Full Court Press

When was the last time you saw a manager rip into a pitcher for HITTING a batter? Ozzie is Ozzie and he is gonna do what he feels is best for his team even if we don't agree with it.Betcha this, that kid will remember to listen to his manager next time he is told to do something regardless of his own opinion.

NO Ozzie didn't go too far! as a manager you protect your players. his catcher was hit 2 times and that's horse )***^ ! here is a pitcher, albeit a rookie who is drawing a big paycheck who needs to be there for his guys and who failed.

Ozzie Guillen is a shrewd and knowledgeable baseball manager who usually gets the most out of his players. However, he's a loose cannon who seems to have no control over his temper.

He needs to realize that there are children watching him and that he's setting a horrible example for them, especially with his foul language and violent outbursts. It takes a bigger man to turn the other cheek. Show some class and take the high road, Ozzie!

Ozzie did the right thing and that is why we are World Champs.

Ozzie did the right thing by showing his players that he was going to protect them and that anyone on the team who wouldn't protect his mates isn't welcome. St. Louis, maybe it wasn't the best example for kids but Ozzie's way is the winning way and his actions do at least set a good example in showing the value of loyalty. Ozzie is loyal to his players and they are loyal to him, this is a winning formula you should be used too after watching LaRussa for years St. Louis. Knowing that your team and manager are going to protect you breeds camaraderie and chemistry leading to victories.

I don't think there is anything wrong with Ozzie ordering the hit. However, his reaction to Tracy was horrible. In any sport the manager/coach asks for volunteers to do the dirty work. If Tracy doesn't feel comfortable with the assignment it should have been given to someone else. When the bullpen was called Oz should have had the question asked who wants to do this.
Also, you can't blame Tracy fo rdeveloping a reputation as a 'goon' not a pitcher. Often if you are put in that position you build that type of a rep. A veteran who already has his rep formed would have been more appropriate.

Randy Johnson was sentenced to a five-game suspension (pending appeal) for throwing a pitch at Eduardo Perez on Wednesday. That is how players should be protected. Anyone who believes it's better to injure innocent batters has lost his ethical moorings. I commend Tracey for doing the right thing.

It was definatly the right thing to do. Anyone that dosen't think so is probably a fan of the kinder and more gentle Cubs. And we all see how that's been working for the last 100 years.

I applaud Ozzie for ordering some well deserved retaliation, but I stop short of head hunting with a 95 MPH hardball. I think a good control pitcher can aim for the buttocks or thighs as long as it's well above the knee. Getting plunked in this area will still get the message across without doing any serious damage. You want to inflict a little pain, but not injure anyone on the opposing team.

This is baseball, not knitting. Retribution. You throw gas at the hitter's midsection till you hit him. Tracy wimped out, then he wimped out again. He deserved a demotion, not just a tongue-lashing. If he has a problem with doing this part of his job, he should find a new vocation. Period.

What kind of example is Ozzie showing to the kids coming up? That just shows how immature he is. Those kind of things come back at you in one form or another. If that is the way the game is played, as some say, then there is no limit to the kinds of retaliation. In the old days when a pitcher "dusted off" a hitter, the hitter got back in the box and retaliated by getting a base hit. What does the White Sox owner think of Ozzie's actions?

It is real easy for any of us to sit here and commend Ozzie for his actions. We want to believe that he was looking out for the team. That's fine, however, not a single one of us is a rookie pitcher just trying to make it.

Minor leaguers spend their entire early adult lives trying to get to the majors. This particular pitcher finally got his shot and Ozzie sends him out to hit an opposing player. Imagine you've waited your whole life to get there, something that you've wanted more than anything else in this world, and your first opportunity comes with news that you're going to be a headhunter. Your value is in hitting other players, not getting them out.

Imagine if he had gone through with it? He'd probably receive a suspension and wouldn't be any good to the team. Heck, he'd probably take up a roster spot for at least 5 games as well. Is that really doing something for the better of the team? I completely agree with Jay Mariotti when he questions how it is any different than John Chaney sending in a player to commit hard fouls and eventually breaking a player's arm. I commend this player for his integrity and keeping his eye on the main thing while showing everyone that some athletes still have morals and values even when their managers don't.

youve got to be kidding? Its not a tennis match or golf out there where you have to be polite. I wouldve loved seeing how Don Drysdale would have handled it

You can't blame Ozzie for trying to make Tracey a goat. As a rookie his only job is to do what the manager tells him and he failed, have fun in AAA Sean.

I completely agree with the previous post about how the league has a responsibility to protect ballplayers. Baseball made an example of Randy Johnson, now it is time to enforce suspensions for intentional HBP across the league.

Maybe I’m overreacting, but with the recent poll suggesting that A.J. is the batter which pitchers most want to hit, anything too far in off the plate should be reviewed in the context of that game and justice should be dished out.

