Ozzie Guillen Won't Back Down

In another boring TV night, Ozzie Guillen sticks by his lackluster Phillies

By EAMONN BRENNAN

Updated 12:21 PM CST, Tue, Nov 3, 2009

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Last week, during his first of three World Series pregame broadcasts, Ozzie Guillen made a somewhat bold prediction: He said the Phillies would beat the Yankees in six games. This didn't endear him much to New York fans, and given the offensive talent the Yankees have somehow squeezed into a nine-man lineup, it's pretty ballsy.

Since then, Guillen has rarely said anything interesting. He's minding his manners on Fox's pregame analysis show; it's clear that Ozzie doesn't want to ruin any future opportunities he might have as a broadcaster by doing any of the things that have made him interesting as a manager -- specifically, curse-laden verbal tirades.

But Ozzie did get interesting for a moment last night: Facing a 2-1 Yankee lead in the series (last night's win gave the Yankees 3-1 lead, but Ozzie's moment came before the game started), Guillen refused to retract his position, giving a little "Ay dios mio" to the Fox cameras and trying to explain why the Phillies could begin a comeback. That didn't go so well, as Brad Lidge melted down in the ninth and Alex Rodriguez keyed a 7-4 Yankee victory.

But hey, at least Ozzie's willing to make a prediction and stand by it. We predicted he'd be crazy on TV. That didn't go so well, either.

Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. He is the editor of Yahoo! Sports's college basketball blog The Dagger and a contributor to Inside The Hall. Follow him at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com, or on Twitter.