Tagged: Ozzie Guillen

Happy holidays to everyone!

Hey everyone, I know it’s been a little while since I have written, but I have been just relaxing a little bit trying to stay out of the limelight. I spent a lot of time back in Chicago where I will be living for the most part. Yes, it’s freezing, but I had plenty to do to keep me occupied. I have been going to bunch of basketball games, mostly DePaul University. There is something about watching the young kids play that is fun for me.

While doing all of that, I did have the TV on in the background, so I have seen some of the big moves that were made. I talked to a couple of the guys, like Mark Buehrle, and wished them the best of luck. We had a lot to talk about.

For now, I’m back in Venezuela for Christmas and New Year’s. Most of all I’m here because no matter what happens to me, the Ozzie Guillen Foundation always has a lot of work to do. We have done a couple of great events, and there never seems like there is enough time to help out the children that are less fortunate. That’s what we do. We also had our annual Team Pepsi Home Run Derby and as always it was a huge success. Every year stars from the Winter Ball teams and Major League Baseball participate, and it keeps getting better and better.

I will be back in the states in January, but don’t worry, I have a feeling you might be seeing me on TV somewhere in the future. This season will mark the first time since 1982 that I haven’t been associated with a team. It’s going to be a little weird, but everything happens for a reason and I’m ready to tackle the next challenge.

My New Year’s resolution is to lose 15 pounds and I have already started. Better to start early than to start late. Anybody else have a good one for 2013?

What a World Series!

What a World Series. Wow! Looking back, I just can’t believe all the crazy things that happened during that Series. It was definitely fun to watch and fun to be there in that environment with ESPN. I can’t say enough how awesome everyone was there and I look forward to working with them again in the future. Well I guess it’s not up to me (haha), but I would definitely like to do it again.

Congrats to Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals. It’s not about who is the best team, it’s about who gets hot at the right time, and the Cardinals proved that. On the other side of it, I was very proud of Ron Washington and the whole Texas Rangers team for battling through everything and almost being on top.

After the Series I went to New York to watch my good friend Ruben Blades perform along with 8 Y Mas. What an amazing concert, but even more amazing was the snow! It was not very fun, but I can tell you the drinks made it a lot more interesting (haha).

Right now, I’m back in Venezuela doing some things for my foundation, the Ozzie Guillen Foundation. The Foundation is dedicated to helping kids dealing with cancer and their families. This is without a doubt the best part about being a “celebrity.” Just the fact that we can help to give back and make such a huge impact on people’s lives means more to me than anything else. I’m also here to support my buddy Carlos Zambrano and his Home Run Derby that is going to take place in Puerto Cabello, close to the beach. We are also filming a Pepsi commercial down here with Carlos and Bobby Abreu. Here are some pictures:

After all of these activities we are headed back to Miami for the unveiling of the new Miami Marlins logo. To be honest with you, I haven’t seen the logo yet but I am very excited.  I have heard a lot about some leaks and I don’t know what is true and what is not. I have heard some good and some bad things, but I can’t wait to see what they have done with it … let’s hope for the best!

Back in St. Louis

Back here in St. Louis for Game 6, but I am wishing this weather could be more like Texas! Isn’t it just amazing how every move in the World Series gets talked about? It’s the biggest stage in our sport. There is so much pressure on every pitch and every move that when something goes wrong, it becomes a major deal.

This experience has been awesome so far. It has been very cold for us working on the ESPN set in St. Louis, but overall it has been great to be around all the guys.  John Kruk, Curt Schilling, Barry Larkin, Karl Ravech, Aaron Boone, and the list goes on and on with these great guys. They have a lot of fun and know a ton about baseball.

Texas was great and for the most part all of the games have been incredibly exciting.  The best games are the low scoring ones, and basically that’s exactly what we have had so far. For me personally, live TV never gets easy, but I love the fact that we are doing a lot of segments with different people. I even got a chance to sit next to Boomer (Chris Berman). What a voice and a great guy. That guy can do it all. Baseball, football, it doesn’t matter.

I will continue to Tweet you guys updates and pictures here from St. Louis. I’m just very blessed that I get to be a part of the World Series. It’s time to bring out the long underwear again after we had no use for it in Dallas.

