The Wizdom of Ozz

When looking back at the American League Championship Series last October, the biggest thing that sticks out was the four consecutive complete games pitched by the White Sox. It was a rare accomplishment by any pitching staff in any time period. Deservedly so, the Sox starters - Mark Buerhle, Jose Contreras, Freddy Garcia, and Jon Garland - got a lot of praise for it.

What most people don't think about is WHY that accomplishment is so rare. The real reason it almost never happens: how many managers would let it happen?

Only one right now.

Ozzie Guillen.

During last night's Sox/Twins game ESPN aired an interview between Joe Morgan and Jim Thome. Morgan asked Thome to describe playing for Ozzie, and why players enjoy it so much.

Thome spoke of Ozzie's attitude, the fact he's just another one of the guys, and that he makes it understood if you don't come to play hard everyday, you won't play at all. He then offered up a line that sums up Guillen: "If you show him respect, he gives you respect."

There are a lot of managers out there who view themselves as the boss and the players merely their employees. Not Guillen. Guillen constantly asks his players what they think during a game. In the end he makes the decision, but he makes sure that everyone is involved. And the team responds to that. It's hard to play 162 games without wanting to take a game off, but it's Ozzie's attitude and approach to his players that makes them come out and play hard every day.

Last night's game was one of the oddest I've seen in some time but in it Ozzie displayed yet again exactly what Thome tried to express.

The White Sox scored 3 runs in the top of the first thanks to a Jermaine Dye home run and led 3-0 when Mark Buerhle took the mound. Buerhle had been struggling in his last three starts with his location, and as a result he's been getting hit around.

That didn't change the first inning Sunday night - the Twins scored seven runs off of him (only 1 earned, thanks to 2 errors) to take a 7-3 lead.

Ozzie just sat in the dugout and watched. How many managers would do that? The Sox were coming off of a 3 game losing streak and, thanks to a Detroit win Sunday afternoon, another loss would put them in danger of dropping from first place.

But still, Ozzie sat.

What Ozzie was concerned about was Buerhle. Of course, Guillen cares about the team and he wants to win but he knows he can't do it without Mark Buerhle or the rest of his players. So he shows them the respect they've earned.

And that meant having Mark Buerhle go back to the mound in the second inning to do his job. Instead of taking his struggling starter out and leaving his confidence shaken, he left him there and made him work his way out of it. (Also, he knows that with the offense the White Sox have a four run deficit after an inning is hardly insurmountable.)

He showed Mark Buerhle respect and in return, Buerhle pitched five more innings without surrendering another run. In fact he returned to classic Buerhle form after hitting rock bottom in the first.

The White Sox offense then came to the rescue thanks to two more home runs from Jim Thome, and AJ Peirzynski, a 2 run triple by Scott Podsednik, and a sacrifice fly from Paul Konerko in a 5 run 4th inning. The score was now 9-7 White Sox.

In the sixth inning Ozzie did it again. Nick Punto and Shannon Stewart started the Twins 6th inning off by getting on base. After falling behind 7-3, and coming back to take a lead, the Twins now had two on with nobody out. At this point in any other game with any other manager, there would have been a pitching change.

There wasn't even anybody warming up in the White Sox bullpen.

Instead on the very next pitch Luis Castillo bunted a ball into the air that was caught by Paul Konerko who quickly turned it into a 3-4-6 triple play. Inning over. Now, I'm not saying that Ozzie induced a triple play - but he let Buerhle get out of it.

That's why the White Sox pitchers were so clutch in the postseason last year. Remember in the Division series against Boston when Orlando Hernandez came out of the bullpen with the bases loaded and no outs? Then he proceeded to get two popups and a strikeout, inning over? Well that's because Ozzie makes his pitchers get themselves out of their own jams during the regular season. As a result when they get in trouble in pressure situations it's not that big of a deal, cuz they've been there before, and they've done that.

The White Sox would go on to win the game, and give Mark Buerhle his 4th win of the season. The last time a pitcher gave up 7 runs in the first inning and won the game? Jack Powell of the St. Louis Cardinals......on September 29th, 1900. (Against the Cubs too. They couldn't score then either. More on that later.) It's been 105 years since it's been done. Why?

Cuz what manager would let a pitcher do that?

One.

Ozzie Guillen.

Another little thing I noticed from this series between the Sox and Twins. Back in November I wrote that I thought the Cubs should go after Luis Castillo from the Marlins, instead of Juan Pierre. (It's in there.) I don't want to toot my own horn, or say I told you so ... okay I'm saying it:

How have the two former Marlins fared so far this season?

Juan Pierre-.225 0HR 2RBI 20Runs 12SB

Luis Castillo-.345 2HR 20RBI 21Runs 4SB

Oh, and Castillo is also a Gold Glove 2nd baseman.

I only mention this because the Cubs are struggling mightily to score runs. In 14 games this month the Cubs have scored 30 runs; they are 2-12 and have been shut out 4 times (four times!).

If you take out the 8 runs they scored in a victory against San Francisco last week they've scored 22 runs in 13 games.

