Mariotti: Ozzie talks about quitting? Crybaby can’t take the heat

YESTERDAY a teenage rebel! TODAY a mad-dog slayer! TOMORROW a bloodthirsty zombie badmouther! SEE “CRY BABY KILLER”...TODAY!

Like the spitball-shooting, booger-nosed jerk in junior high, Ozzie Guillen can dish out the abuse but can’t take it. It was easy enough last week, in all his First Amendment glory, to fire a new load of F-bombs at his targets. Oh, how good he felt when he zinged White Sox fans for their demanding standards, the Chicago media for supposedly adoring the Cubs and Lou Piniella—I still can’t get over this one—for being “[bleeped] up.”

Yet when it was time for his targets to react—Sox fans pleading for silence, clear-thinking media urging him to get a life, even his national defenders voicing disgust about Ozzie Fatigue—the poor babe huddled with his wife on the phone and talked about taking his official MLB-licensed straitjacket and going home.

“I’m done with this job after this season,” Guillen said to himself.

What the man-child wants, apparently, is a one-sided dialogue with the world. He’d like a system in which he speaks his mind rudely and crudely while the rest of us nod our heads and accept his every perverse, idiotic comment as gospel. Needless to say, if civilization began and ended with Guillen, you’d basically have what Will Smith found in “I Am Legend.” Except Ozzie, after badmouthing the bloodthirsty zombies, would start running when they attacked him.

Buehrle takes out frustration on dugout heater

“Shelled ... then Ballistic”? Whoa...what am I back MCing Heavy Metal Fridays at KNUP’S?

During a five-run sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins—a team he has dominated during his career—the usually mild-mannered Buehrle became unglued. The left-hander stomped off the mound, headed directly toward a corner of the dugout and grabbed one of Juan Uribe’s bats. Buehrle went ballistic, whacking a dugout heater about five times with a bat that hadn’t seen this much action all season.

When he was done, Buehrle calmly returned the bat to its spot, plopped himself on the bench and folded his arms. Then he sat steaming through the rest of the inning that put the game away during the first-place Twins’ 13-1 romp at U.S. Cellular Field.

‘’It’s frustrating, it’s embarrassing, I mean, all around, not just on myself but the way we have been playing,’’ Buehrle said. ‘’It’s just one of those days where I couldn’t hold it back, and I let my emotions show.’’

...Did hammering the dugout heater make Buehrle feel any better?

‘’It did,’’ Buehrle said, ‘’until it started smoking. Then I got worried. As far as getting it out of me, yeah, it felt pretty good.’’

Ozzie Guillen still regrets A-Rod situation

Of all the things to regret...that (bleeping) arrogant Ozzie Guillen picks this.

Guillen apologized to Rodriguez the day after the story came out, but he’s still bothered more than two years later by his outburst.

“I was telling the truth, but I didn’t have the right to put that kid on the spot,’’ Guillen said Wednesday. “That was a (bleep) thing on my part; that was low-class. That’s why I apologized. I never start anything. I started it with Alex, and that’s why I regret it. Everything else, (heck), no, because I know I was right.’’

...Notorious or not, his celebrity is unmistakable, and Guillen says he has to watch himself when he’s away from U.S. Cellular Field. The 44-year-old manager offered an example—he went out for a drink near his downtown Chicago home after Tuesday night’s win over Minnesota.

“I’m sitting at the bar and they offered me a drink,’’ Guillen said. “‘Can I buy you a drink? ‘No.’ Now people think I’m (bleeping) arrogant. You know why I say no? I said, ‘Thank you. I’ll buy you one.’ “Because that guy, maybe I’m wrong, they’re going to go: ‘Last night, I got (bleeped) up with Ozzie. That guy was so (bleeped up). That’s why I have to be careful.

