Baseball notebook: Guillen blows top over calls
Manager Ozzie Guillen will miss Friday night’s game at Tampa Bay so he can attend his son Ozney’s high school graduation.
And there’s a good chance Guillen will miss more games because of his comments directed toward umpire Joe West after his ejection Wednesday during the Chicago White Sox’s 5-4 victory over Cleveland for their second consecutive series triumph.
“Because he’s a (bleeping bleep), that’s what he is,” Guillen said of West, who tossed him after the first of two balk calls against starter Mark Buehrle. Buehrle then was tossed after dropping his glove in reaction to the second call.
West has tossed Guillen three times. Guillen was incensed because he believes West was “embarrassing” Buehrle and has made a habit of stealing attention from players.
“Joe has been like that for a lot of years, and he’s always going to be like this,” Guillen said. “I’m not going to change it, nobody is going to change it, but sometimes he thinks (bleeping) people pay to watch him (bleeping) umpire.”
Buehrle, who had to be restrained from going up to West after his ejection, said “He’s too worried about promoting his (country-western) CD, and he likes seeing his name in the papers a little bit too much instead of worrying about the rules.”
Judge backs MLB financing of Rangers
A judge approved a multimillion-dollar Major League Baseball loan to keep the Texas Rangers afloat during bankruptcy proceedings, raising hopes that the team’s stalled $575 million sale may happen this summer.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge D. Michael Lynn set a mid-June hearing on the Rangers’ plan to pay the $75 million of the club’s debt tied up in owner Tom Hicks’ ownership group.
Sosa won’t face perjury probe
Sammy Sosa will not face a perjury investigation for his remarks to Congress about performance- enhancing drugs.
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said the panel has decided not to have the Justice Department look into whether Sosa lied at a March 2005 hearing, when he said: “I have never taken illegal performance- enhancing drugs.”