Ozzie Smith Guillen (sheesh, shows what happens when you rush through a post) has been managing the White Sox since 2004, and frankly his first couple of seasons in the Metrodome were not all that bad. Chicago was competitive inside the grey-roofed monstrosity -- heck, the Sox even won it all in 2005, so what was there to complain about. From 2006 on, however, it has been a different story -- particularly in the past couple of seasons. The White Sox are a combined 2-15 at the Dome since the start of the 2008 season. In honor of what will almost certainly be Ozzie's last game in the Dome today -- barring some sort of miracle finish by both teams that puts both in the playoffs -- we offer a few of the great Ozzie moments/quotes from the Dome since 2006.
*2006 -- enter the piranhas, the slap hitters at the bottom and top of the Twins' lineup who fueled their division run. "They can beat you in so many different ways," Ozzie said in the visitor's dugout at the Metrodome. "You wake up and say they're like little piranhas. Chk, chk, chk. You wake up and you don't have no meat, just bones. "All those piranhas - blooper here, blooper here, beat out a ground ball, hit a home run, they're up by four. They get up by four with that bullpen? See you at the national anthem tomorrow."
*July 31, 2008 -- directly from the Strib gamer the following day: Amid all the excitement, things turned ugly in the seventh inning. Fans threw hats and debris onto the playing surface, prompting White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to pull his team from the field. "I don't want anybody to get hurt," Guillen said. "I think the umpires did a good job taking control of the situation. I wasn't worried about hats, but I saw a couple balls flying onto the field and thought it was a dangerous situation." Yes, that was the day he took his team off the field. It was also the day the Twins finished taking three of four from the Sox.
*Late September, 2008 -- "We wasted 26 innings in this town," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "You're not going to win much doing that." After the Twins swept the Sox late in the 2008 regular season, including a dramatic comeback victory that left the teams neck-and-neck in the division race. Indeed, the Sox were lucky the one-game playoff was in Chicago.
*Late July 2009 this season -- "I think it's a typical week for the White Sox coming to Minnesota," Guillen said. "Spend a nice week here and then get your butt kicked. I don't see anything different since I managed this ballclub. We're not playing that bad, we just can't finish it off, and they always play great against us here."
What will Ozzie have to say after today's finale?