If suspensions are the way to protect players could somebody please explain to me then why Padilla wasn't suspended. When A.J. gets hit nobody is going to protect him but his team. Ozzie understands this and so does anybody who has ever played in any organized sport. Sometimes the unwritten rules are the only way to properly do things when an unfair bureaucracy such as MLB won't do the right thing. Get off of Ozzie and let players and managers settle things.

There's a reason retaliation isn't tolerated anymore. What if Tracey were suspended? What if the batter (who had nothing to do with AJ getting plunked) had gotten hurt?

Absolutely not! Pierzynski is a major reason the White Sox are so successful, and allowing every team in the league that doesn't like A.J. to throw at him is just asking for trouble. Tracy was called upon to do a job and didn't do it. Ozzie's message was as much directed at Tracy as the rest of the league. The real question is, why has the game become so soft?

ok to throw at the guy but he didnt have to send the kid back down-- little to much i think--ozzie lost his cool

If Ozzie is just doing what you gotta do in baseball why did he wait until Vazquez had thrown the game away (again)? If you are "a man" have the veteran pitcher retaliate and protect your player right away. DOn't ask a rookie to do your dirty work. We all love Ozzie but this was BS. He took advantage of an inexperienced player so when the kid gets suspended he can keep his starter. Although it probably would have helped the Sox more if he had gotten Vazquez suspended.

The White Sox are WS champs, DESPITE Ozzie, not because of his "genius." In fact, I will go out and say that Ozzie is "Dusty Baker with a championship," and that ain't a good thing.

I applaud Sean Tracey for standing up to Ozzie. Ozzie is a moron, and I can't believe ny fellow White Sox fans are defending this punk. As soon as Oz and AJ are gone for the Sox, the better this club will be.

Sean, I plead for you to leave Chicago, it's obviously you won't another shot at pitching here.

The Cubs' performance today was dreadful. But it didn't help that the WGN produced coverage kept showing the Tigers' dugout celebrating after all those homers, rather than a good shot of Baker swearing under his breath, or the Cubs just being depressed and sad. Hey, if we're getting home team coverage, I want to see them sulk in the sad sack patheticness that they are. We deserve, as fans, to see them throw water bottles, swear a lot, and just look depressed. Down with WGN bias!

Funny how everybody is blaming all but the perps themselves, Buck Showalter and Padilla. Showalter is a moron, trying to derail the growing team chemistry in the Sox's clubhouse, over a personal feud he has with Guillen. What speaks even more loudly is that Pierzinski failed to take care of business himself. What a gutless turd! I love the White Sox and will cheer them again in October. My question is how many of you out there are going to look at Ozzie in the same forgiving light when his baseball teams no longer are contenders? Perhaps the Sox will turn out the next Atlanta Braves, but I doubt it. Somewhere in the future Ozzie will not win a World Series. His rants aren't going to look the same, neither to fans nor his players......In the meantime, be succint and more calculated, Ozzie, and try to only blow your fuse in the clubhouse, not in the dugout with a dozen cameras focused on you. It looked bad, real bad. Anyway, GO SOX.

Roman responds: Your point about Pierzynski defending himself is valid. At some point, he's going to have to do something about people hitting him in the jaw and with pitches. It shouldn't all be up to the pitchers.

When Jeff Kent was beaned by a San Francisco pitcher this year and given a concussion, the Dodgers went right back and hit Barry Bonds with a pitch at his at bat. This is just the way the game is played. No team in the majors is going to let an opposing pitcher get away with beaning a key player. If you can't understand that, you just don't understand baseball.

Plenty of blame to go around here. First, the fact that Ozzie didn't call out Vazquex shouldn't be surprising in that he tends to protect his Latin players more than others. Second, why do people view Tracey "as a kid"...he's 25!! Wasn't it 23 year old Brian Anderson who jumped into the Cub/Sox fight to help AJ? Ozzie told him to hit someone...he should have hit someone.

Obviously, Ozzie over-reacted when he chastised his young pitcher. He should have imitated North Side Dusty, sat in a corner of the dug out, and mumbled something nearly unintelligible to the press after the game. Oh. Does that mean the Sox would finish the year at 62 - 100? Such is the price of dispassionate leadership--or the lack thereof--.

I was actually at the game ( visiting my parents ) and the fans were laughing and cheering each time he was hit. It was obviously intentional. What irks me is that Vazquez didn't drill the first guy up after Pierzynski got hit the first time. Pick on Tracey, no.....I'm ticked at Vazquez.

Tracey walked 35 batters in 63 innings w/Charlotte. He's also hit 8 batters. It probably was not from a lack of trying that he couldn't hit someone. Sounds to me like he'd have trouble hitting the ground if he fell over. Ozzie should know that too, but then, nobody's accused him of being rational.

