White Sox in agreement: It's only one game

Ozzie Guillen doesn't agree that he was born to be disagreeable.

Certainly not.

And that, of course, just goes to further my point.

Unless the White Sox manager invents it, or sprays it first from the mountaintop, it just can't be right.

Right?

"No," Guillen said Wednesday. "I disagree."

Naturally.

How about disagreeing, then, just for the sake of having some fun?

"I don't think I do that," Guillen said with a smile. "I don't agree."

Guillen then explained at length and in great detail that he is sometimes misquoted and at other times a victim of selective quotation, at which point I forgot what the original question was or why I even asked.

So feeling trapped somewhere between Abbott and Costello, I wondered instead if Guillen thought the Chicago reaction to losing Game 1 of a series in August - albeit with their closest rival and with the division lead up for grabs - was a bit ridiculous.

"It's not like it's the last week of September," Guillen said. "I don't think this week is big like that. You don't want to get swept, but we got swept up there (in Minnesota) the last week in 2008 and we still came back at the end and won our division. There's too much baseball left to get so carried away right now."

Guillen wasn't amused that there was hysteria in the South Side streets after a single loss to Minnesota in August.

"We've got 50-some games to go," Guillen said. "It's going to come down to pitching. If we pitch better, we'll be right there."

One can only imagine the reaction today had the White Sox lost the first two against the Twins and faced the prospect of getting swept at home Thursday night by Francisco Liriano.

Fortunately, John Danks did pitch better and the Sox romped, 6-1, taking back a share of the division lead.

"I didn't want to wake up tomorrow if we lose this game," Guillen said laughing. "There'd be people panicking all over Chicago."

There was little fear of that with Danks taking the hill, especially with the perception outside the clubhouse that it was a big game, because no Sox starter wants the ball more than Danks when it matters most.

"The truth is, in here for us, it's just another game in August," Danks said. "If it was mid-September, it's another story."

It was bigger for the fans following Freddy Garcia's ugly outing in the series opener Tuesday, but Danks was terrific Wednesday, limiting the Twins to a run on 6 hits in 8 innings and 116 pitches.

"We have short memories on this team," Danks said. "We played a bad game and we come back and play a good game.

"It's one game. Sure, I had the adrenaline going a little bit more tonight because it's the Twins, but really there's a lot of time left."

As for the Twins, they were just plain terrible, on the mound, in the field and at the plate, looking nothing like the team that beat up on the Sox Tuesday night.

Making his first major-league start in more than a year, Glen Perkins allowed 4 runs on 5 hits in 42/3 innings, hitting Carlos Quentin twice, once with his last pitch of the game in the fifth that drew warnings for both benches.

"It seemed like that was on purpose, but I don't think it came from their bench," Guillen said. "Except for that, it was a good night for us. Great performance by Danks and great timing.

"As a coaching staff, we were begging him to save our bullpen tonight and he did."

Guillen would get no argument from Sox fans on that, though you still can't help but wonder if Guillen disagrees at times just for the entertainment value.

Either way, love him or hate him, in harmony or not, Chicago sports would be much different, and far less interesting, if Guillen suddenly played it straight.

On that, presumably, we can all agree.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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