Mark J. Rebilas/US Presswire

Ozzie Guillen has not sugarcoated his thoughts in his time as White Sox manager.

By John Kruk, ESPN

Ozzie Guillen's comments about Wrigley Field do not surprise me. (In what has become an annual rite, Guillen ripped Wrigley Field this week as he prepared himself for the White Sox's trip to the old park for a three-game set, which begins Tuesday night). It seems as though the media like to slam athletes who give the standard clichéd answers, as Alex Rodriguez and Kobe Bryant often do.

But now we want to shoot down people like Ozzie, who don't give us any clichés and say exactly how they feel? I think this is Ozzie's way of flipping off all those obnoxious fans who come to the game. It's as if Ozzie's saying, "Come get me and then my players can just go play."

Ozzie didn't hurt anyone by saying he hates Wrigley Field. I loved going there to play because of the history of it, but I wouldn't let my kids in there to run around and play. It's just not the right atmosphere. I used to love playing day games out there. You get a lot of complaints from the fans who sit right on top of you, and they can even throw beer at you when you go close to the fence to catch a ball. Some of the fans can say things to you to make you pretty angry. Wrigley Field is packed almost every game and, up to the last five or six years, the fans were really bad. Going to a Cubs game is like an event. It's like a family barbecue, and everyone shows up. But for Ozzie, most of his big league career has been on the other side of town, so there's no reason he shouldn't hate the Cubs and everything they stand for.

Featured Series: White Sox at Cubs

TUESDAY White Sox (John Danks) at Cubs (Carlos Zambrano), 8:05 p.m. ET

WEDNESDAY White Sox (Gavin Floyd) at Cubs (Ryan Dempster), 2:20 p.m. ET

THURSDAY White Sox (Jose Contreras) at Cubs (Randy Wells), 2:20 p.m. ET

The thing with Ozzie is, we came up together in the minor leagues … the guy has not changed a bit. I've known him since he was 16 years old, and he hasn't changed -- and I respect that about him. He was loud and boisterous when he was 16, and he hasn't changed into his 40s. You've got to respect that. A lot of guys, once they become a manager, they change; but he hasn't. He's going to tell you exactly how he feels, whether you like it or not.

In 1982, Ozzie and I were playing Class A ball in Reno, and I helped him find a place to live. The next year, when we were playing Double-A ball, he got married. His wife could not speak English, and Ozzie spoke very little. I had played winter ball for a few years, so I knew some of the struggles the Latin players go through. I know the struggles I went through not speaking the language and trying to live and get by during those years of winter ball.

So I tried to help Ozzie and the other Latino players as much as I could. My first impression of Ozzie was that he was a very intelligent baseball player. He saw the game completely differently than I had ever looked at the game. I learned a lot from him, even though I was 22 and he was 16. There were little keys to the game that he shared, such as relaying signs and picking up signs. It was a great way to help out the outfielders with signs from the catcher. In turn, we would know what pitch is coming to help us position ourselves better in the outfield. That was all stuff Ozzie helped with.

I almost fought him once. He was just learning to speak English. The thing about him, and why he speaks so much now, is he isn't afraid to make mistakes. When I was trying to learn how to speak Spanish, I wouldn't speak Spanish to anyone because I wanted to be perfect at it. Ozzie didn't care if he used words grammatically correctly or just spit it out and let it fly. We were joking around one day when he tried to call me a name; instead of calling me the vulgar, insulting name intended, he said something else, something quite a bit more offensive than the name he meant to call me. So, of course, we got into it and had a little fun with that.

There were a few times we got Ozzie in trouble. We would tell him to say stuff he shouldn't have said and start some fights. Every once in a while, he would get a little ahead of himself, so we would have to tell him to say something to someone that he shouldn't say, knowing it would upset the person he was saying it to. There would be a little confrontation, possibly a little fight and we would let the other guy know, "Hey, we told him to say it. But we just want him to understand, he needs to think sometimes before he speaks." And that didn't work, obviously … just look at some of the things he has said in the past few years as a manager.

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ON DECK: TUESDAY'S BEST MATCHUPS

Blue Jays at Phillies, 7:05 p.m. ET

Cole Hamels has not lost since April 23, going 4-0 with four no-decisions in that stretch. Since losing against Milwaukee, his ERA has dropped from 9.69 to 4.62. The Blue Jays limp in, having lost four in a row thanks to a struggling offense. In the four losses, they have scored more than three runs just once.

White Sox at Cubs, 8:05 p.m. ET

Perhaps this series will wake up the Cubs' ailing bats. The Cubs just fired hitting coach Gerald Perry, who could not help the club out of a funk that has it entering this series with the White Sox hitting .246. The White Sox aren't an offensive juggernaut, either; they enter hitting .251 as a group, tied for second-worst in the AL.

Rays at Rockies, 8:40 p.m. ET

The Rays are hot, having won five in a row. But they are not nearly as hot as the Rockies, who enter on an 11-game winning streak. Even Tuesday's starter for Colorado, Jorge De La Rosa, is rolling along. He started the year 0-6, but has won both his starts in this winning streak.

For the rest of Tuesday's schedule, click here.