If your boss (or anyone for that matter) asks you to do something that is contrary to your conscience, would you do it? If you answer yes, then you have no integrity. You have a responsibility to not follow a morally questionable order. Watch the movie "A Few Good Men", and you'll see my point.

Intentionally causing physical harm to a player on the opposing team is never justifiable. Tracey and Pierzynski did the right thing by keeping their cool and not retaliating to Showalter's and Padilla's cheap shots.

The argument of "that's the way baseball is" just doesn't fly. Just because something is considered the norm doesn't mean that it's right. For years, slavery was also considered the norm. If that's the way baseball is, then it's time for baseball to change.

Ozzie is a bum, a coward and most of all a clown. His semi-literate rantings before and after games is well known. The Tracey incident shows once again that what Ozzie lacks most of all is class.

This is Major League Baseball. Anyone who beleives Ozzie and his team shouldn't protect themselves should probably loosen thier panties 'cause it's a man's game with man rules. Anybody remeber "there's no crying in Baseball!" 1st rule - the Manager says it, YOU DO IT. No opnion needed, no debate warrented. 2nd rule - it's you and the 25+ men in your dugout/bullpen/clubhouse for 162 and hopefully more against 'them'. 'Them' being opposing teams, fans, and overblown/over-opiniated media (ex. jay mariotti). Teams, specifically winning teams, fight for each other at all costs. There's at least two fights in every Hockey game, but no one ever says that Hockey Players should be mindful of the young viewers and the model they present. Football is AMERICAS' SPORT , not to mention its' most violent. But we, including our children eat it up!

Larry F. - "the fact that Ozzie didn't call out Vazquez shouldn't be surprising in that he tends to protect his Latin players more than others."

Maybe your prejudice has blinded you or maybe you just don't have a clue but:

Can you recall his handling of Damaso Marte? How 'bout calling out Carlos Lee when he failed to take a hard slide into second base to break up a double play? Does Maglio Ordonez ring a bell? Last I checked, these three men were of Latin descent. Maybe I'm wrong and you're right; maybe they're just dark skinned Anglo-Americans....

He is a racist, sexist, schmuck in its purest form. Fire him.

To whom it may concern, Ozzie Guillen is last years manager of the year and also the manager of the World Champion Chicago White Sox, in case you have forgot. Ozzie is still the same man who played shot stop those twenty years ago. He wasn't getting paid to be politically correct then and that holds true to this day. Ozzie gets paid for one simple reason, win. He will do whatever is in his power to win for his team. If that means calling out his star player for lack of effort, intentionally plunking a batter to let his team know he's behind them, or even if it means calling a controversal writer a fag. Facts are facts. Ozzie gets paid to win, and so far he has earned his keep. I know of a far less controversial and for that matter talkative Chicago Baseball manager, but he's on the onther side of town, 15.5 games behind the NL Central Division leading Cardinals who Ozzies boy took to the woodshed yesterday. Maybe more people hustle when they have fire under their ass instead of ice.

Ozzie is a complete idiot. He is a fair manager at most that needs to be babysat constantly. That team is good with or without Ozzie. He might be on a good team but I can name at least 15 other managers in the league that are better than him and could have just as easily taken that team to the championship. Ozzie needs to learn that in life there is an edit button when you are in the public spotlight. Calm down, shut your mouth and coach the game the way the great coachs have always done. You didn't see Joe Torre going crazy on the news or Bobby Cox. They know how to coach a team, Ozzie is a HACK.

I agree with Ozzie about columist as he calls himself. He has been fighting with the Sox and Bulls for years. It is because the owner thinks he is a piece of s--t but can't say so. I think Ozzie proably was out of line the f-word, but I don't believe he was referring to homosexuals when using the term. As any one knows the term is used very loosely in chicago and not always referring to homosexuals.

Marrioti is the true coward in this exchange with Guillen. Write your column, retaliate with any works you choose, and never have to face the individual you are writing about. If he had any courage, he'd show up in the clubhouse and take the verbal exchange, but again that would take courage something Mariottis never had. I read Mariotti's column while I lived in Chicago, and occasionally catch it on the internet since I moved to Dallas. He really hasn't changed, still has the ego of old and not much important to say.

Ozzie was right. I don't care or know about Jay's sexual orientation but its true Jay can't make it to the stadium, he can make it on ESPN everynight but the stadium...no. Simply, Jay's jeoulous. The sad thing is Jay will be around Chicago longer because his job carries no risks or real pressure compared to anyone involved in pro sports.

I have read backwards to old columns and still can't find out when and why a j pierzynski was declared so awful he was/is to be hated. What is it he did, when and to whom?