Yesterday, when asked if he missed Frank Thomas, who has proved a model citizen for Oakland after the Chi-Sox front office drove their 16-year hero out of town on a rail, Sox manager Ozzie ‘Dirtball’ Guillen had this to say:
”I don’t care about Frank right now,” Guillen said. ”If Frank gets a base hit, it takes five hits to score him.
As snarky as that was, it’s just about the least offensive thing Guillen has said this year, and he ate those words when Thomas proved him wrong tonight, hitting an RBI-single, a 2-RBI homerun, and walking in the winning run against the White Sox - that’d be four runs in two hits, wouldn’t it Ozzie?
Says MLB.com:
OAKLAND — First Spring Training game, homer. First regular season at-bat, homer. First at-bat against Mike Mussina at Yankee Stadium, homer. First two at-bats back in Chicago, homers. His own bobblehead-doll day, homer. There seems to be no limit to Frank Thomas’ flair for the dramatic in his first season as a member of the A’s, and he was at it again Saturday, again against his former White Sox teammates.
On Frank Thomas Mask Day at McAfee Coliseum, with more than 32,000 clutching cardboard cutouts of the Big Hurt’s sizeable noggin, Thomas homered and drove in four runs to spark Oakland’s rousing 7-4 comeback victory.
What a glorious thing if The Big Hurt’s RBIs served to boot Guillen’s team out of the playoffs before they even started.
Guillen, for his part, sounded like a different man after losing to Thomas’ big-swinging bat:
He was always a clutch hitter and always will be. He’s one of the best right-handed hitters I’ve seen in my life.”
Why yes. Yes, he is…
Update: Thomas continued to punish Guillen throughout the series, punching home two runners when the White Sox (moronically) decided to throw to him rather than put him on an empty base. Clearly, Ozzie Guillen allows balls to get in the way of brains when he’s managing his team, which makes him, to my mind, one of the dumbest, and worst, managers in the game.
Frank Thomas, on the other hand, is the best $500,000 the Athletics have ever spent.
2 users commented in " A rough lesson for Ozzie Guillen. "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackF. Thomas has been the best offense pick up for $500K (not consdiering the 2.6M bonus) any team could have made this season. A’s went ahead to take a chance on a big game player with minimum risk. Hey, Ruben Siera was signed for a few hundred K’s (1.5M in ‘05) for being a DH. Big Hurt hadn’t perform well b/c of injuries and possibly from the factors of aging. Now, besides Morneau in MIN, Big Hurt should be seriously considered for AL MVP.
Another smart Moneyball move by Beane!!
The thing with the MVP is, it’s tough to get it as a DH. Usually, you look for someone who has more of an all-round game than the guy that swings a bat (albeit well) and nothing else.
But if you define MVP as ‘the guy that makes the biggest impact on his team’, there’s no doubt it’s Thomas by a landslide.
And he IS a landslide.
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