No longer a pigpen
If the White Sox actually do win the AL Central "by a half-dozen games,'' as projected by Cubs manager Lou Piniella on Saturday, individual players like Carlos Quentin, Jermaine Dye, A.J. Pierzynski, John Danks and Mark Buehrle are going to be showered with praise.
But those who have been watching the Sox carefully - much like the true football fans who follow the offensive line - will know better.
Bullpens might be boring, but they are a vital part of winning.
Last year, the White Sox lost 90 games because they rolled the dice on unproven relief pitches like Ryan Bukvich, Mike MacDougal, Andrew Sisco, David Aardsma and even Matt Thornton, Boone Logan and Nick Masset.
"I wouldn't say we were scared to go to the bullpen,'' catcher A.J. Pierzynski said after the Sox edged the Cubs 6-5 Saturday. "We just didn't know what we were going to get.''
Headaches immediately come to mind, as do losses.
"Last year, the bullpen really struggled, minus Bobby (Jenks),'' Thornton said. "I mean Bobby had a phenomenal year. The other 25 guys we (used) just really struggled.''
Thornton was exaggerating about the White Sox using 25 other relief pitchers, but not by much. It seemed that every flight landing at O'Hare from Charlotte, N.C., last summer was carrying a Class AAA pitcher headed for the Sox' bullpen.
Sox general manager Kenny Williams was disgusted by the daily disasters, so he went out and signed Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel during the off-season.
The two veterans are making a lot of money, but they've been worth the investment so far.
Linebrink was one of five White Sox relievers who combined to pitch 4 scoreless innings against the Cubs on Saturday, lowering his ERA to 1.41.
Logan (2.22 ERA), Masset (3.21), Thornton (2.30) and Jenks (2.01) also bailed out starter Javier Vazquez, while lowering the bullpen's overall ERA to 2.64, the lowest in the American League.
"You've got to do the best you can with what you have,'' Pierzynski said. "It's hard, but we had a lot of young guys last year, there were some guys that were up for the first time. This time we've got Linebrink and Dotel, those guys have been through wars.
"Thornton's getting there, Boone Logan is getting there, Masset's getting there, you can see each time he goes out there he gets a little better. It's just a luxury when you have experienced guys with quality stuff.''
Thornton was particularly impressive against the Cubs, striking out four of the five hitters he faced.
"I think we kind of feed off each other,'' Thornton said. "You don't want to be the guy that struggles. You want to do well and I think it's really working well for us.''
Is it fair to say the bullpen is the strength of the White Sox this season?
"We're just a part of it,'' said Logan, who has allowed just 2 earned runs over his last 19 innings. "We're like a little unit down there and we just go out and back each other up. We had out struggles last year. No one really had a set position besides Bobby. All we had is youth; we didn't have older guys that have been through it. Now we do, and they've been very professional and a great help.''