Cubs and White Sox yesterday. Bottom of the sixth inning, Alexei Ramirez at bat. Ramirez chops one off the plate, and it rolls behind the plate…foul ball, right? Well, Cubs catcher Geovany Soto picked the ball up and tagged Ramirez, and umpire James Hoye called Ramirez out. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was…none too pleased.
Now if you’re Ozzie Guillen in this situation, you have to defend one of your guys after such an egregiously bad call. But does anyone else think he went a little too far? The White Sox really aren’t playing bad baseball after a horrendous April, going 25-21 since May 1st, and sitting only 5.5 games out of first place in the tight AL Central. I don’t really think the team needed a spark. It almost seems to be like this was a shoutout to GM Kenny Williams to say “go ahead and trade me to the Marlins!” Guillen and Williams have a love/hate relationship, and Guillen is under contract until 2012 after the White Sox picked up his option back in January. The Marlins have been lusting for Guillen since firing Fredi Gonzalez last June, and former manager Edwin Rodriguez had a fraction of Guillen’s fire in his belly. And when you compare Guillen to interim Marlins manager Jack McKeon…well, there really isn’t a comparison. Guillen is exactly the kind of manager that would have no problem telling hotheaded Marlins superstar Hanley Ramirez to stick it, and I think that’s what he needs, as opposed to the passive aggressive benching and admonishments of his last three managers in Miami.
Will the Marlins finally get their man, or will the team have to settle for a second option? The only manager on the market close to being like Guillen is Bobby Valentine of ESPN, but he apparently turned the job down after learning how much owner Jeffrey Loria loves to meddle with his team. Guillen is the kind of guy that would also stand up to Loria and not take any of his nonsense. If the White Sox and Guillen do part ways, it would be interesting to see what ends up happening with Ozzie and the Fish. It could give us hours more of comedy.
