Saturday, April 9, 2011
Posted: 3:16 p.m.
By Brett Ballantini
CSNChicago.com
Mere hours after frustratingly suggesting that he blow the ballpark up rather than send out another pitcher to blow a save, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was eager to see how his team would respond to Fridays disheartening turn of events.
Good teams turn the page, Guillen said. I want to see how they show up today. Well see how good we are, how were going to show up today and keep fighting.
Despite his tempestuous reputation, the manager normally does a good job of keeping devastating defeats in perspectivebut last nights loss stuck with him for a bit.
There arent too many games I cant sleep, Guillen said. I promised my wife, Listen, Im not going to drink too much anymore. The season just started. So I had one drink. Losses are part of the game.
Undoubtedly Guillen was happy to know that closer Matt Thornton, who has blown both of his save opportunities this season, was keeping his head up and not planning on changing anything in his approach. But it didnt keep the jefe from cracking a joke at his embattled relievers expense.
MLB
Noooooooooooooo! Guillen exclaimed when told that Thornton would keep doing what hes always done. Please dont do the same thing! Matt, Matt, are you kidding me? Dont, dont!
Guillen basked in the chuckles, then buckled down for some real talk.
When the kid Kila Ka'aihue hit the base hit to left field to tie the game vs. Thornton on Wednesday in Kansas City, thats a bad pitchwhen you pound him in all night, and all of the sudden you go away and he just puts the bat on it for a base hit, Guillen said. Last night, the only ball I remember they hit hard off Thornton was the home run. Blooper, blooper, and we should have made a couple of plays in the field.Its not like people think, Wow, look he blew the game. He pitched good enough to not lose. The most important ball went out of the ballpark but besides that, we made five outs instead of three. Thats why I say, defense is very important in baseball. Youre not winning without defense, and last night we saw that. Did he pitch bad? No. Did he pitch good enough to lose? Yes, because he had a couple bloopersbut thats part of the game.
All the more reason for strength from the man in the big chair.
If Im going to come here with my down, Look what happened last night look, Im going to suck all my team in, Guillen said. No. Instead my attitude should be Hey, are we ready to fight today? If we lose today, we have to be ready to fight tomorrow. If we lose while fighting, I can sleep with that, I can live with that.
So, how did Ozzie sleep last night?
I slept like a baby: I woke up every two hours and started crying.
Brett Ballantini is CSNChicago.coms White Sox Insider. Follow him @CSNChi_Beatnik on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Sox information.