Ramirez fourth to hop on the leadoff-man carousel
WHITE SOX IN BRIEF | Ramirez becomes 4th leadoff man for White Sox
Rookie Alexei Ramirez became the fourth player to bat in the leadoff spot for the White Sox this season, and he went 1-for-5 with his first career stolen base in their 6-2 victory against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
Orlando Cabrera, who was given the day off, will return to the leadoff spot tonight when the Sox open a weekend series in Seattle. Ideally, manager Ozzie Guillen would prefer to bat Cabrera in the No. 2 spot, but with Nick Swisher's days leading off officially over, Guillen has few options.
White Sox 6, Twins 2
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''I don't want to put him back there,'' Guillen said. ''I told Nick, don't worry about whether you're leadoff or seventh or eighth. Take the same approach. Don't worry about it. You get on base and don't steal, that's my fault.
''But hopefully he'll make a couple changes in his swing, and that will work for him. Hitting is hitting. All of a sudden, you start panicking -- boom. Hitting is about controlling yourself.''
Hitting in the sixth spot, Swisher went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and is in a 10-for-70 slide that has dropped his average to .200.
Sox leadoff hitters entered Thursday batting an American League-worst .200. Only the Cubs (.194) have a lower batting average in the majors from the leadoff spot.
''Right now, it's hard to find a true leadoff hitter in baseball,'' Guillen said. ''You don't see that many guys go up there and steal a lot of bases.
''That's the problem we have. This game has been changed to power baseball. If you have a powerhouse, you have a good team. That's not the way it is. A good team can do a lot of different things.''
Guillen already has won a World Series ring as a manager, but he knows that won't be his legacy once he's out of baseball.
''Who's the manager they remember the most? Billy Martin,'' Guillen said. ''They don't remember Sparky Anderson. They remember Billy Martin because he was the crazy one.
''Why do you think they like Lou Piniella? Because Lou is good? Great guy. Great baseball people. But people love Lou Piniella because he's [messed] up.''
The Sox have been getting plenty of unwanted attention, whether it's over their blow-up doll controversy, Guillen's profanity-laced interview in Toronto or pitcher Mark Buehrle tearing up the dugout with a bat.
Veteran Jermaine Dye says it hasn't bothered the Sox.
''We just stick together in this clubhouse and not worry about what goes on outside these doors,'' Dye said. ''Hopefully, we will be the ones laughing at the end of the year.''
Manager Ron Gardenhire returned to the Twins after missing five games because of the death of his brother. But he was gone by the sixth inning for arguing with plate umpire Doug Eddings after a double steal by the Sox -- a theft that included Jim Thome's first stolen base since Sept. 25, 2002.
