Guillen doesn't lose sleep as Sox falls again
ARLINGTON, Texas -- There was one positive result from White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen's blistering diatribe against his underachieving team following Wednesday night's 11-inning loss to the Rangers.
"I slept great,'' Guillen said Thursday. "For 10 days before that, I didn't sleep at all."
The insomnia undoubtedly caused by the White Sox' most recent run of futility, which continued Thursday night with a 5-1 loss to Texas at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and also included four straight setbacks to the Red Sox at home last weekend by a combined score of 46-7.
While completing a three-game sweep of the White Sox, the Rangers took advantage of 4 errors in the third inning, 3 by third baseman Andy Gonzalez.
After the White Sox lost their second straight to Texas on Wednesday, Guillen snapped.
The timing of the outburst came as no surprise to first baseman Paul Konerko, the Sox' captain.
"Failure is not fun,'' Konerko said. "But you can't sit around and say, 'Why is it like this?' I mean, we didn't sit around in 2005 when we were opening champagne saying, 'Why us?' Things just kind of go sometimes the way they go. There is definitely frustration all over, there's no doubt about that.''
The day after, Guillen wasn't sure how Sox general manager Kenny Williams would react to his tirade.
"I don't give a (bleep) what Kenny thinks,'' Guillen said. "He might be happy. He might say, 'About time you say something.' I don't want people to see us losing and think, 'Ozzie is fine.' No, it's not fine. I'm (ticked).''
Before Thursday's game, Williams gave Guillen his full support.
"I talk to Ozzie and the coaching staff every day,'' Williams said. "Believe me, they are as frustrated and embarrassed as I am. We all share the same feeling. Our players feel the same way. I'm not surprised it boiled up, especially the way we've played lately.''
Guillen was careful not to accuse the White Sox of simply giving up. And he said the players do follow his rules and go about their business the right way.
But the losing, he stressed again, has got to stop.
"It's getting tired to get beat like that,'' Guillen said. "I don't want to get to the point where, 'OK boys, let's get them tomorrow.' (Bleep). I don't want to get them tomorrow. I want to win as many games as we can. Are we out of this thing? Yes. But we've got to win as many as we can because we've got a schedule to play, pride to play for.
"I don't say I feel proud of anybody, but I feel proud to wear a White Sox uniform and I don't want to feel embarrassed to wear this uniform.''
While grudgingly accepting his fate this season, Guillen has grown to dread being spotted in public.
"I feel sick to my stomach when I lose,'' he said. "I sit at a bar and hear, 'There's Ozzie Guillen, a loser.' 'Yes sir I am.' I don't get mad, he's right. I've got White Sox on my skin and in my veins. I'm a diehard Sox fan and that's what I want. I want White Sox people to feel proud. I want White Sox people to feel great, to say: 'I'm a White Sox fan, we kick people's (butt).'''
Guillen also feels bad for White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
"A lot of people think Jerry's a piece of (bleep),'' Guillen said. "Jerry's not a piece of (bleep). Jerry's (done) a lot of good things for Chicago and people don't appreciate that. Well, I feel like I'm stealing Jerry's money right now because I have pride. I feel embarrassed that this guy's paying me a lot of money to run this (bleep). He can pay his kid right now 20 bucks and go run the White Sox.''
Rangers 5, White Sox 1
In the field: Third baseman Andy Gonzalez made 3 errors in the third inning. The last Sox player to make 3 errors in a game was Tadahito Iguchi (also at Texas, on Aug. 29, 2005).
At the plate: Jim Thome provided all of the offense with a solo home run in the first inning. Thome has 495 career homers. Sammy Sosa his his 18th homer of the season and 606th of his career in the second inning for Texas.
-- Scot Gregor