Luis Castillo could have helped. Todd Walker could be playing first base full time right now for the Cubs, and Castillo could be getting on base and scoring for the team.

The reason I bring this up is that a month and a half into the season I want to look at the three biggest surprises, and disappointments of the 2006 season so far.

Can you guess which list I have the Cubs on?

THREE BIGGEST SURPRISES

• Detroit Tigers(24-13)-The Tigers are playing great baseball and they're doing it very quietly. The have a MLB leading 3.25 ERA, and are hitting .275 as a team with 51 home runs. Their pitching staff has been led by youngsters Jeremy Bonderman, Mike Maroth, Justin Verlander, and Nate Roberston. Put in a fire-balling reliever in Joel Zumaya, and Fernando Rodney and you get one heck of a bullpen too. Detroit's offense has proven to be very potent thanks to a healthy Magglio Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez, and the surprising power of Chris Shelton. The majority of the country knows nothing about this team though since they are never on ESPN or Fox. If they keep playing like this though, that will soon change. The popular choice for why the Tigers are playing the way they are is because of manager Jim Leyland. Those folks are right too. This team is not going to fade, and they will make sure the White Sox are going to have to earn a second consecutive division championship.
• Cincinnati Reds(23-15)- The Reds have slowed up a little bit over the last 10 games, but they still sit in 2nd place in the National League Central. The reason they've been winning has been the longball and surprisingly solid pitching (4.31 team ERA). Personally, I haven't seen much of the Reds this year - well, I did see them demolish the Cubs but the Reds always seem to do that. Based on what I've seen, I don't think the Reds are going to play this well all season. I just don't trust their pitching enough, especially in their ball park and in their division.
• Colorado Rockies (21-17)-Until the current 5 game winning streak of the San Diego Padres, the Rockies had held first place in the National League West. As a team they are hitting .270, but more impressively have a 4.27 team ERA. That's pitching at Coors Field too. This biggest difference I've noticed with this Rockies team compared to previous versions is their road record. The Rockies are 12-9 on the road while only 9-8 at home. Historically they've been a above-average team at home, and horrible on the road. In a weak division, there is no reason to think that the Rockies can't stay at or near the top all season.

THREE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS

• Chicago Cubs (15-22)-As I wrote earlier the Cubs are having tremendous struggles at home plate this season. They are hitting .243 as a team and have scored only 139 runs this year. The only team worse than that is the Kansas City Royals. Without Derrek Lee due back til mid summer, it doesn't look as though things will get much better either. Kerry Wood is supposed to return this Thursday, but how long until he gets hurt again? The team's ERA is 4.83, and they could really use some solid starts from Carlos Zambrano and Greg Maddux right now just to try and stay afloat. Also one has to believe it's only a matter of time before Dusty Baker is fired. Then again, who knows what to expect from this team's management right now. Their GM, Jim Hendry, has now gone two seasons in a row without answering concerns in the starting rotation, and he got rewarded with a contract extension. Maybe if they lose 100 games this year, they'll give Baker a lifetime deal.
• Los Angeles Angels (16-22)-My preseason pick to win the AL West the Angels are struggling. They have a decent team ERA of 4.47, but without injured Bartolo Colon eating up innings, it's wearing on the arms of the bullpen. The big problem has been at the dish where the team is hitting only .247. I have a feeling this team will get things turned around eventually. They just have too much talent in that lineup with Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson.
• Cleveland Indians(17-21)-The Indians have been the biggest surprise to me, period. This is the team I had pegged as the second best team in the American League. Their offense has been as good as advertised (.298 with a MLB leading 225 runs) but the pitching has been a letdown. Injuries to CC Sabathia, Matt Miller, and Rafael Betancourt have helped lead to a gaudy 5.29 team ERA. That was my big concern with this team in the offseason though. I figured the loss of Kevin Millwood, along with Bobby Howry couldn't help, but I didn't think it would hurt this bad. As to whether they can turn it around, I don't know. It all depends on the pitching, cuz this team is going to hit, and they're going to score. There have been a lot of 8-7 games so far, and there probably will be for the rest of the season. The Indians just need to hope they're the team scoring 8 more times than not.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

• First Jerry Azumah gets robbed of his football career thanks to a hip injury, but now he's getting robbed of his money too.
• The Clippers tied up their series with the Suns at 2, and I stand by my statement they'll win this series in 6.
• The Nets have let me down big time against the Heat. They made the Heat look horrible in a Game one win in Miami, and then they proceed to get beat 3 in a row including both games in New Jersey. This one doesn't get past tomorrow night. It'll be a Pistons/Heat Eastern Conference Finals.
• Cleveland fans, don't get too excited about Game 3. The Pistons will still win this thing in 5. Even Rasheed Wallace thinks so.
• The best series has been the Spurs and Mavs as expected. At this point though I have to say I think Mavs in 6. They'll win game 4, lose game 5, and then take game 6.
• A third member of the Duke Lacrosse team has been indicted.