If it helps Chicago White Sox, Frazier happy to 'dumb people up'

For Chicago White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier, it's all about mind over matter.

Or, as Crash Davis proclaimed in the movie Bull Durham: "Don't think, it can only hurt the ballclub."

The day before Chris Sale's start against the Astros last week at U.S. Cellular Field, Frazier approached the ace left-hander.

"I already knew he was pitching," Frazier said. "But I was just making sure, 'Hey, are you throwing tomorrow?' He said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'OK, we got this.' Just something, I try to dumb people up a little bit, in a good way. In a good way."

If Frazier feels playing dumb, or saying something off the wall, can help the cause he'll spring into action.

"I'll do it to the hitters sometimes and I'll walk away, trying to confuse them and then they go up there not thinking about anything, just about what I said," Frazier said in his thick New Jersey accent. "It could be about ice cream or somebody in the stands or something, and they get a knock and I'm just tipping my cap to them, like, 'That's from me. I'll take that.'

"It's just a little something that I've learned from my brothers and just playing with other people. When you keep your mind off some things or you keep breeding confidence in some people, they need that."

Abreu watch:

After hitting the ball hard twice in Game 1 of Monday's doubleheader, including a double in the eighth inning, Abreu was 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts in Game 2.

Abreu remained in the No. 5 spot in the White Sox's lineup Tuesday while riding a 2-for-20 slump. The first baseman did single in his first at-bat and followed with a double.

"You continue to talk to him and show him support," manager Robin Ventura said. "It's tough. It's tough when a guy who goes through something like this. For us who have been around, we've been through it. This is probably the first time he has been through something like this. We don't look at it like this is going to last forever. It's something for him to go through and he's going to be better after he gets through it."

Ventura held Abreu out of Sunday's win over the Royals to give him a break.

"It's no fun for him going through it," Ventura said. "He wants to be doing better, but you have to grind your way through it. For everybody inside, we're supporting him. You continue to ride that out and eventually he's going to get there."

Minor matters:

Erik Johnson was optioned back to Class AAA Charlotte Monday night after coming up and starting Game 2 against the Indians.

Before the doubleheader against Cleveland, infielder Carlos Sanchez also was demoted to Charlotte.

In other news involving the Sox's top farm team, first baseman Travis Ishikawa was released Tuesday after batting .201 with 6 home runs and 18 RBI in 40 games with the Knights.

First baseman/third baseman Nicky Delmonico was promoted from Class AA Birmingham to Charlotte after leading the Southern League in batting average (.338), home runs (10), extra-base hits (26) and total bases (96).