Big League Stew: Why Frank Thomas belongs in this year’s All-Star Game

“Send the Big Hurt to the Big Apple”...(inabigspotinabiggame.dietcoke)

Thomas’ on-the-field accomplishments, of course, would alone deserve such a career honor. He won the AL MVP in both 1993 and ‘94 and might have been awarded a third in 2000 if Jason Giambi hadn’t been juicing. As of this writing, he has a .302 career average and 516 home runs. He was the first player to hit over .300, score 100 runs, drive in over 100 RBI and take over 100 walks in seven straight seasons. Ask yourself this question: Were there any scarier sights for a pitcher in the ‘90s than Thomas’ hulking frame looming over a 3-1 count?

Yes, Frank had a phenomenal career — and it’s possible it could continue past ‘08 — but this campaign is motivated by more than just Thomas’ impressive numbers. It’s also rooted in the fact that over the past few years, we’ve scolded suspected star after suspected star for possible steroid use. Yet we’ve done absolutely nothing to reward and applaud the players who have actually spoken out against it.

Part of the reason for that inactivity is that there haven’t been many of that latter category. Yet Thomas has been the only one to shirk the clubhouse code of silence and the players’ unbreakable lockstep formation with its union. Think about it: When’s the last time you saw a column lauding Thomas for taking a very public stance against performance-enhancing drugs?

White Sox fan pushes Cubs fan into window of Domino’s Pizza

Yo! Kenneth Lamar Noid is a White Sox fan?

A White Sox fan became angry with a Chicago man who was a Cubs fan and pushed him into the window of Domino’s Pizza in uptown Normal, breaking the window, a Normal police report said.

The victim, who was wearing a Cubs shirt, told police they were discussing baseball in a civil manner but it escalated into an argument and then got physical.

The victim was treated at BroMenn Regional Medical Center and released, a nursing supervisor said. He had lacerations to his cheek and back.

Mariotti: Ozzie, Sox: Chicago’s rude, crude embarrassment

You knew the raving sheep herder had to blow in.

Just as the Sox and Major League Baseball ``addressed’’ matters two summers ago by having Guillen attend sensitivity training, which obviously helped. Reinsdorf and Williams think they’re above these issues, when, in fact, the issues define who they are as executives and human beings. Unfortunately, some media fear Reinsdorf and curry his favor, which might explain why WMVP-AM’s Marc Silverman—who seems thrilled to have Reinsdorf on the station’s ``Lunch With a Legend’’ series—was more eager to criticize his on-air guest, the Sun-Times’ Carol Slezak, than simply interview her about her post-dolls, anti-Sox column.

...He is guilty as sin, actually, for making a mockery of his craft. Can you imagine such a trail of trash ever being littered in Boston, New York? Could you imagine a manager keeping a job through it all, no matter how many championships he won? As long as reporters have work to do, and as long as clubhouses are open to media, a sports franchise has a responsibility to maintain a civil, orderly, professional workplace. I don’t subscribe to any boys-will-be-boys junk when it comes to working environments. If players want to go through ``Slumpbuster’’ rituals with inflatable dolls, do it in the trainer’s room, where the media can’t see it. When you make it public, the organization is judged accordingly.

egbert and floyd: a tale of 2 sox

i’m tooting my own horn here. i’ve been floyd’s biggest supporter for about 2.5 years now, and i wrote this article late last year, thinking that i really liked the progress floyd had made over the course of the 2007 season, with the spin of looking forward to what he would do in 2008.

he’s taken 2 no hitters into the 8th inning, one of them into the 9th, and i’m ready to jump 100% into his bandwagon, without reservation.

well, maybe with one, OZZIE: PLEASE STOP RIDING HIS ARM.  give him a few starts with about 90 pitches, and let him adjust more softly to being a quality major league pitcher.  i know that a no hitter is a special thing, but he’s not going to last the season if you ride him into the ground every time he has a modicum of success.

MLB: White Sox Floyd barely misses no-no

By a whisker, if you will.

Gavin Floyd lost his bid for the 17th no-hitter in franchise history during the White Sox 7-1 victory over the Twins on Tuesday night at U.S. Cellular Field, when Joe Mauer lined a one-out double to left-center in the ninth, just out of Nick Swisher’s reach. It would have been the team’s first no-hitter since Mark Buehrle did the job against Texas on April 18, 2007.

