Ozzie Guillen Is Ready to Retaliate

Over the last few weeks, the Chicago White Sox have been a lot better at catching balls with their arms and thighs while in the batter's box than they've been in the field with their gloves. Their manager, Ozzie Guillen, is getting tired of it. Having seen three of his batters hit by a pitch on Saturday -- Carlos Quentin was hit as well in the game, but the home-plate umpire missed it -- Guillen gave the rest of the majors a warning.

If you hit his players, whether intentional or not, the White Sox are going to retaliate.

"Yesterday I get upset, they hit one guy and they throw in into another guy. I got upset. I know for a fact they're not throwing at nobody, but enough is enough," Guillen said. "I have Konerko bruised all over the place. Around the league, be careful because we're going to hit people. I don't care if I get suspended because I need to protect my players.

"When we went to Cleveland they hit two guys, not on purpose, but someone can get hurt out there. You can pitch in, but if you don't know how don't do it. It gets to the point when they hit us seven times, 20 times in one week and we hit one and they're the headhunters and that's a (problem) with major league baseball."

So, even if it's unintentional, Ozzie plans on having his pitchers return fire. And if he thinks the bean-ball was on purpose?

"If I see someone hit my player, and I know they hit him on purpose it's two guys going down. I don't care if I get suspended," Guillen said. "I'd rather have me suspended for two games than have my players on the DL for 30 days."

Of course, the only thing Guillen is going to accomplish by saying these things publicly is guaranteeing that the next White Sox pitcher who hits somebody is going to get ejected -- which probably doesn't help the team unless it's Jose Contreras.

I fully understand where Guillen is coming from with these statements -- nobody wants to see their players getting drilled all the time -- but it's probably something he should have told his pitchers in the confines of the clubhouse, not in public.

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