Ozzie Guillen: Evil Genius?

For all of Ozzie's craziness, he's always received lavish praise for his "brilliant" use of his pitching staff. Well, right now Ozzie, the White Sox, and all their fans are suffering the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. With last night's 5-4 victory the Twins took over the wild card lead from the Sox.

A big chunk of the blame is on Ozzie's use of his pitching staff. Javier Vazquez got two outs and gave up one run in the sixth inning before giving up a two-out single to Michael Cuddyer. At this point Ozzie went to the pen. So far, so good. Vazquez has demonstrated a tendency to melt down in the sixth. The problem is who Ozzie called for. I know it was only the sixth inning, but with the tying run at the plate, and the heart of the Twins line-up due up, Ozzie called for the White Sox worst relievers. First Neal Cotts couldn't get the job done against Justin Morneau. Then David Riske couldn't get the job done against Torii Hunter. I know the sixth inning is not when you traditionally go to set up guys like Thornton and MacDougal, but a "genius" like Ozzie should be able to think outside the box. I would have settled for Thornton and McCarthy even. And, I know MacDougal didn't get the job done later in the ninth, but it wouldn't have come to that with proper use of the pen earlier in the game. As is, the White Sox lost a one-run game to their key rival without their ace reliever ever taking the field, and with their two worst relievers on the field for the key sequence of the game. That's not so genius to me.