Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Suspension Tension
I've heard some fellow Angel fans criticizing the timing of Jose Guillen's suspension, saying it created a media storm of off-the-field issues when the Angels needed to be focused on baseball and that they should have waited until the offseason to discipline Jose so harshly. I could not disagree more.
If there is an issue of a player showing up his manager, it needs to be dealt with immediately. Of course this suspension will create a constant line of "what about Guillen?" questioning, but who's to say that more damage would not be done to the team chemistry by not addressing the problem swiftly and effectively? In case you haven't noticed, the Angels have not been playing great ball lately. Their offense and their pitching seem to be on alternating schedules; if one does well, the other does not. Keeping a disgruntled Jose Guillen in the clubhouse after his tirade (and whatever else happened that we did not see) could have very well served as the dead weight that finally sank the Angels' season once and for all. They were already feeling the pressure of the pennant race and the disappointment of not playing to the best of their abilities; you think they needed player/manager tension on top of that?
While on the topic of pressure, maybe all this media attention about Guillen's suspension will actually help them by diverting attention off of their every pitch, thrown and swung at. It's no coincidence that since Guillen's suspension, the Angels have displayed two of their most spirited efforts of the season. If you've witnessed all their highs and lows, you can just see that something is clicking again in the Halos' dugout. They have that all-for-one look of the 2002 World Champions again. I'm not saying that Jose Guillen was holding them back from achieving that until now nor am I saying that his teammates feel they're better off without him. No team would prefer Adam Riggs' sub-.200 average to Guillen's 100+ RBI, and the players will surely miss Jose as a teammate. But let's be honest here, the Angels needed something to happen. They needed something to snap them out of their recent funk. I was calling for Scioscia to find that necessary spark last week if you'll recall. My point is that this suspension, good or bad in its own right, could very well serve as that much needed spark. I believe it has so far and will be recognized more widely as such as the Angels continue to heat up in this final week of the season. The prospect of this suspension giving the Angels a boost in team chemistry and unity far outweighs the loss of Jose's bat and the media scrutiny.
I believe the Angels will win the AL West. Even if they don't, however, I will not even think of using GuillenGate as an excuse. I'm proud to have a team on the field that doesn't ask me to make excuses for its players' behavior.
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If there is an issue of a player showing up his manager, it needs to be dealt with immediately. Of course this suspension will create a constant line of "what about Guillen?" questioning, but who's to say that more damage would not be done to the team chemistry by not addressing the problem swiftly and effectively? In case you haven't noticed, the Angels have not been playing great ball lately. Their offense and their pitching seem to be on alternating schedules; if one does well, the other does not. Keeping a disgruntled Jose Guillen in the clubhouse after his tirade (and whatever else happened that we did not see) could have very well served as the dead weight that finally sank the Angels' season once and for all. They were already feeling the pressure of the pennant race and the disappointment of not playing to the best of their abilities; you think they needed player/manager tension on top of that?
While on the topic of pressure, maybe all this media attention about Guillen's suspension will actually help them by diverting attention off of their every pitch, thrown and swung at. It's no coincidence that since Guillen's suspension, the Angels have displayed two of their most spirited efforts of the season. If you've witnessed all their highs and lows, you can just see that something is clicking again in the Halos' dugout. They have that all-for-one look of the 2002 World Champions again. I'm not saying that Jose Guillen was holding them back from achieving that until now nor am I saying that his teammates feel they're better off without him. No team would prefer Adam Riggs' sub-.200 average to Guillen's 100+ RBI, and the players will surely miss Jose as a teammate. But let's be honest here, the Angels needed something to happen. They needed something to snap them out of their recent funk. I was calling for Scioscia to find that necessary spark last week if you'll recall. My point is that this suspension, good or bad in its own right, could very well serve as that much needed spark. I believe it has so far and will be recognized more widely as such as the Angels continue to heat up in this final week of the season. The prospect of this suspension giving the Angels a boost in team chemistry and unity far outweighs the loss of Jose's bat and the media scrutiny.
I believe the Angels will win the AL West. Even if they don't, however, I will not even think of using GuillenGate as an excuse. I'm proud to have a team on the field that doesn't ask me to make excuses for its players' behavior.
# posted by j.h.k. @ 1:14 PM 
