McKnight: Bullpen Woes Lead To Ozzie's Frustration
By Connor McKnight--
Ozzie Guillen finally lost his cool after Wednesday's 7-4 loss to the Athletics. Frankly, it's about time and he had about six good reasons to do so. Despite having the lead in all 12 of their games this year, the Sox are 7-5 partly because the bullpen has blown six saves already this year.
The blown saves (Matt Thornton has 4, Chris Sale with 2) had Guillen saying, "I wish I knew who I could bring in in the ninth. Now we've tried everyone in one inning. No more excuse."
Still, Guillen wouldn't single out just Thornton as the lone culprit. "It's not about Thornton. All those guys out there, I put three different guys out there and nobody did their job," Guillen said. "I might call Bobby Thigpen to help us."
That wasn't the end however. "Our closer situation," Guillen continued, "I don't have any closer. I don't. We will see. From this point on you just scratch your head and second-guess yourself."
It's not that Guillen is doubting the talent in the bullpen, however. With Thornton, an all-star last year, along with Sale and Santos, there's clearly talented arms in the 'pen. "Have we got the people out there with the arms? Yes," Guillen asserted. "Have we got the people that can do that yes. There's no doubt in my mind."
All that said, the manager's frustration came to a head at the end when he seemingly threw at least a little blame on his player saying, "When we we play good, they send those guys to this (bleeping) table and talk to them like heroes. When we (bleep) it up, I'm the one who's got to (bleeping) sit here and talk to you guys."