Here are a couple of pictures from the Series so far:

Karl and I on the ESPN set getting ready to talk some baseball (Triple Crown Productions, Inc.)

Stepping in the broadcast booth for ESPN Deportes in Texas (Triple Crown Productions, Inc.)

Having a great time in Spain

What’s up from Spain, everyone? Wow … Europe is just a completely different world. We are having so much fun. Lots of food and drink as you can imagine. I’m definitely going to have to work out some when I get back, but who am I kidding? We all know that isn’t going to happen (haha)! So far we have been to Madrid, Seville and Barcelona doing what I love best: taking in some bullfights and hanging out with the bullfighters. I actually got in front of a bull, too. It was a baby one, but still enough to get your heart beating fast. It is pretty scary and it got me in the knee with its head. My knee is a little swollen right now, but I can’t show anyone around here I got hit because it’s a little embarrassing.

Other than that I’m going to try and watch a soccer match live, either a Barcelona or a Madrid game. The stadiums are amazing here with close to 100,000 fans screaming and yelling. It is something I need to check out.

Hope you all are doing well back in the U.S. I’ll be back in Chicago soon enough and I will need to catch up on the playoffs as well as the Bears. I try to watch them as much as I can on Sundays even though I don’t know the game that well.

And that reminds me: What’s up with the NBA lockout? I want to go to some games this winter. Man, do I love basketball. Anyways, I will see you guys soon and I just wanted to check in and say what’s up and share some of my vacation with you all!

Q&A before heading to Detroit

I always have time to answer your questions. Trying to enjoy this off day before we head on over to Detroit. I want to thank everyone for their respect and support. I hope you enjoy asking the questions as much as I do answering them. Here you go:

Q: Ozzie if you really see this, Hi from Maggie 🙂 — Maggie P. (Chicago)

A: Hi Maggie, thanks for checking out my site.

Q: A warm greeting Ozzie from Guyana, as a Latin player what was the toughest part of playing in the United States? – Siul P. (Puerto Ordaz, VE)

A: The hardest part for me was learning English and getting accustomed to the culture in the United States.

Q: Hey Ozzie! Not a question, just wanted to say I saw your interview with your comments about Sean Penn and your other thoughts and I wanted to tell you that YOU are a real American and I appreciate your viewpoint! Keep it up, Bro! — Chris S. (Murrieta, CA)

A: Well thank you for calling me a real American. I appreciate that and I spend more time here than I do back home.

Q: Hi Ozzie. I wrote you a couple of weeks ago asking for a series win against the Twins and on cue you provided the sweep! Anyway, when you played what was your most memorable season? — Brandon H. (St. Paul, MN)

A: Thank you. When I played I think that going to a World Series was always a goal and dream of mine. But I had a lot of memorable seasons.

Q: Will you be managing the Sox in 2012? — Terry F. (Chicago)

A: I hope so.

Q: Ozzie: First off, thank you for continuing to be the Chicago White Sox manager. My first question: What can be done to change our won loss record being worse at home? I feel this is the make or brake part of making the playoffs. Second: Do you think some players were pushing themselves to hard to improve in their hitting? I am just surprised at all the inconsistency this year by the team. Good Luck with the rest of the season! — Larry W. (Wheeling, IL)

A: Well I hope we continue to play better at home but I’m not sure exactly why it has gone the way it has. We did just win two of three from the Twins and that’s kind of rare so we will see what happens. Guys work hard everyday to get better and so do the coaches, no one is ever satisfied.

Q: Hi Ozzie. Because of you, my wife LOVES the Sox. We recently bought one of your game worn and signed jerseys from the Sox.  You’re the best. Thanks for everything and being you. Jennifer and Matt S. — Matt S. (Chicago)

A: Thanks man I hope she liked the jersey!

Q: Hello Ozzie. My question is: We usually have the best seat in the house when we question balls and strikes on TV. How is your view from the dugout (can you tell if it’s a good pitch?)? Also, can you watch replays and see if umps are squeezing our pitchers? — David B. (Bridgeport)

A: Usually my angle is not the best but I have been in the game so long that I know if it’s a good pitch or close to a strike. No I don’t check the monitors but usually I send someone to check and see how close it was.

