Who Said Small Ball Is Gone?

[nitetrain8601]

Ozzie: The appetite's back

Sox skipper 'hungry' to make up for '06, starting with bunts

 

February 15, 2007

BY JOE COWLEY Staff Reporter

Come Saturday, Ozzie Guillen returns to his comfort zone.

 

That means White Sox pitchers and catchers report to ''Camp Ozzie 2007'' prepared to hear four-letter expletives and one-liners from their fiery manager. But jokes won't be the only thing Guillen is cracking this spring.

 

Throw in a whip this time around.

 

Fact is, Guillen's offseason, which began as disappointment when the regular season ended and the Sox failed to defend their 2005 World Series title, turned to embarrassment by the holidays.

 

Now, Guillen says, it's hunger.

 

''They got a little taste of the success and winning the World Series, and you want to get it back,'' he said recently of his players. ''They are mad because we didn't win it last year. They are hungry to do it again.''

 

As is Guillen.

 

''I was real embarrassed,'' he said. ''When the Cardinals won [the World Series], I was like, 'We swept that team ... not only did we sweep them, we beat their ass.' That's when it really settled in.''

 

That's also when the phone calls to bench coach and good friend Joey Cora became more frequent. Cora has been Guillen's right-hand man the last three seasons and is in charge of putting together the Sox' spring-training program.

 

The continued message to Cora was, ''Let's get back to small ball.'' Far too often in 2006, Sox hitters failed to move the runner or get the bunt down in key situations.

 

Message heard.

 

At the Tucson, Ariz., training facility, Cora has designated a special field that will be used for ''Bunting 101,'' and only a few Sox players have a pass.

 

''That field is going to be used more than any field in Tucson,'' Guillen said. ''We're going to bring the kids. Everyone has to go through it besides [Jermaine] Dye, [Paul] Konerko and [Jim] Thome.

 

'

 

''We have a different way. We're going to play games -- give bunt situations, give pointers, the way they used to teach. We're going to make it fun, but they're not going to [expletive] around. I'll be in charge on that field because we have to do stuff better.''

 

Guillen also will play mad scientist this spring, moving the top and bottom of the lineup around regularly in hopes of finding a solid formula. When reviewing the 2006 season, he concluded that the top and bottom of the order didn't get the job done. He wants hitters at the top getting on base more often for the middle of the lineup, and those at the bottom to stop giving away so many at-bats.

 

Hitters, meanwhile, won't be the only ones addressed in camp.

 

While Guillen has a hands-off mentality regarding the pitching staff, he and pitching coach Don Cooper do have a message for the entire staff, as well as the minor-leaguers.

 

''It isn't like we are adding extra work to their plate,'' Cooper said. ''The setup we have for spriining, the extra work we have these guys put in, I don't believe any team does more. We're out there at 7:30 in the morning doing a bunch of stuff like that. And I don't care if you have 15 years in -- no one gets out of that.

 

''But with seven new faces, I'm going to try getting across our philosophy. How we approach things, how much trust we have in these guys. Basically our attack -- attacking the glove, getting ahead, pitching inside, dictating the count. I want them waking up in the morning and realizing this is the way the Sox do things.

 

''We want them to know what their job description is.''

 

The way Cooper sees it, there's a starting job there for the taking, plus two or three bullpen spots, depending on how many relievers the Sox break camp with.

 

The pitchers who grasp the team's philosophy the quickest will fill those spots.

 

''Once you win like we did, nothing less is acceptable,'' Cooper said. ''That's why last year was disappointing, because we thought we had the team.

 

''I'm hungry. I would love for us to prove to the baseball world that 2005 wasn't luck. If the only thing we have to look back on is one World Series, great. But I would rather look back on the entire body of work, and I want to be remembered for having a great team, a great organization. One year doesn't prove that. I want to solidify the White Sox organization as one of the best in baseball.''

 

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...T-sox15.article

[SoxFan562004]

Sounds good, I know last year I remember just some ridiculously awful bunt attempts from the team, if memory serves me right, Uribe was AB for many of those

[Jimbo's Drinker]

Pods attempts were even worse.

[vandy125]

I shiver even thinking about some of those bunt attempts last year. They were incredibly pathetic.

[southsideirish71]

He should worry more about situational hitting more than having a bunt of guys bunt. Bunting should be covered in ST and most major leaguers should be good at it, especially if you are not a big bopper. But really it wasnt the bunting that was our small ball failure last year, it was our situational hitting late in games after the allstar break. How many times late in games did we have a man in scoring position when a single, or hitting to the right side to advance the runner to third would of done the trick. Ozzie loves bunting, but bunting is only one small aspect of small ball. I would rather that some of our hitter practice sitting back on the ball, or work on their batters eye for taking a pitch.

[LosMediasBlancas]

Sounds good, but I'm pretty sure we heard something similar at the start of last year too. We'll see.

 

He should worry more about situational hitting more than having a bunt of guys bunt. Bunting should be covered in ST and most major leaguers should be good at it, especially if you are not a big bopper. But really it wasnt the bunting that was our small ball failure last year, it was our situational hitting late in games after the allstar break. How many times late in games did we have a man in scoring position when a single, or hitting to the right side to advance the runner to third would of done the trick. Ozzie loves bunting, but bunting is only one small aspect of small ball. I would rather that some of our hitter practice sitting back on the ball, or work on their batters eye for taking a pitch.

