You may have noticed in the box scores Wednesday morning that Scott Linebrink earned a save Tuesday night as the White Sox beat the Angels. It wasn't a flawless performance as Linebrink gave up a solo home run to Torii Hunter in addition to another hit in his inning of work. The White Sox won 4-2 and Linebrink notched his first save, but why wasn't Bobby Jenks closing the game out?Jenks wasn't being punished for blowing his first save of the year this past weekend, he simply had flu-like symptoms and couldn't go Tuesday night. As soon as Jenks is healthy, he be back pitching the 9th for the Sox.
In other closer-related news:
Another non-closer earned a save Tuesday night as Juan Gutierrez recorded a five-out save to give the Diamondbacks a 6-5 win over the Padres. Maybe Gutierrez was given the opportunity to close the game because he did so well to get out of the eighth inning or maybe it was because both Chad Qualls and Tony Pena had pitched in five of the last seven games for Arizona.
The Oakland A's may have a closer controversy brewing as Andrew Bailey earned his second save of the year Tuesday night. A's manager Bob Geren said that closing duties might be shared between Bailey and Brad Ziegler going forward.
Bailey has a 2.12 ERA and three wins to go along with his 37 strikeouts in 29 2/3 innings pitched. He may be worth picking up in deep mixed-leagues and AL-only leagues.