On April 12, Floyd worked 7 1/3 innings against Detroit without giving up a hit before Edgar Renteria’s single to center. On Tuesday, Mike Lamb flied out to center fielder Nick Swisher on the first pitch of the eighth and Adam Everett flied out to Swisher on a 2-2 pitch for the second out. Carlos Gomez hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop Orlando Cabrera, who threw him out at first to carry the no-hitter into the ninth.

Ozzie dismissive about blow-up dolls in clubhouse

Would Ted striker?

A clubhouse prank by the White Sox before Sunday’s game against the Blue Jays drew some attention in Toronto and forced Ozzie Guillen to address why there were blow-up dolls in his clubhouse.

The prank, apparently designed as a “slump-buster” to get the Sox offense out of a rut, included two blow-up dolls with bats strategically placed. The incident was reported in today’s National Post in Toronto and on www.suntimes.com/sports in the “Inside the White Sox” blog by Joe Cowley.

“I’m not going to make the players apologize,” Guillen said. “I don’t think that was a big deal. It’s our house. I don’t think we did anything wrong and I don’t think we did anything to make people upset. We did something to have fun and stay loose.

“Those dolls don’t work. ... Hopefully we come up with something better. We don’t need dolls, we need hits.’’ Guillen went on to say: “Everyone in the clubhouse, 100 percent of the people in the clubhouse, they are 18 years old and that’s a private thing. If the players do it in the dugout so everyone in the public could see it, or did it in the hotel lobby ... we did it in the clubhouse. A lot of worse things happen in the clubhouse. I don’t really know why people are making it a big deal. If people got their feelings hurt because of that ... they don’t really know much about baseball.”

Ozzie Guillen explodes after White Sox drop fifth-straight loss

Colonel Bleep to the rescue!

Tired of “all the managers in the press box and at home, watching the game on TV and spilling food on themselves,’’ the fifth-year White Sox skipper became the story of the day in Sunday’s 4-3 loss, making his feelings known about the perceived treatment he and his organization get in the Windy City.

“Right now everyone in Chicago is making lineups, ‘call up this guy, call up that guy,’” Guillen said. “If we had 50 people allowed on the roster we could do that. That’s what ticks me off about Chicago fans and Chicago media—they forget pretty quick. A couple of days ago we were the (bleeping) best (bleep) in town, now we’re (bleep).”
Asked why that is, Guillen pulled no punches.

“Because maybe the manager is an (bleep),’’ he replied.

Guillen said that the only way the perception of the Sox would ever change is by winning, but even when they did in 2005, it hasn’t taken long for it to wear off. “We won it a couple years ago, and we’re horse(bleep),’’ Guillen said. “The Cubs haven’t won in 120 years and they’re the (bleeping) best. (Bleep) it, we’re good. (Bleep) everybody. We’re horse(bleep) and we’re going to be horse(bleep) the rest of our lives, no matter how many World Series we win. We are the (bleep) of Chicago. We’re the Chicago (bleep). We have the worse owner—the guy’s got seven (bleeping) rings, and he’s the (bleeping) horse(bleep) owner.’’

Imrem: Let’s trust Piniella on this one

The latest hoopla from Imrem (who, BTW...changed his name from Impylon).

There’s also talk-radio chatter that Soriano has a bad attitude! That he’s making too much money! That White Sox outfielder Nick Swisher is a better player!

Whoa, folks, slow down. The only legitimate debate here is whether Soriano should bat first in the order or down lower.

Otherwise everything is nonsense, starting with Swisher over Soriano.

That’s reminiscent of when some goofs actually blurted that during their primes, Mark Grace was a better first baseman to have on a team than Frank Thomas. What’s next, Pamela Anderson over Meryl Streep?

Soriano is more valuable than Swisher, who is a good player. Soriano might not be a chemistry guy, cheerleader or jokester, but he’s a better player.

Sox Machine: When sacks are packed, Quentin gets plunked

Kill Carlos Vol 3...another hit for Quentin.

It marked the third time this season a pitch that left a mark on Quentin drove in a run—George Sherrill and Justin Verlander provided the other two—meaning he already topped last year’s leaders.  In 2007, A.J. Pierzynski and Rob Mackowiak were among a six-way tie with two.

