CHICAGO - Detroit Tigers first base coach Andy Van Slyke made generalizations about Latinos on Tuesday in questioning the managerial approach of Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox.

Speaking on Sporting News Radio, Van Slyke was asked about Guillen’s outburst toward White Sox pitcher Jon Garland, whom the manager took to task in the dugout for not retaliating in a beanball war with Vicente Padilla of the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

“(Guillen’s) a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve,” Van Slyke told the radio network.  “He is, if you want to call it, an atypical Latin baseball player.

“I don’t believe that it’s true for all Latinos, but a lot of people’s perception is that Latinos are hot-headed.  He has certainly shown that he gets a little upset and a little excited about the littlest, silliest things.”

Guillen responded to Van Slyke’s comments following Tuesday’s game against Minnesota.

“It bugs me when people talk about me,” Guillen said.  “I never say anything about running a club and what they should and shouldn’t do.  And second parties are too many.  That’s why he’s coaching first base and I’m managing in the big leagues. I’m going to manage in the big leagues longer than he’s going to coach first base.

“It’s a shame when you talk about somebody you really don’t know. If I treat him or another player like that and he hit me, I’ll take my chances.  But he don’t know the conversation between me and Garland or me and my ballplayers.  It was a little too far. It was too far way from that.  Just worry about your team playing well and don’t worry about my team.”

During his playing days, Van Slyke was among the players more accommodating to the media.

Earlier this season, Guillen was fined and ordered into sensitivity training by Commissioner Bud Selig after referring to a Chicago newspaper columnist with a derogatory term for gays.

The videotape of the confrontation between Guillen and Garland has been repeatedly replayed and conveys the manager may have been showing up the pitcher, which Van Slyke also found objectionable.

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“Do I like what he does sometimes?  No,” Van Slyke said.  “Would I like it if he showed me up like that in the dugout?  No.  I probably would have punched him.  But I think the players have adjusted to his style and type of managing.”

On June 14 against the Rangers, Guillen treated pitcher Sean Tracey in similar fashion after the rookie also did not retaliate when a White Sox batter had been buzzed by a pitch from Padilla.

The White Sox (59-39) are the defending World Series champions but trail the Tigers (67-32) by 7 1/2 games in the American League Central Division entering play Tuesday.  They hold the wild card spot.

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