Sox' bullpen not what was expected

MINNEAPOLIS - What has been the White Sox' biggest problem this season?

Where to begin, where to begin.

Entering the year with a pair of questionable veteran starters, Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon, has turned out to be a disaster.

Two key players from the 2008 Sox, left fielder Carlos Quentin and shortstop Alexei Ramirez, have been injury riddled and ineffective, respectively.

The White Sox have not hit consistently with runners in scoring position all season, and key sluggers Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome both have struggled since the all-star break.

Then there is the bullpen.

Expected to be the strength of the team heading into the season, every White Sox relief pitcher outside of Matt Thornton and D.J. Carrasco has been a disappointment - and that goes double for Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel.

On the Sox' rugged road trip, which started with 6 losses in seven games at Boston and New York, the bullpen was 0-3 with an 8.74 ERA.

White Sox fans are fed up with the leaky relief corps, and pitching coach Don Cooper understands the anger.

"The numbers don't maybe look that bad, but the performances in the moments we need them to get it done has not been there," Cooper said. "It's my staff, so no matter who it is I take responsibility. Each guy has his own story, but the bottom line is the job is not getting done the way they nor we want it done.

"It just hasn't been happening, and that's where the frustration comes in. But you know, our team is hard to figure out in every area. If you're going to look for a flaw, yeah, the bullpen. But, geez, we've got a lot of others that people can look at."

Such as?

"Our bullpen is certainly an area of that, our baserunning, our defense has failed us, everything has failed us at one time or another," Cooper said. "The bottom line is we're not winning the games we expect to win, we want to win, here in the playoff race, and that's where everybody's frustration lies.

"And that's where everybody starts looking for - bring me the head of the people that are not getting this done."