Sox' bullpen takes home runs in stride
When discussing his first-place White Sox before Friday's interleague showdown against the first-place Cubs at Wrigley Field, manager Ozzie Guillen expounded on the importance of having veterans Scott Linebrink and Octavio Dotel in the bullpen.
"A lot of people talk to me about (Orlando) Cabrera, (Carlos) Quentin and (Nick) Swisher," Guillen said of the Sox' three new position players. "But I think the best thing we did is bring in Linebrink and Dotel. Last year, I was thinking twice before bringing anyone in. I don't hesitate this year."
Naturally, Guillen called on Dotel and Linebrink on Friday at Wrigley Field. Surprisingly, the duo was far from dynamic.
Dotel came on in the seventh inning with the White Sox holding a 3-1 lead. In addition to leading American League relievers with 48 strikeouts (in 33½ innings), the 34-year-old Dotel had allowed just 2 runs in his previous 15¿ innings.
The Sox were feeling pretty good at that point, but Dotel, who had allowed just 2 home runs heading into Friday, gave up a leadoff home run to Derrek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez followed with another homer to pull the Cubs into a tie.
"I just got hit," Dotel said. "I tried to throw my pitches and get ahead, but I just got hit. There's nothing I can do about it."
Bad location?
"It doesn't make a difference," Dotel said calmly. "I just got hit. That's it."
What pitches did Lee and Ramirez hit?
"Right in the middle," Dotel said.
Dotel finished the seventh inning without any further damage, and after Matt Thornton worked a scoreless eighth to keep the game tied at 3-3, Linebrink came on to pitch the ninth.
The 31-year-old Texan entered with the third-lowest ERA (1.24) in the AL, and he didn't allow a run in 19 of his last 20 outings.
The Cubs were hardly intimidated by Dotel, and they reacted the same way to Linebrink when Ramirez hit a 1-0 pitch over the wall in center field to end the game.
"I went Ball 1 with the first pitch, so there wasn't a whole lot of room for error," Linebrink said after Ramirez led off the ninth inning with the game-ending homer. "I came back and tried to pitch a little bit more over the plate and I caught a little bit too much of the plate."
Like Dotel, Linebrink wasn't crushed by Ramirez's big blast.
"In our job, our line of work, that's the way it goes," Linebrink said. "You go out there and get it done and that's expected of you. When you don't, bad things happen. We're all used to it. We know what's expected of us and how to get it done. Today, it didn't happen."
Linebrink wasn't too upset with the pitch (low fastball) Ramirez hit out.
"You have to be aggressive, but aggressive in good spots," Linebrink said. "Usually, that spot is not going to hurt you if the ball's down. Then again, if he's looking down, it's not a good spot. The problem is, sometimes home runs happen.
"Certainly, with the winds here at Wrigley, it's not too forgiving. You just try to be aggressive. Sometimes you're going to get beat, but most of the time you're going to get the job done."