Don't look now, but Luis Vizcaino has actually been a useful pitcher for a while now. Not only that, but it appears as if Ozzie is attempting to give him the ball as much as possible.
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen agrees with Vizcaino that the more he pitches the better he performs.
The scary thing is the numbers actually back him up.
"He can pitch every day," Guillen said. "You need a guy like that in the bullpen."
Going into Tuesday night's series opener against Toronto at U.S. Cellular Field, the 5-foot-11-inch, 185-pound Dominican had worked in seven of the last eight Sox games. His ERA was 0.96 in his last 18 appearances and 1.59 in his last 27 games, dropping him to a respectable 3.88 for his first 44 games.
This evidence could be purely coincidental, as Vizcaino is admittedly throwing more fastballs than he was at the beginning of the year.
"I'm pitching more inside now," he said. "Lots of [fastballs]. Not as many sliders."
It's still going to take a lot more time for me to actually feel comfortable when he comes out of the pen, but we're getting there.