Ozzie: Wish we were here
Working as analyst makes Guillen yearn for another title shot
NEW YORK -- Wearing a sharp black suit and shiny dress shoes, Ozzie Guillen stepped onto the Yankee Stadium field Wednesday, and there was an immediate chain reaction of hugs, handshakes and laughs.
First up was ESPN analyst and former teammate John Kruk. Then Phillies lefty Cole Hamels. Before long, Guillen was quickly lost among the red sea of players and coaches in front of the Phillies' dugout.
(Tom Cruze/Sun-Times/AP)
Time of his life? Not really.
''It's very sad,'' Guillen said while relaxing in the company trailer after rehearsing for his new gig as an analyst for Fox. ''In the meanwhile, it gives you the energy to get back there. The emotion you have just being here makes you jealous. It makes you want to be one of the people on the stage, not the guy behind the scenes.''
Guillen has been a player, coach and manager in the World Series. Being here out of uniform was a shock to his system.
''First of all, it makes you appreciate it more when .you were there,'' said Guillen, who guided the White Sox to a World Series sweep over the Astros in 2005. ''And it makes you sad and angry and dissatisfied that you're not there now. That can be good because when you start working again, you'll know what you were missing in 2009.''
Compounding matters was the reminder that Yankee Stadium is where the White Sox' 2009 season came to die. By the time the defending division champs cleared the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium after being swept in late August, their faint hopes were dashed.
Guillen knows the Sox' dreadful defense on that 2-8 trip to Boston, New York and Minnesota was the culprit, but the last time he was in the Bronx, he couldn't bring himself to state the obvious.
''I didn't want to admit it at the time because we still had a chance mathematically, but deep in my gut, I knew it was going to be hard for us to recover,'' Guillen said. ''That trip killed our chance to compete later in the season.''
Near the end of the season, word leaked that Guillen was being courted by the sports networks to work the postseason as an analyst. He insisted he had no interest.
That came as news to Sox vice president of communications Scott Reifert, who was closing in on the deal with Fox. The network had been courting Guillen for three years. One reason is Fox vice president of communications Dan Bell, who now resides in Los Angeles, is a native South Sider and De La Salle graduate. He's also a huge Sox -- and Guillen -- fan.
Bell was persistent.
''I knew how charismatic and how great his personality was; I thought it was a natural,'' Bell said.
One problem. Guillen is insanely protective of his private time. Remember that White House snub after the World Series victory in February 2006? Guillen was in the Dominican Republic then and refused to leave his family.
This time, he had a trip to Italy planned. But his sons and wife, Ibis, persuaded him to delay the vacation to make his debut as a network analyst. And Reifert felt it was important for Guillen to show a different side of himself to a national audience that mostly gets snippets of Guillen's rants and outbursts on ''SportsCenter.''
Guillen finally gave his OK.
''I want to prove that I'm not the guy they see curse or be mad at the players or be mad at something,'' Guillen said. ''I have a little knowledge. I know about the game. And I want to show people another way to look at Ozzie Guillen. It might be the last time I do it, but at least I can say I did it. I'm having fun. It's not easy.
''The perception of myself, I only care about what the media in Chicago feel about me. The national media? They can kiss my ass.''
These days, Guillen is part of the national media.
After some debate, he picked the Phillies to win in six -- partly because fellow analysts and ex- Cubs Mark Grace and Eric Karros picked the Yanks to win. Guillen has promised Fox he'll try not to curse on air. He knows this could be his future in baseball, but he also knows his work isn't done as a manager.
Still, the more distance Guillen puts between his last World Series appearance means more scrutiny for the job he's doing in the dugout.
That's the job Sox fans care about the most.
Does Guillen feel he's under more pressure four years after winning it all?
''No, not at all because I never take any credit when we win,'' he said. ''And I never will. But in the meanwhile, I know the White Sox and I don't think they are going to wait another 88 years to win another World Series. But that's my job. If you're not [at the World Series], you are always going to blame the manager or the general manager. That's part of the game.
''You can blame me. I will take the blame because I'm the guy running this ballclub, and I'm not afraid to be blamed. But I know in my heart, my soul, my guts, everything I have that I'm 100 percent determined to win another World Series.''