CHICAGO -- Ozzie Guillen got booted from the first Cubs-White Sox game of the season. He still got in a kick of his own.
Guillen angrily argued a call in the sixth inning when home plate umpire James Hoye ruled that a ball hit by the White Sox's Alexei Ramirez touched the plate and he was out after Cubs catcher Geovany Soto picked it up and tagged him.
First Ramirez and then Guillen argued it was foul. It was another frustrating moment for the White Sox, who scored three runs in the first against Carlos Zambrano, only to lose 6-3 when Gavin Floyd couldn't hold the lead Monday night.
"He was right I was wrong. Because if I say what I want to say I'm going to (owe) another $20 grand," Guillen said of a possible fine after his second ejection of the season and 27th of his career.
"Then I'm just going to leave it that way, he (Hoye) was right, I got kicked out of the game. I'm tired of paying people's money for no reason."
Guillen was suspended earlier this year when he went on Twitter to criticize his ejection from a game at Yankee Stadium. This time, after getting the boot, he gave Soto's mask a kick and then continued to argue.
"You get frustrated. That play I had it right in front of me. That's why I went out and I argued about it," Guillen said.
"I told myself I'm not going to argue it unless if I'm right. This year, you don't see me on the field that often. When I'm out on the field it is just to protect a player but on this play .... I use glasses just to read and write. I can see a little far," he said.
Guillen said he's lucky that Soto's mask is a bit different from the equipment used in earlier days.
"If I kicked it 20 years ago I might have broke my toe. They make the masks so light and so good. No. I don't feel anything. I just saw it fly out of there," he said.
Soto said he caught the ball at the tip of the plate and tagged Ramirez.
"The umpire saw it. He saw where I caught it. But there's a lot of emotions involved. I thought it was funny," Soto said of the mask kick.
"I seriously thought he (Ozzie) thought it was the umpire's. Like I said there's a lot of emotions involved and he just went at it."
Paul Konerko said it appeared from TV that the ball was foul but it was a tough call because the catcher is jumping at the plate.
"The look on Soto's face when he got his face mask kicked, that was priceless. I don't know if he was mad or not, but the look on his face when Ozzie kicked (his mask) absolutely struck me," Konerko said.
"We were sitting here watching it and we just shook our heads, 'Like oh my God, did he just kick his face mask?' ... Ozzie was pretty hot."
The White Sox, who were trailing 6-3 at the time of the ejection, couldn't score after Konerko hit his 20th homer in a three-run first. They had two on in the fifth but Zambrano struck out Konerko to end the threat.
Floyd gave up six runs and five hits in five-plus innings, including a go-ahead three-run homer to Carlos Pena and a tying solo shot to Starlin Castro.
The Cubs got two back against Floyd (6-7) in the third on Soto's single, a sacrifice, a walk to Kosuke Fukudome and Castro's two-out, two-run single.
Notes: Guillen, the third base coach of the Marlins when they won the World Series in 2003, said Jack McKeon's return to managing Florida at age 80 showed his compassion for the game. Asked about his name being mentioned as a possible Marlins manager next season, Guillen, who has another year left on his deal with the White Sox, said he wants to stay. But he added it would be up to general manager Ken Williams and owner Jerry Reinsdorf if they want him back. ... Konerko set a club record by reaching 20 homers for a 12th season. Frank Thomas also had 11 seasons of at least 20 with Chicago. ... The victory was just the fifth for the Cubs over the White Sox in their last 16 games.