Guillen looks for bullpen as he knows it

NEW YORK - Over the first three months of the season, the White Sox had one of the best bullpens in baseball.

Bobby Jenks was a bull in the closer's role, as was Scott Linebrink in the eighth inning.

Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton were a dangerous duo alternating in the sixth and seventh innings, and Boone Logan carried an impressive 2.22 ERA into July.

Manager Ozzie Guillen often credited his relief corps for lifting the Sox into first place earlier in the year.

The White Sox are trying to hang on and edge out Minnesota in the AL Central, but they are going to need a much better effort from their established relievers over the next two weeks.

"I'm not happy with them," Guillen said before Monday's 4-2 loss to the Yankees. "Obviously, they're a big part of this and we're here because of them. But at the same time the last week or so we've struggled. I'm not going to let that happen.

"It's a long season. Your offense is going to struggle, your defense, your pitching staff, but we're not in a situation to let this thing slip away from our hands.

"We don't have the luxury to pitch the way we're pitching right now. I think they're going to step it up and pitch where they're supposed to pitch, because if our bullpen is where it is supposed to be, I will take my chances."

Thornton is the lone reliever pitching well at the moment. The big left-hander has allowed only 2 earned runs over his last 12 innings.

Jenks has been tagged for 7 runs in his last 6 innings, Dotel 9 runs in his last 8 innings, and Logan - who is back after being demoted to Class AAA Charlotte - 19 runs in his last 9 innings.

As for Linebrink, he missed six weeks with a sore right shoulder and has yielded 2 runs in 3 innings since coming off the disabled list.

"Right now we're not doing what we're supposed to do," Guillen said. "If we had a bad bullpen or I knew we weren't that good, then I would try to just get by. But I know our bullpen is real good and real strong."