He’s the first player since J.T. Snow in 2004 to be hit by a pitch with the bases loaded three times in a season.  Snow achieved that in 107 games; Quentin has only played 22 so far.

Now, CQ has a chance to make history.  No player in the last 52 years has driven in a run by taking one for the team four times in a season, according to Baseball- Reference.com’s Play Index, which has complete seasons dating back to 1956.  Considering the aggregate number of bases-loaded HBPs generally decreased as I searched back through the years, he could possibly be looking at a modern-day record.

MLB.com: Bastardo makes strong bid for promotion

Get ready for some great headlines, Eastern League!

Clearwater Threshers manager Razor Shines wouldn’t be surprised if Antonio Bastardo moved up three levels and took the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies before the year is over.
The latest evidence backing up assessment was Sunday’s performance against the host Tampa Yankees. The 22-year-old left-hander fanned 13 and allowed just two hits over eight innings in a 5-0 shutout.

“I would be shocked completely if this kid throws another start for me,” Shines said. “He’s good enough to pitch on a much higher level.”

Hey, I remember Razor Shines.  And I remember when this guy was on the Phillies, too.

The manager credited Bastardo’s work with pitching coach Steve Schrenk for much of the hurler’s success.

The Phillies almost have a farm system again.

N.Y. Times: Curry: Thome’s in the 500 Club, but Maybe Not in THE Club (RR)

THE Club being the Hall of Fame, of course.

Thome has never been connected with the use of performance-enhancing drugs, but he has played in what has become known as the Steroid Era. Five hundred homers used to guarantee admittance to the Hall, but those standards could be changing. Maybe 600 will be the new 500.

“When I hear people say 500 homers doesn’t get you in the Hall of Fame, that’s a bold statement because 500 homers isn’t something that just happens,” Thome said in a phone interview. “It’s not something that you just toss out there.”

...Thome said that the inflation of statistics, some illegitimate, has made it more complicated to judge accomplishments. After he said he had been hurt by playing at a time when players used steroids, he amended his comments.

“I shouldn’t say it’s hurt me,” Thome said. “It’s hurt the game. It’s a part of what has happened and what we all have to deal with. It’s put us in a position where people’s speculation is one of the things you have.”

...“I do know one thing,” Thome said. “I know how hard and how long and how many countless hours you have to put in for it. I know how much you have to work your butt off to even come close to 500 homers.”

Top 7 :: Best Long Term Baseball Contracts

Chan Ho Park is still upset he didn’t make the list of Worst Long Term Baseball Contracts

This week, showing that we’re not all about negativity, here are the best long-term contracts ever signed in terms of the value that they returned.  For the purposes of the list, it does not count when a guy is just coming into the league, they would have to sign a contract afterwards, so Prince Fielder’s rookie contract can’t be on here even though it’s about as good of a deal as you can have.  The same goes for fliers taken on a guy - Chris Carpenter’s deal with the Cardinals would top that list.  These are long-term deals that actually ended up working out well, and they are kind of hard to find.....

5. Manny Ramirez
When he turned down Cleveland’s deal and signed with Boston for 8 years and $160 million, it seemed like an insane amount of money, until two things happened—A-Rod signing for almost $100 million more, and Manny being…a guy who was worth it.  He has finished in the top 20 of MVP every year including the top 10 each year but one (plus he would be the MVP so far this season), has two titles, and a World Series MVP.  He also has 260 homers and a batting average well over .300.  It’s amazing that even in the last year of such a massive deal that he is still giving them value.

Morrissey: Guillen goes to bat for cold Uribe (RR)

The latest headline grabber from the New Morrissey Express…

“I have some fans saying [Uribe] has pictures of me doing something wrong,” Guillen sniffed Thursday.

Guillen says Uribe is his starting second baseman for a simple reason: He’s the best one he has. That apparently comes as a surprise to some Sox fans who are sure Uribe wouldn’t know how to hit high school pitching and that Alexei Ramirez is ready to be an everyday player.

