Ozzie Guillen has a Lee Elia moment

5/5/2008 11:30 AM

TORONTO (AP) -White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had his own Lee Elia moment, letting forth a stream of obscenities in which he accused Chicago fans of turning on the struggling team after a strong start.

During his rant before Sunday's game against Toronto, Guillen said the White Sox are not sufficiently appreciated in their city despite winning the 2005 World Series.

``That's what ticks me off about Chicago fans and Chicago media, they forget pretty quickly,'' Guillen said, punctuating his outburst with a healthy dose of vulgarities.

He bemoaned the fact that the Cubs are considered the ``best'' in Chicago even though they haven't won a World Series since 1908, dropping F-bombs along the way. He fears his team will never get respect ``no matter how many World Series we win.''

Guillen also mocked the 25th anniversary of the rant by Elia, the former Cubs manager. Guillen predicted his own tirades will one day be equally legendary, and maybe lucrative.

``How many times do I curse people out? I will make a lot of money. ... I have to keep going because in the future Ozzie will need money,'' he said.

The White Sox, who lost 4-3 Sunday, have dropped eight of 11 and fallen out of first place in the AL Central. At 14-15, the White Sox are below .500 for the first time since they started the season 1-2.

``People are panicking,'' Guillen said. ``Did we play a real bad week? Yes, we did. We stunk. But it wasn't too long ago that we were the biggest surprise in baseball. Wow, look at the White Sox.''

Chicago has scored just nine runs in its past five games and its .232 batting average is the AL's lowest.