The honeymoon lasted 21 days. Now Ozzie Guillen knows what it’s really like to be a major-league manager.
After spending three weeks laughing and joking with his players, whom he termed his “friends,” the rookie manager threw down the gauntlet after his White Sox lost 5-4 Thursday to the San Diego Padres.
After winning their first three exhibition games, the Sox have lost four out of five and three in a row.
“I hate to lose,” Guillen said. “Even if I play Ping-Pong I want to win. I don’t think we’re playing good baseball, and I don’t want this to get out of my hands. Not because we lost three in a row. [Because] we’re not playing the way we should be playing and I’m not happy.”
There was much displeasing to Guillen–from starting pitcher Esteban Loaiza to what he termed a “dead” dugout in the eighth and ninth innings.
With the Sox trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Pedro Lopez led off with a walk. But Brian Anderson, Michael Morse and Mario Valenzuela all struck out on three pitches to end the game.
None of those players will be on the 25-man roster, but that doesn’t matter to Guillen.
“I come here and give all my energy, I wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning ready to go,” Guillen said. “My coaches are ready to go. I expect the players to come the same way. Whether you’re playing three innings or nine innings, you better show up and play the game and have enthusiasm and thank the Lord for what kind of job you have.”
Loaiza worked four innings in his second start of the spring. In all, he threw 80 pitches, only 48 for strikes.
“I think he threw too many pitches,” Guillen said. “I’m not saying I’m mad at him, but I didn’t like the way he threw. If you throw 80 pitches in four innings, that’s not a good sign.”
Loaiza said he felt fine and actually asked to pitch another inning. Guillen almost lifted him in the fourth, but only Billy Koch was throwing and Guillen didn’t want to bring him into a non-save situation.
“He’s a better pitcher than that,” Guillen said of Loaiza. “His next start I want him to be more focused and pitch the way he should.”
Though it’s still relatively early, there comes a point in every spring training when players hit a wall. Guillen may see Thursday as a way to put out any potential fires before they rage out of control.
“I know spring training gets old sometimes, but that’s what you’re paid for,” Guillen said. “I expect them to show up [Friday] and play a better game. I hope they read the papers.”
Guillen is a constant presence in the Sox clubhouse in the hours before a game, making the rounds and talking to nearly everybody in Spanish and English. He said he’ll make a point to get his message across Friday.
“They’re not ready to play, and I don’t like it,” he said. “I could care less what [the players] think. They know they have a friend here, but I don’t want this to go the wrong way. I want them to show up tomorrow and it should be the biggest game we’re going to play.”
Guillen said he can accept losing games, but he can’t accept a lack of enthusiasm or intensity.
“I expect them to come with intensity every day,” he said. “If it’s spring training, the first day of the playoffs, the last game of the season, I don’t want them to lay down and relax.”
Friday’s game, against the Anaheim Angels, will be the 10th of the exhibition season, but it may be among the most important ones the Sox play this spring.
