Players not offended by Guillen's outburst

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen spoke his mind after Sunday's 10-inning loss at Tampa Bay, touching off yet another round of controversy.

Guillen had some extremely harsh words for the Sox' offense, but he doesn't seem to have hurt any of his players' feelings.

"Of course,'' Paul Konerko said when asked if he understood where Guillen was coming from. "One thing I can assure you of, when it comes to frustration, in any job but for sports in general, it works from the field out.

"It's definitely frustrating, but at the same time you try to look at positives.''

Guillen on Tuesday said he always tries to be positive. But over the course of the long season, the fiery manager has been known to blow a gasket or 12.

"From the things I've known of Ozzie and have gotten to know, he's an intense guy,'' Nick Swisher said. "He hates losing, just like a lot of us do. And sometimes emotions get the best of you in this game. But I think it's a way for him to get us moving in the right direction.''

Guillen said it's actually difficult for him to go off on his players, no matter how bad the going gets.

"They are my friends,'' Guillen said. "When those guys don't do well I hurt, because I want them to make a lot of money, be rich and have success. They're going to make me look good or bad. I'm their friend.''

After Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Rays -- when the White Sox were 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position -- Guillen sounded more like the enemy.

"If we think we are going to win with the offense we have, we are full of (bleep),'' he said.

Joe Crede got the message.

"I don't think anybody is expecting any praise after the way we ended in Tampa,'' the third baseman said. "I think everyone in here is disappointed with the way we finished our road trip. And it's understandable.

"The bottom line here is that we're paid to win ballgames. And when you're not winning, it's definitely a very frustrating part of it, especially when you're in every game.''

The White Sox already have had winning streaks of five and eight games. Getting started on another one would quickly pull the plug on the club's latest flare-up.

"This will blow over in time; it always does,'' Konerko said. "Whether it blows over with the results you wanted or it doesn't, years from now you have to be able to look back and say you did everything you could and you went about it the right way.

"I have no question I have, and I know guys like Jim (Thome), Swish and whoever else you want to talk about, they have.''