21.   He will work middle relief.

22.   Herges has won six games without a loss while serving in that bastard of baseball roles, middle relief.

23.   If Henneman is limited to the ninth inning, middle relief becomes crucial for the Rangers, because their starters are not known for their ability to complete games.

24.   If Perisho does the job, he stays, Glynn and Davis keep pitching in Triple A and Clark works in middle relief.

25.   If Santana is called up, Johnson said the ideal situation would be to use him in no-pressure middle relief just to get him some big-league experience.

26.   In middle relief, the Angels have right-handers Russ Springer, Mike James and Mike Butcher, but none has been overwhelming.

27.   Jeff Nelson won six games in the first two months working in middle relief last year, and only two the rest of the season.

28.   Joe Crawford, a candidate for middle relief, has never pitched in the majors.

29.   Middle relief is vulnerable.

30.   Oliver, the likely closer before the club signed Russell, might have to work his problems out in middle relief.