A season after guiding the Chicago White Sox to their first championship in 88 years, Guillen's team missed the playoffs. So after going 90-72 and finishing third in the AL Central, the manager plans to skip the upcoming Series.

``I want to be there. I'm not going to sit there and watch baseball because it makes me sick to my stomach to watch somebody else, not us,'' Guillen said near the end of a frustrating season.

Figuring at the very least to return to the playoffs after adding the likes of Jim Thome and Javier Vazquez, the White Sox underachieved, especially in the second half.

``We can look back and say we didn't play as well as we could have, or we think we should have, but to win 90 games and being third place, I don't think anybody ever thought that,'' pitcher Mark Buehrle said.

The pitching that carried Chicago in 2005 was spotty _ the starting rotation was inconsistent most of the season and later the bullpen lagged, giving up leads and turning potential victories into agonizing losses.

Chicago had plenty of power with four players reaching at least 30 homers and three of them going over 100 RBIs. But the middle of the lineup featuring Jermaine Dye, Thome, Paul Konerko and Joe Crede was reminiscent of Guillen's first season in 2004 when the White Sox were a homer-reliant team _ they led the majors this season with 236 _ that didn't manufacture runs as it did in 2005.

Leadoff hitter Scott Podsednik had a big drop-off, his average dipping from .290 to .261 and his stolen bases falling from 59 to 40. Throw in low batting averages from the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, Juan Uribe and struggling rookie Brian Anderson, and the White Sox couldn't play ``Ozzie Ball.''

But don't expect a lot of different faces next season. General manager Ken Williams said last week he doesn't plan wholesale changes for 2007.

Beating Detroit and Minnesota in what is arguably the best division in baseball will be a tough assignment again. And next season the Indians, who were perhaps the most disappointing team in 2006, are expected to be better.

The future of Podsednik, who is arbitration eligible, and whether Brandon McCarthy, who struggled as a reliever, will join the rotation are two of the biggest questions facing the White Sox in the off-season.

There's no question they will pick up club options on Dye _ who had a team-leading 44 homers and 120 RBIs _ and second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. They're also expected to do the same for Buehrle.

The second half struggles _ the team was just 33-41 after the break _ were reflected by top starters Jose Contreras and Buehrle. Contreras, the ace in the second half of 2005, was 9-0 in the first half and just 4-9 after the break. Buehrle (12-13) was hit hard and often and was 3-7 with a 6.44 ERA in the second half after making the all-star team.

Freddy Garcia won 17 games and got stronger toward the end of the season. Jon Garland won 18 games for a second straight season. Vazquez finished 11-12 and didn't win in his last 10 starts.

Burly Bobby Jenks saved 41 games but was slowed by a hip injury late in the season. Neal Cotts and Cliff Politte, who were stellar during the championship run, didn't come close to repeating their career years. Politte was released and Cotts gave up 12 homers, after yielding just one in 2005. The bullpen's ERA jumped from 3.23 a year ago to 4.55.

And Guillen's mouth got him in trouble, starting in spring training after a magazine interview in which he called Yankees star Alex Rodriguez a hypocrite for waffling on his choice of teams for the World Baseball Classic. He apologized.

Guillen later called a Chicago sports columnist a derogatory name used to describe someone's sexual orientation and was ordered to sensitivity training by the commissioner's office.

Whether the White Sox rebound or not, Guillen will keep talking and expressing his opinions and being the focal point of the team.

He noticed that some took delight in seeing the White Sox fail in their attempts to not only repeat but just get back in the post-season.

Cleveland fans, remembering when he made a similar gesture at the end of 2005, gave him the ``choke'' sign when the Indians were helping eliminate the White Sox in the final week.

``You feel like, `Wow, we worked so hard to get to this point and all of a sudden we failed,''' Guillen said. ``You have to learn from failure. When you fail, you learn more. ... We did not do what we were supposed to do.''