White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen thinks Major League Baseball’s steroids investigation is unfairly targeting Latino players.
Guillen was interviewed by several officials last season, and he said they repeatedly focused their questioning on players from Latin America.
“I meet with, like, five people,” Guillen said Wednesday. “The only thing that made me upset was they tried to mention too many Latino players. I think they try to put the Latinos to be the bad cloud in this thing. This thing was bugging me because everything they asked me (was), ‘Do you ever see this in Venezuela?”’
Guillen said asking whether players were importing steroids from their native countries was unfair, considering BALCO is based in California.
“They were like, ‘You never see any of the players bring this thing to the States?”’ Guillen said. “I said, ‘Wait a second, BALCO is not (in) Venezuela, is not (in) Puerto Rico, is not Dominican, is not (in) Mexico. BALCO is in California. Then why do you keep blaming players from Latin America for the problem that we have in the States?’”
Hoffman’s 500th celebrated
Trevor Hoffman considers his 500 career saves as not much more than a nice, round number that nobody else has.
Getting mobbed by his teammates and then carried off the field, however, was pretty cool.
Hoffman considered it the best possible salute when David Wells and Heath Bell hoisted him onto their broad shoulders Wednesday night after he earned his 500th save in a 5-2 win over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I rank it up there with the ultimate respect of how they feel,” Hoffman said Thursday.
“It’s one thing to slap you on the back and give you a hug and say, ‘Good job.’ But they took it one step further and pick you up and put you on their back.”
Overbay already bored
A frustrated LyleOverbay returned to Toronto, wondering what to do during his first trip to the disabled list.
“I’m already bored out of my mind,” Overbay said. “Hopefully, I don’t drive my family insane.”
A seven-year veteran, Overbay had missed only one game this season before he was hit by a pitch from Chicago White Sox left-hander John Danks on Sunday, breaking his right pinkie. Overbay stayed in the game to run but was replaced at first base by Matt Stairs the following inning.
“I’ve got hit in the hand before but not like this,” Overbay said. “When I couldn’t close my glove, that was the thing that took me out of the game.”
Overbay, 30, is batting .256 with eight home runs and 27 RBI in 55 games this season. He had surgery in Baltimore on Monday to repair two fractures in his hand. Four pins were inserted into the finger to help heal the bone. He’s expected to weeks.
