WILLIAMS RIPS INTO SOX POOR PERFORMANCE
By JERRY RILES
The gloves are off. It's go time.
White Sox GM Ken Williams unleashed a rant during a rain delay at the Cell on Monday evening regarding his displeasure with the team's performance, or lack there of.
"We deserve what we've got. I'm not happy with a lot of what I see. We're underachievers," Williams said after the Sox returned home from a 3-3 road trip against the Seattle Mariners and Ken Griffey Jr. and the Oakland A's.
Williams bit into the team saying, "We lost two games we should have won, which [would have put] us a half-game out of first place," Williams said. "We've thrown away a dozen games that way this year, which [has cost] us where I thought we would be, in first place and in a good position.
He's right. They lost a 14-inning affair to the Mariners after Junior collected a game winning RBI single in the rubber match of the series. Then they failed to sweep the lowly A's in the final game of the series when closer Bobby Jenks gives up a solo homer in the ninth. The Sox blew a 2-run lead in that contest.
Were Williams fiery words aimed at Manager Ozzie Guillen, hitting coach Greg Walker, pitching coach Don Cooper, the players themselves or all of the above?
My guess is Williams words were directly squared at the outspoken Guillen. Both individuals are known for their aggressive personalities, and both are not afraid to voice their opinions. Especially in public.
Ozzie's made comments to the media in the past like "We're the Chicago Bitch", after the Sox finally brought the city a World Series Championship. It was in regards to the Cubs always receiving so much more media attention.
He's gotten into it with former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti calling him a derogatory term used to describe a gay man.
And of course he threatened his GM last season after the Sox struggled against the Rays
down in Tampa being swept by them and going 3-4 on the road tip. Guillen said if Williams didn't make any changes by the time the team returned to Chicago for a Tuesday night game against the Kansas City Royals HE was going to make changes.
Kenny simply shrugged it off and the Sox remained in tact.
Williams has been known to blast off as well, including when he berated former Sox slugger Frank Thomas through the media. "He's an idiot. He's selfish. That's why we don't miss him," Williams said. The outburst came about after Thomas said he didn't see eye to eye with Williams after he became GM back in 2000 and that the organization didn't treat him as a professional when they released.
So, after acquiring Jake Peavy, Alex Rios, Mark Kotsay, Freddie Garcia, and Tony Pena in the past few weeks or so, I think Williams has a point. He feels this team should be "stepping up" their game and preparing to get into playoff mode.
Williams believes this team wants it, but it's mid-August and it's time to turn up the heat. He says this is the time for the Sox to show they are a playoff team and I agree.
The question remains, who is he talking about. We'll just have to wait and see. The gloves are definitely off.
(Jerry Riles is a weekly 5on5 contributor featured every Tuesday in the RedEye) click here
