"We're playing lousy baseball on the bases, pitching, everything," manager Ozzie Guillen said Thursday after the Kansas City Royals emerged with a 7-5 win over the mistake-prone White Sox. "There's no doubt about it. We really flat-out stink. It's not the same team I've been watching all year."
"If I named all that I'm disappointed about, we might be here all day," Guillen said. "The entire week was disappointing. Even the game we won, I was disappointed. If we continue to play like this, good luck."
Mark Buehrle:
"Ever since the All-Star break, it seems like I haven't had too many good games. It's frustrating," said Buehrle. "We've still got six games with Cleveland. And the way that they're playing, they could sweep us right now. If we keep on playing like we're playing, we're not going to the playoffs. We'll be home on Oct. 3."
Really, there's nothing they can say that would instill much confidence in the fans. If they say there's nothing wrong, they're just lying to themselves. If they tell the truth, like they have here, it looks like they've given up already.
Update [2005-9-16 0:44:56 by The Cheat]: The Trib article is online, and it has a few, minutely encouraging quotes. -- They're just as frustrated as us.
"We still have the lead, but to keep the lead, we have to play like a leader," Guillen said. "We just play now like we hope something will happen.
Carl Everett:
"It's time to grab the bull by the horns and go for it."
[...]
"I'm a White Sox fan, and I don't want to watch this," Guillen said. "I'm serious. I was wasting my three hours watching this game. I'd rather be doing something with my kids at the park or taking them to school [instead of] watching this ugly game."
"We have to play with more aggression, more attitude," Everett said. "More aggression and not worry about the team on the other side."
Ozzie Guillen: Re: Buehrle and Garcia's poor outings lately
"They have to forget what they did in the past, and the biggest outings they will have are in the next couple of weeks," Guillen said. "It has to start tomorrow. That's all you can do."