Ozzie visits Sox, Cell for the first time since 2011
Ozzie Guillen returned to his old stomping grounds Wednesday.
The White Sox' shortstop from 1985-97 and manager from 2004-11, Guillen was back at U.S. Cellular Field for a game for the first time since his final year in the dugout.
"I tried to come down to this ballpark for a little while, but especially this summer, I was sitting home and watching games and every time I plan to come, it was too cold and I shut it down," said Guillen, who attended Wednesday's game to watch his nephew, San Francisco Giants shortstop Ehire Adrianza. "Now is the opportunity to see my nephew and see the guys playing. It's my first time here. It feels weird but it feels kind of nice.
"I see a lot of people I've known for a long time. I don't know how you describe the feeling to see the game from here and then see it from the field. I think from here is a little easier than what you see from the field."
Before the game, Guillen visited with his nephew and Giants manager Bruce Bochy.
"I came a little late," Guillen said. "I had a chance to see a couple of Venezuelan players who play for the Giants plus Boch. He was my roommate and teammate in the past."
After the game Guillen did cross paths with manager Robin Ventura, and the former teammates hugged and talked for a few minutes.
Abreu apologizes:
In Tuesday night's win over San Francisco, Jose Abreu struck out in the seventh inning and the ball got away from Giants catcher Hector Sanchez and rolled to the backstop.
Abreu failed to run to first base and bench coach Mark Parent talked to the White Sox' slugger as soon as he returned to the dugout.
Abreu said it won't happen again.
"Obviously, I made a mistake," Abreu said through a translator. "But the manager (Robin Ventura) and the team have talked to me about it and I understand. I made a mistake and that's something I'm going to fix. You have to hustle. You have to run. In that situation, you have to be able to show the team that even when things are bad, you have to run."
Gillaspie's revenge?
Third baseman Conor Gillaspie was 4-for-8 and he scored 3 runs as the White Sox swept a two-game series from the Giants, his former team.
On Feb. 22, 2013, Gillaspie was traded from San Francisco to the Sox for minor-league pitcher Jeff Soptic.
"I don't have any hard feelings," said Gillaspie, who was blocked at third by Pablo Sandoval. "I was really, really lucky to have been drafted by them and come up with them. I learned a lot of things and it's not like I'm sitting here like 'Why did you get rid of me?'
"I didn't perform up to standards when I was there and I'm OK with that. Everything happens for a reason. There's a plan for everybody's life. Truthfully, I wasn't good enough to beat out Sandoval. He's an unbelievable player."