October Slaw: There is no Scotchtoberfest, Ozzie Guillen

There's a great episode of The Simpsons in which the Groundskeeper Willie character plays a supporting role in a sting set up by Principal Skinner to catch Bart red-handed in a prank. The sting itself required a fabricated autumn festival called Scotchtoberfest. When Willie, a Scot, finds out that he's been had, he cries out in his outraged brogue :"You used me, Skinner! You used me."

I bring all this up now because I feel like we're about to see something similar happen during America's totally non-fictional autumn festival, the baseball playoffs. Last week, Boston fans were spitting up their chowder? Why? Well, it was the very idea that, with the AL Central wrapped up, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen might prepare his team for the postseason, rather than help the Red Sox (and Yankees) by playing to win against the Indians.

Guillen probably should have been resting regulars and setting up his playoff rotation. Instead, he mollified the AL East contenders by trotting out Mark Buehrle to start Friday against the Indians, who were the only competition Boston and New York had for the AL wild card.

Now he can't start Buehrle in Game 1 against the Red Sox. Which also means Buehrle probably won't start game 5. Now, I'm not a professional baseball manager, but I'd certainly put setting up my rotation for the postseason ahead of some high-minded hokum about doing the right thing for the game. If the the White Sox are eliminated by their partners in hosiery, Guillen might have to wonder about

Much like a Scotsman duped into thinking there was an actual Scotchtoberfest, Guillen probably should have known better.