White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen In Middle Of Beaning Mess

It seems that White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen is once again the top story in Chicago. Not for how he goes about managing his baseball team, but rather, once again, for his actions and the uncensored words that flow from his mouth.

On Wednesday in Texas the game against the Rangers was very interesting. In the 2nd and 4th innings White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski was hit by Rangers starter Vicente Padilla. Both benches were warned after the second beaning.

To start off the seventh inning Guillen sent rookie relief pitcher Sean Tracey into the game and the batter he faced was Hank Blalock. Tracey threw two inside pitches to Blalock before he grounded out.

When Blalock grounded out Guillen slammed a water bottle to the ground and promptly removed Tracey from the game. Then Guillen was seen in the dugout yelling in Traceys' direction and Tracey pulled the collar of his jersey over his head.

In a story on MLB.com it states "when Guillen was caught screaming in the dugout by television cameras from the Texas broadcast, he was not yelling specifically at Tracey, who was removed from the game after one hitter. Instead, Guillen was vehemently stressing that the White Sox have to stick together and stand up for each other at all times."

Un huh. And if you believe that line of crap I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.

It's obvious that Guillen had told the youngster to go in there and bean Blaylock in retaliation for the earlier beanings and the pitcher failed to complete his assignment.

Need more circumstantial evidence?

On Wednesday after the game as Tracey was packing his bags for a return trip to the minors veteran reliever Cliff Politte counseled the youngster.

Then on Thursday Politte spoke to the media about the issue....which....probably was not the brightest thing to do. In the MLB.com article some of his quotes were:

"It's a tough situation," Politte explained. "He was called to do a job and it didn't work out. When the manager calls you in to do something, you do it. This is the guy that runs the team, and if he tells you to jump off a bridge, you have to think about it if you want to stick up here and play.

"You feel bad for the kid because he doesn't know better and didn't know what he should do after the first pitch. I just told him to keep his head up. He's a young kid who really didn't know any better. I'm trying to pat him on the back a little bit, even though he messed up."

Ummmm....what job was it that Tracey was called upon to do that did not work out? He got the out. Hmmmm...can't be that. Gee, I wonder what the job was? (hint: for the sarcasticly challenged readers here I should say I am using deep sarcasm).

At this point it is pretty easy to read between the lines on the issue. Guillen sent Tracey in to bean Blalock in the seventh inning. The kid missed on the first two pitches and then gave up trying to bean the batter and got the out. Guillen went nuts in the dugout and now Tracey is being sent to the minors.

Oh sure, the organization party line is he was the guy going to be sent to the minors after the game anyways. But if you believe that than I am sure you believe that Bonds really didn't know he was using steroids.....because....well....that is what he claims. So it must be true.

Now, are beanings a part of the game? Yes.

Have managers in the past told their pitchers to bean someone? Yes.

Did the White Sox have every right to bean a Ranger? Yes.

But, that beaning should have come against the next Ranger batter after the second beaning. You do not wait until three innings later to do it.

Also, you do not let your temper get to you and publically embarass one of your players like that.

Speaking of letting your temper get to you....here are some more classic Guillen statements on the matter:

"I'll tell you one thing, if Padilla hit me twice, right now I'd be in the hospital or I'd be dead," Guillen said. "But I will fight. I will fight. When you get hit like that, that means there's something wrong. You don't go from pitching a great game to hitting the same guy twice.

"Padilla wasn't throwing inside. Padilla hit the man because he wanted to hit the man. He knows, the manager knows, baseball people know. Padilla can't say he wanted to hit him because he'd get in trouble.

"Everybody knows he hit him," Guillen added. "If that situation happened to Ozzie Guillen, right now I'd be bleeding with a broken nose."

Ok, now I'd like my fellow Yardbarkers to chime in on this issue. I want to hear your thoughts one some things.

1. Is it ok in baseball for managers to instruct their players to bean someone or should that just be left up to the players to decide?

2. Do you think Tracey was sent to the minors because of this issue or was he already headed there like the organization claims?

3. Do you have a problem with the way Guillen conducted himself?

4. Do you think that Padilla intentionally beaned Pierzynski once, twice or just had bad control on those pitches?

5. Is Guillen nuts?

6. If you were put in the same situation as Tracey what would you have done?