Freewheeling White Sox Enforce a Few Rules

Mark Buehrle was told to stop doing belly flops and slides on the tarp during rain delays. A.J. Pierzynski and Joe Crede were ordered to get a trim.

What, are those fun-loving World Series winning White Sox cracking down?

Not really. GM Ken Williams doesn't want Buehrle to get hurt and threatened to fine him if he repeated his slip-and-slide performance from Sunday's rain-delayed win over the Blue Jays.

Pierzynski and Crede got the word from owner Jerry Reinsdorf -- relayed to them by Williams -- that he'd like a neater appearance. Both have long blond hair sticking out from their caps, a style Crede started last season when the team was winning or he was hitting well.

"Jerry Reinsdorf asked me to tell them to get a haircut and look more presentable. So I asked them to get a haircut and look more presentable," Williams said.

"Rules are rules and you got to follow them," Crede said, adding he'd never had a haircut in Chicago. "If you got to cut it, you got to cut it."

· SMALL IMPROVEMENT: Yankees RHP Aaron Small allowed one infield hit over four scoreless innings in his second extended spring training start.

Small, on the 15-day disabled list with a hamstring injury, struck out four in a 48-pitch outing against Philadelphia minor leaguers. He is scheduled to make another extended spring start Saturday and could rejoin the Yankees by late April or early May.

At the Yankees' minor league complex in Tampa, RHP Carl Pavano threw 45 pitches in his first mound session in 2 1/2 weeks.

· FATHER OF THE TRIBE: Indians Manager Eric Wedge was back in Cleveland for the birth of his first child.

Bench coach Joel Skinner managed the Indians in their win at Detroit, picking up where he left off the previous day when Wedge was ejected for arguing a call. Wedge made the 170-mile drive to Cleveland after Sunday's game, and was with his wife when their daughter, Ava Catherine , was born yesterday morning.

-- From News Services