For Peavy, it all comes down to one thing: winning

It's possible that upon first glance, you may think Jake Peavy to be something of a lunatic.

OK, probably on second glance, too.

"Yeah, I could see that," Peavy says with a chuckle. "I do get a little mad at myself at times."

More than a little, which puts him on a collision course with manager Ozzie Guillen at some point this season, given Peavy's intense presence on the mound.

"What he'll have to learn about me is that when I cross the white lines, I'm only thinking about one thing, and that's winning," Peavy said as he prepared for his first White Sox start of the season, Wednesday at home against Cleveland. "I want to win so bad it possesses me and I can be a crazy person at times.

"As long as you know I'm only yelling at myself, not at my teammates or at Ozzie or the umpire or the hitter.

"I don't show up people. If you see me yelling, then you can be sure I'm just mad at myself because I have expectations of what I should do out there, and obviously I haven't done what I wanted."

Usually, it's a question of pitch location, and much like Greg Maddux, Peavy is legendary for letting go with some choice words if he misses a spot.

"I'm a different person out on the field for those three hours," Peavy said, shaking his head and laughing. "And I swear it's just because I hate losing. I can't tell you how much I hate it."

On that point he and Guillen completely agree, and they're not a whole lot of fun to be around when things aren't going well.

"The guy just doesn't like to make a mistake," Guillen said. "Sometimes, you wonder if he's a little too hard on himself. He's one of the best pitchers in the game, and you can't be perfect all the time."

Peavy might say the same of Guillen.

"I spent a month with Ozzie last year and saw the way things can be when it's not going the way he wants it," Peavy said. "He's not pleasant to be around when you're not winning, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

"He rants and raves because he cares about winning, and would you want a manager who didn't?

"He's fiery and passionate, and I'm the same way. We share the same goals and have the same ideas, so you know there's going to be some hiccups for us because I'm reacting to what happens and so is he.

"But he's my boss and I respect him and I defer to him on those matters."

In the meantime, Peavy has grown to admire Guillen, who, not surprisingly, is like no other manager Peavy has ever seen at any level of baseball.

"I'm enjoying the heck out of Ozzie," said Peavy. "He's very, very passionate about the game of baseball, just like I am, so we're a lot alike in that way. We both want to win and we'll do anything to win, and we hate to lose.

"Sometimes we get a little loud about it, and sometimes people don't like it. We expect the game to be played the right way, and sometimes people don't like that, either, but that's too bad.

"There's a right way to play the game and I don't think it's asking too much for major-league baseball players to play the game the right way.

"What's great about Ozzie, when it comes to that stuff, is you never have to worry about where you stand with him, or what kind of mood he's in, because he makes it very clear all the time.

"He will let you know exactly what he's thinking."

Guillen's probably thinking he's lucky he's got a healthy Peavy this year, after the one who pitched so well for the Sox last September probably was operating at about 70 percent.

"Everything feels great. It was really a great spring training for me just to feel so good again," Peavy said. "I think as a team we're a pretty healthy group and I'm very excited about that.

"I believe if this team is healthy we will win the AL Central. Once you do that it's 11 wins to get that ring, and I think we've got 11 wins on this roster, with this pitching staff.

"I've never felt that before on any team I've been on and it's a great feeling to start the season. I just couldn't be any happier."

brozner@dailyherald.com

• Listen to Barry Rozner from 8 a.m. to noon Sundays on the Score's "Hit and Run" show at WSCR 670-AM.