Until the Chicago White Sox won this year's American League Central division title, an organization hadn't had that much success with a hothead leading a group of malcontents and damaged goods since the U.S. Army turned the Dirty Dozen over to Lee Marvin.

In assembling his team, Chicago White Sox general manager Kenny Williams talked much about getting players with character. But if you look this year's team, you would think he meant players who are actually characters with a roster of players such as Carl "I Don't Believe in Dinosaurs" Everett and A.J. Pierzynski, who once informed the San Francisco Giants' trainer how it felt to get a pitch to the groin by kneeing the trainer in his own sweet spot.

Manager Ozzie Guillen would seem to be the worst person to put in charge of this potentially combustible mix, what with his particularly impolitic way of calling out players. By April, he had already declared Frank Thomas being a part of the White Sox's past "bad attitude." And to makes things eve more interesting, he responded to former Sox and right fielder Magglio Ordonez's accusations of interfering with his contract negotiations by referring to the current Tiger as "another Venezuelan piece of [bleep]." (For the record, Guillen is Venezuelan).

And yet, here the White Sox sit with the best record in the American League. Even during a late-season slump that threatened to blow what once was a 15-game lead, the White Sox locker room did not blow up with finger-pointing and groin-kneeing. How is that?

TWINS VS. ATHLETICS Oakland wins series 3-0 A's sweep past Twins with 8-3 win 'Mr. Clutch' comes through once again A’s offer slugger Thomas two-year contract Hunter, Radke disappoint in possible finales Bradley heats up in A's dugout Opinion: New-look A's have attitude Complete series results

Williams, portrayed as Billy Beane's chump in the book "Moneyball," might not be so dumb after all. In fact, if Michael Lewis had hung around Williams around this season, he might be writing a new book about the Sox the GM's strategy: "Moneyball in Reverse."

What Williams and the A's general manager have in common is finding undervalued players in an attempt to win despite a limited salary budget. Where Williams and Beane are different is how they find those players.

Slide show   ALCS images A visual tour of the playoff series between the Angels and White Sox

For example, Pierzynski, a catcher, made $4.3 million with the Giants in 2004, and was bad-mouthed as being the biggest jerk on the team — and that's with Barry Bonds on the roster.

Williams signed him for $2.25 million, and Pierzynski has been no trouble.

Another example would be replacing Ordonez with Jermaine Dye. Though he was injured for much of 2004, Ordonez had been a steady 30-homer, 100-RBI player and popular with fans. But the White Sox let him go, unwilling to match the Tigers' five-year, $75 million offer.

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