Ozzie Promises Changes....Again

In yesterday's Chicago Sun-Times, Greg Couch wrote a column about how the White Sox and Ozzie Guillen seem to thrive on controversy and friction. Whether it's something Ozzie says or does that causes problems with the media, or players on his team, it just seems like when things are going crazy with this team they play well.

So hopefully Ozzie's latest rant will help the Sox start another eight-game win streak. After the Sox struggled to score runs all weekend in Tampa, Ozzie couldn't hold the frustration in any longer, and went off on his team as he's prone to do.

"Just be ready because I expect movement Tuesday," Guillen said after the Sox went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position in a loss capped by Gabe Gross' walk-off home run off Matt Thornton on an 0-2 count in the bottom of the 10th inning. "I expect (general manager) Kenny Williams to do something Tuesday, and if we don't do anything Tuesday, there are going to be a lot of lineup changes. That's all I'm going to say about the offense."

But Guillen wasn't finished after the Sox dropped the final three games of the series to the Rays, managing just four runs in the three games.

"It can be me. It can be (hitting coach) Greg Walker. It can be the players. It could be anybody," he said. "I'm sick and tired to watch this thing for a year and a half. I'm not protecting anybody anymore. [Bleep] it. If they can't get it done, Kenny should find someone to get it done."

Okay, so that wasn't that great of a rant. Frankly, Ozzie spoils us with these things, but there's nothing new in this one. He demands change, says he's going to do something about it, and then even throws in another "I might get fired." Ozzie's been on the verge of getting fired 150 times in the last two years by his count.

At most I'd say that this rant is worth a four or five-game win streak max. Wait a minute, I think I just found another five wins we can tack on to that.

After Kenny Williams heard Ozzie's lastest comments, he had this to say.

"It's just not a good idea to throw your boss under the bus, especially when that boss has had your back as much as I have had his," Williams wrote in an e-mail. "I expect this team, if the leadership remains positive and the players stick together and continue to play hard, it will be a fun summer.

"The offense will begin to produce when collectively they say the hell with all the theories, stay loose, pick the pitch you want to hit and hit it hard. It will be nice to see them lighten up and have some fun."

Wow. We've seen it all over the last five years, but never once during one of Ozzie's tirades has Kenny Williams not supported him. When he called Mariotti a fag, Kenny said it was wrong, but since he agreed he didn't do much about it. Blow up dolls in the clubhouse? Kenny had to stifle laughter as he offered an "apology" for it.

Now Kenny is angry that Ozzie is throwing him under the bus. Oh man, we're so going to have a Cubs-White Sox World Series this year.