[Scot Gregor]

"I don't understand the people out there,'' Guillen said. "I don't get it. I sit with (general manager) Kenny (Williams) and we try to do stuff, and all of a sudden we get pounded like we don't try or don't care or do good for the fans or for us. And I don't get it. I trust my players. I think they're good talent and will play hard for us.'' ...

"Hopefully the result will be the right one, because if we win this thing, Billy Martin, Earl Weaver, all those guys will be on diapers with what I'm going to say, because I'm going to rip a lot of people's hearts,'' Guillen said.

"Because enough is enough. What are we going to do to satisfy people? I'm going to say bad stuff about my players?''' ...

"I tell my players every day, 'Give me some bullets to fight for you,' '' Guillen said. "Everything I do in this town is fight for my players. And everyone likes to hammer and hammer and hammer how horse (bleep) I am.

"Check my record as a manager. If the people think I don't want Konerko to be good and make my life easier, not my game, my life . . . and I don't want (Nick) Swisher to be good?

"I want all those guys to be good, I'll be great. If they're bad, I'm the one who will take the consequences and I'll take the blame.

"But I hate people think we're just sitting here and putting people on the field because I'm afraid of Konerko or he's making $20 million or this guy's making money.

"I don't give a (bleep) what they think. I'm going to put the best guy there and see what happens.''

Just got in and I see the last thread is filling up; so here's an open thread

btw, here's a quote from coop:

Heading into the series with Minnesota, manager Ozzie Guillen said left-handed relievers Matt Thornton and Boone Logan had better be ready to go, considering the Twins have two of the toughest lefty bats in the division in Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer.

Thornton seems primed now that his back stiffness is gone, but Logan has allowed 10 earned runs in his last eight outings.

''The only thing I don't like is [Logan's] body language in the clubhouse or the dugout,'' Guillen said. ''It feels like, we know you stink right now, but don't sit around like, 'Please help me.' You have to go out there and bounce back. That's the difference between good and bad players.''

Cooper's message to Logan was even more direct.

''Boone?'' Cooper said. ''Time he gets his head out of his [butt] and get him back to where he's contributing.''

[Mike Downey]

In comes a new pitcher and up comes Carlos Quentin.

One pitch and over the left-field fence it goes.

"Did you throw him a fastball?" Texas pitcher C.J. Wilson is asked.

"I threw him a meatball," Wilson snaps.

A question to Quentin then results in the year's greatest quotation.

Wilson says he threw you a meatball, Quentin is told.

"If he says he did whatever he did, he did whatever he did," Quentin says.

Oh, man, I love that. Quentin gets a meatball question and hits that out of the park. His answer is half-Stanford grad, half-Yogi Berra.

This is a fun team to be around. You ask Swisher if he was happy to see Quentin hit that home run.

No, he says.

"I wanted to hit the home run," Swisher says.

Somebody will twist this into a story next. "Swisher lashes out at teammate" or something like that.

[Scot Gregor]

"I heard plenty last year that I tired out in the second half, that I wasn't physically ready,'' Danks said. "When I was working out in the off-season, I had that on the top of my mind.''

Danks added 10 pounds of muscle during the winter to prepare himself for the full grind.

"I'm struggling to keep it on right now, but I feel great,'' Danks said. "I feel a lot stronger. So far, I'm very pleased with how my year is going. But I still have 14-15 more starts, and hopefully more in the playoffs.''

Danks, who has the third-lowest ERA among American League starters, credits strength and experience for his stellar season to date.

But the lefty said the addition of a cut fastball has been the biggest difference.

"Last year, the fastball was the only hard pitch I was throwing and it was hard to keep hitters off it,'' Danks said. "Now, with the cutter, I can use my other pitches off of it.'' ...

... Danks is leaving 40 tickets for family members and friends for tonight's game against Texas.

"I'm really looking forward to it because a lot of them have never seen me pitch,'' Danks said. "I was happy being here with the Rangers and I live pretty close to here, but I'm very happy where I'm at. I love Chicago and my teammates here.''

[Mark Gonzales]

"If some players didn't like the move, well it's easy to do," Guillen said before the game. "Just tell Ozuna to stay here and [they can] go to the minor leagues [in his place]."

[Scott Merkin]:

• Rick Morrissey would like to be featured on Fire Joe Morgan.
• Dusty found his next hitting coach (hat-tip Baseball Musings).
• Williams postures on Crede. Says he could be opening day 3B. Translation: Crede will be traded by Sunday.
• How Jim would pitch to Alexei, BA, or Eldred.

and he wants the 2nd base job:

• Jim's swaggerific post.
• BTB's quick BABIP look.
• BP's Clay Davenport on Winter's best pitching performers. Oneli gets a small mention. Someone else too.
• MLBTR's players out of options list.
• Where do pitches go in the strike zone? (hat-tip Tango).
• StatSpeak: Advantages of Home Field Advantage (hat-tip Tango).

Phil Rogers has a few observations:

• Carl's latest 'Smells Like Mascot' comic strips: In Which the Monkey has a Vision of Spring and Palehose 8.
• You got punked! Kobayashi eats hot dogs!
• BTB asks if Fred McGriff is a HOFer. Well, the instructional videos alone are worth it.
• PECOTA gives the Sox one more win.
• THT: Another look at clutch hitting.
• mgl revisits his speed-defense article.
• Mike Fast: Breakdown of balls in play by count.