It's hard to argue with the White Sox decision to put struggling right-hander Jose Contreras in the bullpen. After all, Contreras was an embarrassment in Monday's 12-8 loss to the Red Sox.
The Sox offense staked him to an early 4-1 lead. Then, Contreras gave up six unearned runs on just two hits in the bottom of the third inning to put the Sox in a hole they could never quite recover from.
The sequence was straight out of "Bad News Bears." Contreras gave up a leadoff single before retiring two hitters in a row. After that, all hell broke loose. Victor Martinez walked. Kevin Youklis was hit by a pitch. Contreras booted a David Ortiz grounder that my dead grandma could have fielded, allowing a run to score. Jason Bay drew a bases-loaded walk. Contreras uncorked a wild pitch to allow Boston to tie the game. Then, Mike Lowell unloaded for a long 3-run homer to complete the debacle.
I think that was probably Contreras' last start in a White Sox uniform. But now who starts Saturday against the New York Yankees? Apparently, the Sox are thinking of rushing back Jake Peavy. Sigh.
Peavy pitched five scoreless innings at Charlotte Monday night, but he was hit on his pitching elbow by a line drive at the end of his outing. And before last night, the conventional wisdom was he needed two more starts at Triple-A before making his return to the big leagues. But since Contreras sucks, it's time to hurry him back.
All I can say is, this better work. The reason I liked the Peavy trade so much was because it solidifies the Sox rotation for 2010. I don't care so much about this year, because I don't think the Sox are legitimate World Series contenders here in 2009. If they win the division this year, well, that would be nice. But the team has yet to show it can play consistent, winning baseball. The inconsistent play has continued even with Carlos Quentin's return from the DL and the waiver-wire addition of outfielder Alex Rios.
No way I would risk Peavy trying to save this season. NO WAY. For me, he doesn't pitch until he's 100 percent ready. I don't care how bad Jose Contreras and Freddy Garcia are. I don't care if there are no better options in the minor leagues. There's too much invested in Peavy. Use caution with him, please.
From now on, I prefer to be called CabbagePatchKid instead of Timberwolf. I decided to use that name since my good friends at that site fondly call me as "CPK" which is CabbagePatchKid. They nicknamed him as CabbagePatchKid since I look like a CabbagePatchKid. I love that nickname. It looks cute, and I want to use it so I appreciate if people call me by that name from now on.
It's time to say it's over for the 2008 AL Central Champs*. Not even Bud Selig can save them this time. Their pitching is overrated. They have no hitting. They have no defense either. It's easy to see why the 2008 AL Central Champs* are 63-63 with the Twins being tied with them for second place. People in Chicago overrate the White Sox. They were never that good.
I get a good laugh of people at WSI and JaytheJoke overrating the White Sox and thumbing their nose on the Tigers. I always wonder why.
Know what's embarassing? The Twins, who are not even good, are right in the thick of the race as Chicago failed to put them away.
I would love nothing better than to see the Twins end the 2008 AL Central Champs* season next week. It's great to see Da Cubs being done (great performance by the Lovable Losers last night against the worst team in baseball), and it will be better if the 2008 AL Central Champs* go away too.
I'd have to imagine that the first few outing he's under pitch count control and probably talking to coop and Oz in between innings
Based on what I've read and heard, I simply wouldn't pitch him on Saturday.
Like I said in the blog post, if they do pitch him, that better be the right decision. Kenny has opened his mouth and declared this a championship contender in the papers. The results on the field do not reflect that to this point, and I worry that Sox management is going to get desperate and force Peavy back on the field before he's ready.
If Peavy gets hurt again this year, I'm going to be pissed.
None of the comments show up for me
Hmmm....I'll look into that later tonight once I get the newspaper out the door.
FWIW Jason, the comments are showing up now.
Thanks for the heads up. I hit the republish button on everything, so maybe that did the trick.
no problem