[joeynach]

Sounds good, I know last year I remember just some ridiculously awful bunt attempts from the team, if memory serves me right, Uribe was AB for many of those

 

From the offensive side I remember a lot of failures. Yeah we couldn't bunt at all and got thrown out a heck of a lot of the base paths and at the plate. We couldn't hit lefty pitching at all weather it was Santana, Sabathia, or Mark Redman. We had Pods, Iguchi, Thome at 1 2 3 in the lineup most of the year whose combined BA against lefties was .235, sorry but thats just unacceptable and not going to get the job done against some of the toughest in division pitchers. We had fewer sacrifices and were worse in 1 run games and extra innings, thanks the to the bullpen for that. Point is we had too many flaws just to say well if we practice small ball more everything will be fine. Small ball execution will help but its not the answer. We cant have a lucklaster 1 2 3 against LHP, we need a bullpen that can shut the door consistently, and we need an offense that can win late in games by getting on base and manufacturing runs.

[southsideirish71]

From the offensive side I remember a lot of failures. Yeah we couldn't bunt at all and got thrown out a heck of a lot of the base paths and at the plate. We couldn't hit lefty pitching at all weather it was Santana, Sabathia, or Mark Redman. We had Pods, Iguchi, Thome at 1 2 3 in the lineup most of the year whose combined BA against lefties was .235, sorry but thats just unacceptable and not going to get the job done against some of the toughest in division pitchers. We had fewer sacrifices and were worse in 1 run games and extra innings, thanks the to the bullpen for that. Point is we had too many flaws just to say well if we practice small ball more everything will be fine. Small ball execution will help but its not the answer. We cant have a lucklaster 1 2 3 against LHP, we need a bullpen that can shut the door consistently, and we need an offense that can win late in games by getting on base and manufacturing runs.

 

Hopefully Razor will be aggressive at third, but not crazy aggresive like Cora last year. Cora sent too many runners to their deaths at the plate. The job of a third base coach is to have a grid map in their head of where the ball is picked up or caught, and who is the runner, and where he is on the basepaths. You know having a guy thrown out by a perfect throw from Right, or a bang bang play you can chalk that up to aggressive baserunning. Having the catcher waiting for Konerko, because Cora decided to send him when he just trucked past second on a ball barely past the shortstop on a charging left fielder is dumb. Cora saying only a perfect throw gets him is also dumb, and that is why he is on the bench keeping Ozzie company this year. A high schooler could of thrown out Kong on some of those plays.

[RibbieRubarb]

He should worry more about situational hitting more than having a bunt of guys bunt. Bunting should be covered in ST and most major leaguers should be good at it, especially if you are not a big bopper. But really it wasnt the bunting that was our small ball failure last year, it was our situational hitting late in games after the allstar break. How many times late in games did we have a man in scoring position when a single, or hitting to the right side to advance the runner to third would of done the trick. Ozzie loves bunting, but bunting is only one small aspect of small ball. I would rather that some of our hitter practice sitting back on the ball, or work on their batters eye for taking a pitch.

 

I think Ozzie understands that. The article was just addressing that they have a special area set-up for bunting. I'm sure they'll address situational hitting, also.

[Steve9347]

If they can get back to that exciting play of 05, the pablo stealing of home, the first inning sacrifice bunts to move a runner over... I'd love it.

 

They weren't the definition of small ball in 05, and I don't want to be the definition of small ball, but better fundamentals is something this team truly needed in 06, and I hope it happens.

[Harry Chappas]

Small Ball encompasses hitting behind the runner and the hit and run as well as bunting. I hope the emphasis is on fundamentals.

 

The think the start of last season was a result of Big Ball and when it faded we could nto resort back to Small Ball for some reason.

 

I do not understand why Konerko, Dye and Thome will not practice bunting. Thome especially when the shift is on.

[Balta1701]

Want to play better "Small Ball"?

 

Get an acutal speed guy at the top of the lineup who can stay healthy, steal at a >75% clip, and get on base. The guy we have there hasn't done any of those in a year and a half.

[CanOfCorn]

Small Ball encompasses hitting behind the runner and the hit and run as well as bunting. I hope the emphasis is on fundamentals.

 

The think the start of last season was a result of Big Ball and when it faded we could nto resort back to Small Ball for some reason.

 

I do not understand why Konerko, Dye and Thome will not practice bunting. Thome especially when the shift is on.

 

Because Konerko and Thome wouldn't beat it out. Even with the shift. Dye, on the other hand, does have some speed and should practice bunting to move the Wheels Konerko and Molasses Thome over. That is, if he's batting 5th.

[Kalapse]

Because Konerko and Thome wouldn't beat it out. Even with the shift. Dye, on the other hand, does have some speed and should practice bunting to move the Wheels Konerko and Molasses Thome over. That is, if he's batting 5th.

Giambi, Ortiz and Bonds have all laid bunts down the thridbase line over the past few years and easily made it to 1B. If Thome wants to drop a bunt down the thridbase line he can easily walk into first. When the 3B is playing short it doesn't matter how slow you are you're going to have a free single whenever you want it.

[GreatScott82]

I had the show 'Millionare' on on my lunch break and the question was:

In 2005 which team swept the Houston Astros in the World Series to capture its first World Series title since 1917.

A) Chicago White Sox B. Detroit Tigers

C) Pittsburgh Pirates D) Philladelphia Phillies

 

The guy was like "Im not a big sports fan, but it was hard to ignore what the white sox did"

the host chick was like "Yes sir, i was happy and proud for what they did".

 

I was like Wooohoooo! Okay im ready for baseball to start now! lol

Edited February 15, 2007 by GreatScott82