Q: Ozzie – with the Cubs general manager position open, there has been some talk (largely ESPN, the Chicago Tribune, and the Sun-Times) suggesting the possibility the Sox could promote Hahn to GM in order to prevent losing him. How do you think Rick Hahn would perform as a GM? — Eric B. (Moweaque, IL)

A: I think Rick Hahn is a great baseball man. Very smart and well respected. I think he will do a great job wherever he decides to go, he does a great job for the Sox.

“Never say never.”

Well you never know, or “never say never,” like that Bieber kid says (haha).  Sweeping a team on the road is always nice, and it’s even nicer when you actually pick up a game. I can’t believe the Tigers actually lost; they have been playing so well. It looks like we finally caught a break.

The pitching for us has been great. Unfortunately, we ran into a very hot team in Anaheim to start this trip and it left me not feeling like writing any blogs.  Thank God it was only a two-game series and we were able to get out of there. I’m hoping this series in Seattle puts us in the right state of mind for the upcoming week. We exploded with some runs yesterday, and it’s great to see the guys swinging the bats. I don’t think Dayan Viciedo is going to hit a home run every game, but it was nice to see him and Tyler Flowers show some power.

I’m really hoping we can see The Cell packed this week; there is just a little over a month left, and we need all the support we can get. Time to go out there and see what we’re made of. … Oh yeah, and never say never (haha).

— Ozzie

Good series win against a very good team

Let me start by saying that beating the American League-champion Texas Rangers 2 out of 3 like we did this weekend is not an easy thing to do.  That team can hit; I mean wow do they have a potent lineup.

Yesterday was a good day off because we finally won a homestand. It’s always good to get a day off at home as well, or at least most of the day before we flew out here to LA. Now we gotta hope that we continue to play the way we have on the road. We get Ervin Santana and then Jered Weaver tomorrow, so it’s not going to be easy. The Angels are always a tough team to play, and you expect it to be even tougher when they are in the division race like they are now.

After these quick 2 games, we get another day off in Seattle before we get to see that good Mariners pitching.  Luckily for us, I think we miss King Felix.  As for our guys, I’m very happy with the way Tyler Flowers has stepped up.  Alex Rios has also been playing better as of late, and that’s a very good thing to see. Alejandro de Aza and Brent Lillibridge continue to play awesome baseball and bring great energy to the ballpark every day. It’s time for us to make up some ground before we see Detroit again; all we can do is hope for the best.

Yesterday I was watching “Intentional Talk” on the MLB Network and it’s a very cool show. First time I have ever seen it, and I was very impressed , so if you get a chance check out Kevin Millar and Chris Rose. They do a great job with the show.

I will write again in a couple days, hopefully after we take this two-game set.  Also, it’s about time for me to answer some more of your questions.  Make sure you submit them through the website, and I will get to as many as I can.

— Ozzie

I want to see The Cell packed this week

Wow, we won a series at home! Feels very, very good before a day off. I get to enjoy a nice relaxing day today; having a BBQ tonight before we get ready for those Indians tomorrow. They have been playing some great ball, so we need to be ready.

Everybody knows that Kansas City plays us so tough, so to beat them and to swing the bats the way we did was awesome.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention how much Bruce Chen dominates us. But that’s just baseball. The one thing I always look forward to is when we play our division. We have a bunch of games left in the division, and that’s probably a good thing. We take care of our own business, we should be there at the end.

If a couple of guys keep helping us out like they have, our offense can be very dangerous. Great job this weekend by Brent Lillibridge playing first base and swinging the bat like a big man (haha).  Don’t let that kid fool you, he is a very strong man. But most importantly, his defense has helped us out a ton all year long.

On another note, I would really like to see The Cell sold out for the Indians series. These games are huge, and we need all the support we can get. We are right in the middle of the race, so we need everyone to come out and yell. I know we get their best with Fausto Carmona, Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson (but not in that order). If we want to win this division, we are going to have to beat the best. There is no other way to do it. And even though we have some tough pitchers coming our way, as long as none of them are named Chen, I will take my chances.

And lastly, a little surprise — I think I will be doing some Q&A on Twitter tonight. So bring you’re “A” game!

 — Ozzie