..."I think Uribe’s the best second baseman we have—that’s it,” Guillen said. “We’re not losing games because of him. We’re not hitting as a team right now. Why are people picking on Uribe when he’s just helping us to win games the way he plays defense? If I don’t think Uribe’s helping us win games, believe me he’s not going to be there. I guarantee it.

“I want to win, and I think that’s the best guy we have right now—right now—to do it. Maybe in a couple of days, I change my mind. Maybe I’ll find somebody who can hit better than him. I don’t think I’m going to find somebody who’s going to play better defense.”

Ozzie Guillen can’t say enough of Jeter

The Adventures of Ozzie and Hairyass!

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had no problem expressing his man-crush on New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.

‘’Derek Jeter has everything in his life,’’ Guillen gushed Wednesday. ‘’He’s got money, he’s got rings...’’

Then Guillen paused and laughed as it became obvious where he was going.

‘’He’s not married,’’ he continued. ‘’He lives in New York. At the All-Star Game, I looked around to see if he’s got anything I don’t like. Whoa. The perfect man. Too bad I don’t have a daughter.’’

Full Nelson to Can’t Stop the Breeding.

NJ.com: Don’t drink the water!

Two signs on the doors leading from the visitors’ clubhouse at U.S. Cellular Field to the first-base dugout read, “NO BOTTLED WATER ON THE BENCH.”

What’s this? Athletes can’t drink water? Even in the humid Chicago summers?

Here’s the explanation I got:

Gatorade is Major League Baseball’s “official sports drink.” So instructions were sent that no player could be seen drinking anything but Gatorade in the dugout. Not even Aquafina, which is the “official water” of MLB. Not even bottles of water with the labels removed.

Water?  Like outta the toilet?

Mariotti: GM Williams saving face with team’s 11-7 start, Frank Thomas’ release

Mariotti: The Defiant One!

Oh, but the new karma gets even better for Kenny the Grump. His mortal enemy, Frank Thomas, was released Sunday amid his usual controversy by the Toronto Blue Jays. This comes two years after Williams called Thomas “an idiot,” ordered him like a mob boss to “stay out of White Sox business,” told the world that chairman Jerry Reinsdorf loaned him money—and had to endure the subsequent embarrassment of Thomas combining for 65 home runs and 209 RBIs the last two years for other AL teams. While the Sox were busy reeking the last season and a half, Thomas was becoming an American hero as a slugger who went unjuiced during the Steroids Era, all but ensuring him first-ballot Hall of Fame status. Sox bosses couldn’t have been pleased about “the idiot” making them look bad, but, suddenly now, Williams is saving a little face after referring to Thomas as “selfish” and declaring, “We don’t miss his attitude. We don’t miss the whining.”

Deveney: The World Series the Cubs (maybe) gave away

Did the 1918 Cubs throw the World Series to Boston?

Alas, in the gambling scandal that never was, the ‘18 Cubs just might have laid down for that year’s A.L. champ, the Red Sox. In their defense, those Cubs could not have known that, 90 years later, North Side fans would still be pulling hair out over this team.

Now, it cannot be said for certain that gamblers got to the ‘18 Cubs. But Eddie Cicotte, pitcher and one of the eight White Sox outcasts from the ‘19 World Series, did say in a newly found affidavit he gave to the 1920 Cook County grand jury that the Cubs influenced the Black Sox. Cicotte said the notion of throwing a World Series first came up when the White Sox were on a train to New York. The team was discussing the previous year’s World Series, which had been fixed, according to players. Some members of the Sox tried to figure how many players it would take to throw a Series. From that conversation, Cicotte said, a scandal was born.

That’s some heavy-duty history, and, fittingly, the Cicotte affidavit sits in a room on the third floor of the Chicago Historical Society. Last December, the museum won an auction for the rights to a group of documents pertaining to the 1919 White Sox. The museum’s curator, Peter Alter, says the museum will eventually make the documents available to the public.

Emphasis mine. Tip of the Hat to Baseball Musings.

MLB: Low stolen base total not a concern for manager Guillen

Pulls out Charles Peirce’s “Resulting from an Amplification of the Conceptions of Boole’s Calculus of Logic” (bangs head repeatedly)

Give Ozzie Guillen credit for being a man of his word where the team’s philosophy on offense is concerned.

