Guillen: ‘Every game for us is huge’

After an inconsistent first half, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on Monday said his team is lucky to find itself just five games back in the American League Central.

And with a big series in Detroit to battle the division-leading Tigers awaiting them after the All-Star break on Friday, he doesn’t want to hear the tired old clichés.

“Hopefully, the players know how important this series is,” he said. “It’s not a, ‘One game at a time,’ ‘Well, we gotta get it tomorrow.’ Every game for us is huge.”

Guillen made the remarks following a kids skills clinic at the Ackerman Sports and Fitness Center in Glen Ellyn. The clinic was hosted by the Chicago Bulls/Sox Training Academy, which has a facility at the complex.

After spending several hours going over fundamentals with attendees, Guillen turned his sights on his ballclub and the challenge it faces in the season’s final 70 games.

“My expectation is very high,” he said. “People call me wrong about it. (But) if you have a team with that talent we have, we should be in a better position. We should be in better shape than we are right now.”

The White Sox sit in third place, four games below .500. After the break, they will play the next 12 games against Central division foes, including six against Detroit and three against Cleveland, a team that is just behind Detroit in the standings.

With just two all-stars — first baseman Paul Konerko and outfielder Carlos Quentin — heading to Chase Field in Phoenix for tonight’s game, Guillen said the break could help his ballclub get ready for the stretch run.

“Hopefully, with four days off, everybody can come back and recharge their batteries and play the next 70 games ... like it’s the last game of the season,” he said. “And, hopefully, things come around and get better for us.”

In the meantime, Guillen says he will spend the next few days with family and prepare for the second half.

But as he does, he said he knows how fortunate his ballclub is right now.

“We’re very lucky,” he said. “I think if you told me in spring training we’d be playing the way we have been playing right now, and be in that position ... I would be very shocked.”