In good times, Guillen is fun to be around. The White Sox, who won the 2005 World Series under Guillen, are trying to get back to the postseason, battling the Twins for the American League Central crown and the Red Sox, among others, in the wild-card race.
The fun he had with Pedroia over the weekend added to the entertainment of the three-game series, which concluded yesterday with Chicago's 4-2 victory. Pedroia, who reached base the first 11 times in the series, was referred to as a "jockey" by Guillen following Boston's 8-2 win Saturday night. Guillen said of Pedroia, whom he ordered walked intentionally in the eighth inning of that game, "I never thought I'd walk a jockey. I must be the worst manager ever in the history of baseball right now, walking a guy that just came from being on top of Big Brown to beat the White Sox."
Earlier in the series he said of Pedroia, "Right now, he's on a roll. I get opportunities to walk him to face Big Papi, I will do it. This guy right now is on fire. No matter what you throw, he's going to get it."
Pedroia went 4 for 4 Friday and Saturday and 1 for 4 yesterday.
Guillen was relieved to finally get Pedroia out a few times yesterday, but not without a few tense moments. The biggest drama unfolded in the ninth, with Boston trailing, 4-2, when Pedroia came up with two on and two out to face Chicago closer Bobby Jenks. When pinch runner Coco Crisp stole second base to put two in scoring position with those two outs and first base open, Guillen elected to pitch to Pedroia because, "I didn't want to put the go-ahead run on base."
Jenks got Pedroia to pop to left fielder Carlos Quentin to end the game.
"About time we got the guy out," said Guillen. "This kid had an unbelievable weekend. He puts you under a lot of pressure. He's the type of player that keeps coming and coming. You don't want to see this kid right now with the go-ahead run on base and he's at the plate. It's a good thing we made a good pitch and found a way to get him out."