The White Sox manager mentioned numerous times during Spring Training how he didn’t necessarily want a speed guy at the top of his order, but instead desired any sort of leadoff hitter who consistently could get on base. So, the fact that the White Sox had an American League-low one stolen base entering Wednesday’s road contest against the Orioles didn’t fly in the face of Guillen’s aggressive style.

“We don’t have the type of ballclub that’s going to steal 100 bases,” Guillen said. “As long as we run the bases well, as long as we stay aggressive on the basepaths ...

“I’d rather have people on base, have 100 people on base than have 100 guys stealing bases. I think the on-base percentage is pretty important.”

AP: Crede, Konerko hit grand slams to lead White Sox past Tigers 11-0

Joe Crede and Paul Konerko each hit grand slams to back Javier Vazquez’s strong start, and the red-hot White Sox pounded the struggling Detroit Tigers 11-0 on Sunday.

Konerko’s homer came in the third off Kenny Rogers and Crede’s grand slam, his second this season, came in the fifth against Zach Miner as the White Sox won for the fifth time in six games over Detroit, the preseason favorite to win the AL Central.

It was the third time the White Sox have hit two grand slams in one game. The last time Chicago did it was May 19, 1996, when Darren Lewis and Robin Ventura homered at Detroit. The first time was Sept. 4, 1995, when Ventura hit two grand slams in a game at Texas.

MLB.com: [Dontrelle] Willis leaves with hyperextended knee

Tigers starting pitcher Dontrelle Willis left his start Friday night against the White Sox with a hyperextended right knee after slipping off the mound.
...
The game started on schedule in light showers after heavier rains passed through prior to the game. Grounds crew workers applied drying compound to the mound after taking off the tarp just before game time.

Willis walked leadoff man Carlos Quentin before he slipped off the mound while trying to deliver his first pitch to Orlando Cabrera. Willis stretched out on the mound and grabbed the back of his right knee as manager Jim Leyland and head athletic trainer Kevin Rand came out of the dugout.

Willis stayed in the game after some warmup pitches, but he proceeded to walk Cabrera. With two on and no outs, Willis fell behind Jim Thome, including a wild pitch in the dirt that advanced both runners and put Thome in a 2-1 count.

That’s when Rand and Leyland came to the mound again.

MLB: Sisco undergoes Tommy John surgery

Sisco kid was a frayed of mine…

Andrew Sisco underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery on Monday in New York and will be out of action between 12 to 24 months during his recovery period.

Sisco, 25, came to the White Sox via a trade with Kansas City for Ross Gload on Dec. 16, 2006, and the southpaw was counted as an integral part of the White Sox bullpen in the early part of the 2007 campaign. But Sisco struggled with an 8.36 ERA over 19 games, walking 11 in 14 innings, and did not receive a September callup after being sent down on May 27.

While Sisco will be out of action for the foreseeable future, the news was positive on Wednesday concerning second baseman Danny Richar and outfielder Jerry Owens. Richar, who was placed on the disabled list during Spring Training with a fracture of his first left rib, is feeling good but still a couple of weeks away from any sort of baseball activity.

Guillen not too comfy with Cuzzi

Romper, bomper, stomper boo...Ozzie, cuzzi, tizzy too!  I miss that song…

Before the game against the Minnesota Twins, he was asked about Cuzzi, who is responsible for Guillen’s last two ejections, including Monday’s. As usual, Guillen pulled no punches.

‘’I don’t like that guy behind the plate,’’ Guillen said. ‘’And I’m going to let him know. He don’t like me. I don’t like him. One reason is, if you don’t like me as a man and what I do, I respect that. But if you don’t like me, and all of a sudden you’re going to take it out on my players, you’re wrong. That’s unprofessional.

‘’And I just let him know I don’t like him the first day I see him, and I think he feels the same way about me. And we have to move on. Every time he’s behind the plate, we might have a problem. We might. We have. The last couple times behind the plate, we have a problem. And he tried to be smart with me, and I do what I have to do and he does what he has to do. And I got a good sleep last night.

