White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen sure stirred up a hornet’s nest a few days ago when he promised to retaliate when his hitters get plunked by pitches.

That Ozzie is such a character.

But his comments will be one of the sidelights to the three-game series between the Mariners and White Sox, which begins tonight at Safeco Field.

The Sox have been hit 44 times by pitches this season, compared to 29 HBPs for the Mariners. That would suggest that either the White Sox hit a lot more home runs than the Mariners, which they do — 135-105 — or the Mariners are quicker in the batter’s box and can elude body-seeking pitches.

I think it’s probably a combo of both.

The Sox, by the way, rank third in the AL behind the Indians (65) and Red Sox (47).

Individually, Carlos Quentin is tops on the Chicago team with nine HBPs and Paul Konerko is second with eight.

For the Mariners, Russell Branyan leads with way with nine HBPs, but I have yet to here either him, or manager Don Wakamatsu, complain about it.

Anyway, it’s down the elevator shaft and into the clubhouse to check out the lineup and other tidbits.

Here are tonight’s lineups:

White Sox

Scott Podsednik, CF

Gordon Becham, 3B

Jermaine Dye, RF

JIm Thome, DH

Paul Konerko, 1B

Carlos Quentin, LF

Alexei Ramirez, SS

Jayson Nix, 2B

Ramon Castro, C

 

Mariners

Ichiro, RF

Franklin Gutierrez, CF

Jose Lopez, 2B

Ken Griffey Jr., DH

Adrian Beltre, 3B

Russell Branyan, 1B

Jack Wilson, SS

Kenji Johjima, C

Michael Saunders, LF

— Jim Street