*** up. Way to say what's really going on Ozzie, people need to look past the record.

Edited May 28, 200619 yr by whitesoxfan101

Well, looks like this is going to be pretty big news too. It was just sort of mentioned on sportscenter as a teaser. I bet we'll be hearing quite a bit more about Ozzie's tirade.

And you critiscized Oz yourself in this thread.

 

Look, Ozzie does one thing really well as a manager: he takes the pressure of his players by a) putting the blame on himself, and B) being a media darling.

 

His job, in May, after a tough loss to a good team, is to say, "I probably made a few calls today that cost us the game. I hope the guys go out and get a little drunk tonigth then come back ready to play tommorow". Or something to that effect.

 

Why be complacent?

 

That's not Ozzie, and that's not how we won last year.

 

I luv the high standards and brutal honesty.

The other reason Ozzie did this was we are heading into a critical stretch of games. We are not only heading into a critical stretch of games, but our execution has been laughable, has cost us games, and we are now 3.5 out of first. That's far from panic point, but when your 3.5 out, but would be 2 or 3 up if you could execute, it's something that needs to be pointed out. Today was the 4th game of this month alone that we lost due exclusively to s*** execution, and we will be sitting at home watching this October if it continues. 31-17 is a good record, but if we were executing properly we'd be about 36-12 (no joke), which shows both how good we are, but also how much better we would be if we'd execute. That's Ozzie's point.

Ah, yes, I called for this in the Game Thread. I said that the Sox need a "pep talk" like the one he gave them when they were sucking in the Spring.

Uh, that is pretty damn good. If the team hits .300 with RISP all year, it will be a good thing. Not sure what the reporter was thinking with that line.

 

Ozzie needs to calm the f*** down and remember that it's a long season.

 

LMAO. Watch the games. The Sox have looked lackluster for about two weeks now. This outburst was inevitable and needed.

I love it. This team is far from crisp right now, even some of the D has been sloppy lately. Oz can say it has nothing to do with Detroit, but the fact that he mentioned them might mean they're on his mind.

I'd say Detroit's hot play has something to do with the rant, but I honestly think it's more about our play. The execution in almost every close loss, not what the other team did, has been why we lost those games.

LMAO. Watch the games. The Sox have looked lackluster for about two weeks now. This outburst was inevitable and needed.

 

"Lackluster" is just another word for regression to the mean.

 

It's amazing what happens when the offense isn't scoring 6 runs a game on a daily basis.

 

Do you really believe a "rah rah" talk from Guillen is going to make the bullpen pitch better? Or turn Anderson and Uribe into sluggers?

 

Those are the big two problems with this team as currently constructed. You can laugh all you want, but Ozzie screaming isn't going to fix a lack of production.

 

This isn't football, where level of emotion/intensity produces tangible benefits. Baseball, I would say, I much more like golf. The key is consistency and mental fortitude.