White Sox have faith in bullpen
It was right around this time last season that the White Sox' bullpen fell apart.
A raw group that included David Aardsma, Boone Logan, Mike MacDougal, Nick Masset, Andrew Sisco and Matt Thornton started out great, but once the collapse began, so did the end of the Sox' season.
The bullpen has been improved this season, thanks mainly to the addition of veterans Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel.
But the relief corps has had some rocky moments.
One of those came in Tuesday night's 9-4 loss to the Yankees when Dotel gave up a grand slam and Thornton was tagged for a 3-run homer.
The end of the game sure had a 2007 feel to it, but Linebrink said the Sox' bullpen is going to be just fine.
"It's a tough job, and I think we have the right people to do it," Linebrink said. "You have to have a short memory. Stuff like (Tuesday), that's going to happen in this game. But we have the guys in this bullpen who are going to get the job done 95 percent of the time."
Dotel agreed.
"There have been some little things that have gone wrong, but we have a good group of guys in this bullpen," Dotel said. "We're going to be just fine. Just go out there and do what we have to do. This is a good bullpen."
Sox relievers entered Wednesday's game with a 3.78 ERA, the seventh best in the American League. Last year, the White Sox' bullpen had a 5.47 ERA, which ranked 12th in the league.
Fields watch: Josh Fields had a big night for Class AAA Charlotte on Wednesday, going 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBI while raising his batting average to .294.
Unfortunately for Fields, he's stuck in the minors behind Joe Crede, who hit his sixth home run for the Sox in Wednesday's loss to the Yankees.
Crede has started 19 of the White Sox' 20 games at third base and has not had any problems with his surgically repaired back.
"I think he's better than I thought because he's there every day," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I never expected him to play every day without complaining. He's never complained to me, even in spring training or during the season when I play him day games after night games. I cannot be more pleased with what he does."
The better Crede performs, the higher his price is going to be. Three days shy of his 30th birthday, Crede is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.
"I think Joe Crede does so many good things for the team defensively, it's unbelievable," Guillen said. "I don't want to sit down here because (Crede's agent) Scott Boras will hear me and put this in the contract: 'Look at what Ozzie says when he talks about Crede.' I don't get nothing from that."