‘’I will spend all my money for him. I don’t care. But obviously, we don’t like each other.’’

Chicago Tribune: White Sox will keep Nick Swisher at leadoff (RR)

Manager Ozzie Guillen said Monday he would keep Nick Swisher as his leadoff hitter for the foreseeable future.
...
“You have a leadoff hitter who can run, that’s a plus,” Guillen said. “But to be a leadoff hitter, you’ve got to get on base. You can’t steal first.

“I’d rather be a guy who gets on base. (Swisher is) hitting (.261) and all of a sudden he gets on base six times in a row by walks, and we need people on base when you have (Orlando) Cabrera and (Jim) Thome behind you. You get on base, you’re going to score a lot of runs.”

Swisher, who doesn’t have blazing speed, nevertheless has a .469 on-base percentage and doesn’t mind taking walks because “we got some bad boys hitting behind me.”

Chicago Sun-Times: Online mail to Ozzie often is out of line

SOX proxy server…

After a quick scan through his e-mails, Ozzie Guillen has read how he ‘’hates Brian Anderson’’ as well as being a ‘’Venezuelan piece of [bleep] that is racist and only starts the Latino players.’’

And those were sent in just the last few days.

Not that the Sox manager is a stranger to hearing that kind of talk, but now seemed the time to set the record straight on a few fronts.

Especially concerning the idea that he favors Latino players more than the ‘’white guys.’’

‘’I got a bunch of e-mails that said I played the ‘Cuban Missile’ [rookie Alexei Ramirez in the season opener] because he’s Cuban,’’ Guillen said. ‘’Wow, did you see the spring training the ‘Cuban Missile’ had? You would play him, too. I don’t make a lineup because of who is Latino and who is not. That’s ignorant. The ‘Cuban Missile’ had bad games because he went against C.C. [Sabathia] and [Fausto] Carmona. ‘’The one thing people need to understand is it takes me a long time to make the lineup. It’s not easy. But people say some dumb things.’’

Kenny Williams calls Canseco a liar, may sue

Motion for Restoration of Sanitary Sox!

After first telling the Sun-Times early Saturday morning in a text message that he “could care less what [Jose] Canseco says or what Jay [Mariotti] writes,’’ White Sox general manager Ken Williams obviously had a little more time to think about a story that appeared in Saturday’s Sun-Times.

In the story, Canseco said that Williams knew about the steroid use on his team in 2001 - the lone season Canseco played on the South Side.

“Of course, they knew,” Canseco told Mariotti. “They didn’t care. They all knew - abso-[bleeping]-lutely. [Williams] was a player [in the past]. He knew.’’

It was in his book “Vindicated’’ that Canseco alleged that he introduced former Sox outfielder Magglio Ordonez to steroids.

Hours before Saturday’s game with Detroit, Williams said that he will explore legal action against Canseco. He also called the one-time slugger “a liar.’’

Rozner: Perception not necessarily a reality in Williams’ eyes

Kenny: “Woohoo! I did it! I reached level s...[a truck runs him over]”

That’s how brutally negative the perception is of this year’s club, not to mention the ability of team management to build a successful program, or even a successful season.

“This is about as bad as it’s ever been during the time I can remember,’’ said White Sox GM Kenny Williams. “I’ll tell you, I want to have another parade, and when we have another parade on the South Side, then I’ll really tell people what I think.’’

Is it so bad that it would ever cause Williams to leave the job?

“Leave the job or leave Chicago?’’ Williams asked, lobbing a bomb in return. “I better not answer that.’’

..."As difficult as it’s been to absorb the criticism, I think this team is motivated by what they’ve heard and seen,’’ Williams said. “They’re aware of what’s being said about them. There are some proud guys on this team, and some champions who don’t like what they’ve been called.

“They’re going to try hard to prove people wrong.’’

MLB.com: Ozzie reveals Opening Day lineup

LF Swisher
SS Cabrera
DH Thome
1B Konerko
RF Dye
C Pierzynski
CF Ramirez
3B Crede
2B Ozuna