Sunday, August 22, 2010

Ozzie Guillen: Chicago White Sox easier to manage than Chicago Cubs

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Ozzie Guillen is sure to get some Chicago White Sox fans in an uproar again with his latest offering: Expectations to win make it harder to manage on the North Side than the South Side.

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Chicago White Sox easier to manage than Chicago Cubs

Jerry Lai/US PresswireManager Ozzie Guillen says this year's White Sox team isn't getting the attention it deserves.

Guillen was talking about Lou Piniella's decision to make Sunday his last day with the Chicago Cubs when he was asked about the tougher side to manage. The context of the question was about how run down guys like Dusty Baker and Piniella looked at the end of their Cubs tenure.

"I think it's easy to manage this side because they don't expect us to win," Guillen said. "When you manage the other side ... I remember two years ago, we didn't even hit spring training and all of a sudden [the Cubs] are going to win the championship and they have [Kosuke] Fukudome on the front page. That's a lot of pressure.

"... The expectations on that side of town is higher, there's no question about it. I don't know if it's tougher or not because I never was on that side. But looking from far away, coming to the ballpark every day and how many years they've gone through [without winning a World Series], a lot of people talk about winning a championship, but it's a lot of losing years out there, a lot. That's frustrating. There's no doubt it's easier to come to this side of town and work. I think it's definitely tougher to work out there than to work here."

It isn't the only thing he has said over the past few days that has caused a stir. He also said there are more important things than winning a game, in reference to the fact that he was playing it safe with Edwin Jackson, who didn't pitch in Saturday's doubleheader. Jackson warmed up and threw seven pitches Friday before that game was postponed.

"Like I said [Saturday] before the game: I'd rather lose a game than lose Jackson," Guillen said. "And we won the game, so that's important."

Doug Padilla covers the White Sox for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN 1000.

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