Reading Room: Six-man rotation gets reinforcements

Because it takes some 3 1/2 hours to play a nine-inning game with 10 total runs in Boston, I ended up getting home at roughly 2:45. Therefore, today's Reading Room will be a rather quick jaunt.

The Six Pack: Do Bruney, Marquez save six? - CSNChicago.com

After using Lucas Harrell as a human shield in Toronto, the Sox rewarded him by demoting him to Charlotte. In his place, they called up fresh meat Jeff Marquez in the event of multiple-inning work. However, they also tacked on roster pork to this transaction, as Brian Bruney joined Marquez on his way to Boston. Dallas McPherson was designated for assignment in order to make room.

The Sox now have a 13-man pitching staff, with six starters and seven relievers, but it's a temporary arrangement. Mark Teahen will need a roster spot when he returns from his rehab stint, so the additional pitcher is merely a way to help get the bulllpen's five-man core back onto a regular rhythm after the 14-inning game in Toronto.

Ozzie Guillen hasn't made up his mind on whether he will stick with six starters, but Phil Humber is no longer the obvious choice for a demotion:

"We will do whatever it is that’s best for the ballclub," Guillen said. "A lot of people point at Humber [but] that’s kind of tough to do that. This kid is throwing the ball well every day he comes out. To make that decision [to bump Humber], it’s hard. We are going to give a couple more games to see how that’s going to work."

A day later, Guillen's anger subsides - ESPN Chicago

It's convoluted to try to figure out exactly how Ozzie Guillen's comments on Sunday weren't about the fans, but he told reporters that the fans are the last people he can blame when the team is playing as poorly as they are (or were?).

If you lash out in every direction, your luck will turn - White Sox Observer

James does a nice job of summing up how the Sox went from being humiliated to stealing a win against one of the American League's best pitchers.

Benched Dunn trying to figure it out - Inside the White Sox

Adam Dunn's worldwide coping tour continues in Boston. There are a couple of interesting new details, like Greg Walker talking to Dunn's previous hitting coaches to figure out if he has altered his mechanics. Apparently, that's not the case.

Mike Colbern, other players find peace with MLB's decision

I'd mentioned this a few days ago: Before Brent Morel drew his first walk of the season on Monday, he had already broken Mike Colbern's record of the most walkless plate appearances to start a season.

As it just so happened, Colbern was in the news. He was one of approximately 900 short-term major leaguers who received a payment from Major League Baseball to fill in a gap of pensionless players who received no restitution in any form. Colbern's story in particular is a sad one.

He has lived off social security and disability for the past three years and is grateful for the help from the Baseball Assistance Team, an organization that support members of baseball's family that have fallen on hard times. Twice he was homeless, so he lived out of his truck and slept near a Circle K in Tempe.

"The asphalt wasn't too hard," he said.

He takes 22 pills a day, some for the bipolar illness he was diagnosed with in 1997. He suffers mostly from the manic side, and sometimes in conversations he'll go a hundred directions. He has great self-awareness of this trait, though, and can be quite self-deprecating about it.