Monday
White Sox at Yankees
7 p.m., YES
Look at the numbers that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is going up against.
The Yankees’ Joe Torre has been managing for a quarter century. Boston’s Terry Francona is in his sixth season as a major-league manager. The Angels’ Mike Scioscia also is in year six.
The Twins’ Ron Gardenhire is in his fourth season. The A’s Ken Macha and the Indians’ Eric Wedge are in their third seasons.
And then, out of all the teams in contention, there is Guillen – in just his second year.
And he’s done a better job than any of them.
“For a second-year manager, that is pretty astonishing,” ESPN analyst Steve Stone said.
Guillen has somehow found the perfect words so his players think team first and not about personal accomplishments.
Though most players have a desire to win, it’s hard to get players to think about team goals over individual stats. As Stone pointed out, if you are on a last-place team and you hit a ground ball to the right side to move a runner over, who cares?
But the reason the White Sox own baseball’s best record is because it is about the team. Did you know that at the beginning of this week, the White Sox didn’t even have one .300 hitter? The team concept leads to other accomplishments instead.
“That is one of the reasons they lead the American League in sacrifice flies and why, when they have to get a bunt down, they do,” Stone said. “It is why, when they are asked to hit-and-run, they usually put the bat on the ball so you don’t hit-and-run into a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play.”
Why don’t more managers, players and teams do this?
“Here’s the reality – eight teams are going to the playoffs and 22 are going home,” Stone said.
“Most of the guys spend their entire careers on teams that go home, so when you are on a team that goes home, all there are are personal statistics. That’s how you get paid. That’s how you stay in the league.”