Bullpen woes?

Octavio Dotel allowed two runs on three hits over one inning of work during Saturday’s 13-0 loss to the Cubs. But Ozzie Guillen believes Dotel’s effort was a marked step forward from his first Cactus League outing, when he gave up three runs to the Angels in one inning and wasn’t throwing with much velocity.

“After that first day, anything would be better,” said Guillen of Dotel. “But I don’t worry about Dotel now. Four more outings the same way, then I’ll be concerned.”

Dotel’s velocity was consistently in the 91 to 92 mph range on Saturday.

Adam Russell also struggled against the Cubs, allowing six earned runs on five hits during the Cubs’ nine-run seventh. In fairness to Russell, Brent Lillibridge was charged with an error on Luis Rivas’ possibly double-play grounder that would have considerably lessened the damage.

“He couldn’t get back to work after that error,” said Guillen of Russell. “He made some mistaks over the plate.”

Overall, Guillen was pleased that everyone got their work in and the team is getting better “little by little,” despite the final score.