Calling in the big guns

Sox pitcher dismissed after miss

Chicago Sun-Times: After watching catcher A.J. Pierzynski get beaned by Rangers starter Vicente Padilla in the second and fourth innings, [Sean] Tracey was brought into the game in the seventh to face Hank Blalock.

According to one Sox source, Tracey also entered the game with specific instructions.
Both benches had received warnings after the second time Pierzynski was used for target practice, and that's why Agustin Montero already was warming up in the bullpen with Tracey on the mound.

Tracey did throw one inside pitch to Blalock, but then he simply pitched to the third baseman and got him out.

That brought Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to the mound and sent Tracey to the dugout.

The explanation offered by Guillen after the game was well thought out but also a big smokescreen. And while Guillen is never one to lie to the media, he also knows the unwritten rule of baseball that states a manager or player never can admit to throwing at an opposing player without serious repercussions from the league office.

"I felt the thing with Tracey was he's not a mop-up man,'' Guillen said. "He's one of our prospects and shouldn't be in the game for mop-up time. I took too long to get Montero ready to go, and that was my mistake.

"It was my fault that Montero wasn't up quick enough. I got caught between leaving Vazquez in the game or not.''

Guillen, however, was caught on camera screaming at someone in the dugout after removing Tracey. When the camera focused on Tracey, he was visibly upset and looked almost on the brink of tears. A Sox source said after the game that Tracey was informed he was being sent back down to Class AAA Charlotte.

"Ozzie went nuts,'' one source said. "He had the ass, big-time.''

You know, there's an analogy here to the U.S. war in Iraq. At some point when the boss tells you to do something that you don't think is right, no matter if that's the code or the way it's always been done, you just don't do it. And take the consequences.

In this case, we already knew Ozzie was nuts--even if he's the best manager the White Sox have had in 87 years.

More proof today...

No Raves for Ozzie's Rants

Mark Kreidler on ESPN.com: Can we all agree that certain words are so potentially hurtful they should be used either rarely or never?

Good. Then let's not call it a suspension. Let's call it an intervention.

C'mon, White Sox, rescue your guy before he goes Archie Bunker on the rest of the world. Ozzie Guillen has already mocked the likes of A-Rod for not being Dominican enough, equated homosexuals with child molesters, ripped into a rookie for not intentionally hitting an opposing player, declared that if any pitcher hit him twice, "I'd be in the hospital or I'd be dead -- but I will fight, I will fight."

With that as the subtext, Guillen's homosexual slur of Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti on Tuesday is less shocking than it is a continuation of a trend that has been gathering momentum -- virtually unchecked -- by the week.

It is the story of a man who became so lionized for speaking his mind that he forgot the part about having one. At some point, Guillen as a refreshing alternative to canned managerial quotes (Hey, no other managers talk like this!) morphed into the bile-spewing elephant in the living room. It isn't as though the White Sox didn't see it coming -- everybody in baseball has seen Guillen on the rage for months, even as no one lifted a hand to check him.

So now's the time. Stop this man before he runs off the rails. Save Guillen from himself by yanking him off the field long enough to get his attention.

This guy just referred to a local writer thusly: "What a piece of [expletive] he is, [expletive] fag."

Any questions? This has nothing to do with Guillen's feud with Mariotti, and everything to do with Guillen's rapidly shrinking view of the world around him.

Suspend him in order to preserve him. It's your move, White Sox.

Photo of Guillen by Ron Vesely via Baseball America.