So far this season, he looks anything but done.

Contreras has posted a 4-3 record with a 3.35 ERA. He fired seven innings of one-run ball Wednesday to earn the victory in the Sox 6-1 win over the Angels.

Over his last four starts, Contreras has compiled a 3-1 record with a 2.20 ERA. More importantly, he's throwing his patented fork ball for strikes consistently.

At one point Wednesday, he threw his fork ball over the plate six consecutive times to Angels' slugger Garrett Anderson. Anderson fouled off five in a row before finally popping out to catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

On the Sox radio broadcast, Steve Stone remarked that Contreras seemed willing to throw 60 fork balls in a row, if necessary, in order to retire Anderson. When Contreras has command of that off-speed pitch, he wins.

And the Sox need him to win. Division-favorite Cleveland is starting to heat up. The Tribe beat the Oakland A's 4-2 for their third consecutive win Thursday afternoon. Cleveland leads Minnesota by a game and a half and the Sox by two games in the A.L. Central race.

The Sox sure as hell can't hit, so they need Contreras and others to continue to pitch well in order to stay in the race.

Catcher David Ross led off the inning by lining out to shortstop. However, the hitter in the No. 8 spot should have been outfielder Corey Patterson, with Ross hitting ninth after an earlier double switch.

Patterson was charged with the out, and Ross was allowed to take his actual turn in the No. 9 spot. Given a second chance, Ross capitalized by singling.

Sad Baker of the mistake, "It's my job to catch that."

No kidding, Dusty.

It's amusing that Patterson was charged with the automatic out. Frankly, Patterson is an automatic out even when he is allowed to hit, as evidenced by his .194 batting average.

Incredibly, Baker continues to allow Patterson to bat leadoff for the Reds. Patterson led off for Cincinnati on Monday against the Florida Marlins.

No wonder the Reds are 15-23 and mired in last place in the N.L. Central.

LaSorda replied, "Well, he hit three (bleeping) home runs against us." The Dodgers' skipper then launched into a lengthy tirade filled with profanity, informing the reporter that he had asked a stupid question.

In fact, that was a stupid question. Can't disagree with LaSorda there.

Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto hit three home runs against the Cubs in a 9-0 Reds victory Wednesday. Let's hope that the enterprising Chicago media refrained from asking Cubs manager Lou Piniella what he thought of Votto's performance. That might provoke a tirade.

Speaking of tirades, be sure to read Friday's edition of The Beacon News. Members of our sports department will be writing about their favorite press conference meltdowns of all time in this week's Four Corners.

Good riddance. Kelly was a St. Louis guy broadcasting a Chicago team. That's a bad fit. Kelly would always get excited when the opponent scored a goal against the Blackhawks. While Kelly rejoiced, I was busy throwing my remote control across the living room.

I don't expect the Blackhawks announcer to be a homer. Feel free to criticize the team when warranted, but Kelly seemed like he was a homer for THE OTHER TEAM. That's ridiculous.

Foley was the voice of the Blackhawks for 25 years. He never should have been let go in the first place. His contract with the Chicago Wolves expires as soon as that franchise concludes its playoff run. McDonough should be on the horn with Foley the day after that happens.

Put Pat Foley back where he belongs: Behind the microphone at Blackhawks games.

Meanwhile, the Bulls made some changes as well. TV broadcasters Tom Dore and Wayne Larrivee have been relieved of their duties. Radio play-by-play man Neil Funk will take over the same chores on the TV side. Chuck Swirsky returns to Chicago as the radio play-by-play man.

Johnny "Red" Kerr will be limited to pregame and halftime show duties. Red is a recognizable face for Chicago sports fans, but it will be good to get him off the regular broadcast. He's basically a giant cheerleader for the Bulls. He states the obvious, such as, "The Bulls can't buy a basket tonight." Yep, Red, we can figure that out on our own. Thanks.

Kerr's best role would be one of goodwill ambassador for the franchise. He's a good guy. People like the man. But he's lost his edge as a broadcaster.

Funk is solid and will excel in his new role. Still, I'm a little surprised they let BOTH Dore and Larrivee go. It will be interesting to see if more details about that decision come out later.

"Right now, everyone in Chicago is making lineups, 'Call up this guy, call up that guy,'" Ozzie said. "If we had 50 people allowed on the roster, we could do that. That's what ticks me off about Chicago fans and Chicago media - they forget pretty quick. A couple days ago, we were the (bleeping) best (bleep) in town, now we're (bleep)."

The above quotation doesn't bother me in the least. Guillen is right: The fans and the media don't know (bleep) about filling out a lineup card. Most of the suggestions I've read on the Web and heard on the radio are asinine by any standard.

However, Ozzie took it a little too far when he started talking about the Bozo Circus on the other side of town.

"We won it a couple years ago, and we're horse(bleep)," Guillen said. "The Cubs haven't won in 120 years, and they're the (bleep)ing best. (Bleep) it, we're good. (Bleep) everybody. We're horse(bleep), and we're going to be horse(bleep) the rest of our lives, no matter how many World Series we win. We are the (bleep) of Chicago. We're the Chicago (bleep). We have the worst owner - the guy's got seven (bleep)ing rings, and he's the (bleep)ing horse(bleep) owner."

Now, Ozzie played shortstop for the White Sox for 13 years. He's in his fifth year as Sox manager. He knows better than to step into this pile of, well, horse(bleep).

Ozzie knows how the media and fans operate in Chicago. The Chicago media are all giddy about the Cubs' halfway decent start. The media are all holding hands, rooting for the story and singing "Go Cubs Go" in the press box and all that. Whatever. That's the way it has been for years.

In addition, Ozzie knows Sox fans have a low tolerance for bad baseball. The club is on a five-game losing streak entering Monday's action. The Sox are coming off a 90-loss season in 2007. The 2005 World Series will always be a cherished memory, but for many fans, that might as well have been 30 years ago. The quality of play over the last year and half is enough to make you sick.

People got sick of the losing last year. They aren't happy with the latest horse(bleep) losing streak. Ozzie needs to ignore the fans and media and get the 2008 White Sox back on track. If the Sox start winning again, everything will be fine.

Inexplicably, the Big Hurt was pulled for a pinch-runner after doubling in the seventh. What would have been the harm in leaving him in and letting him try for the cycle?

As I write this, the A's lead the Angels 14-2. The guy who pinch-ran has already taken one turn at bat. It's too bad Frank was removed from the game. It would have been cool if he could have hit for the cycle at this late stage of his career.

For all the great numbers he put up on the South Side, he never hit for the cycle.

As an aside, Frank hit his triple off former Sox righty Jon Garland, whose record is about to drop to 3-3 on the year.

As Bill Raftery says, "Watching Tyler Hansbrough listen is special." That's still the only time I've ever heard a player praised for listening intently to his coach in the huddle.

On the bright side, this means the Bulls will not draft Hansbrough. Think about it: Hansbrough hits the mark for all of GM John Paxson's talking points. He "comes from a winning program." He's a "tireless worker." He's a "high-energy player."

He also has limited upside. Given the choice, I guess I'd rather listen to the ESPN guys suck up to Hansbrough than see him playing for the Bulls.

Ninth inning: Bobby Jenks
Eighth inning: Scott Linebrink
Seventh inning: ??????????

Last night, the Sox took a 3-2 lead into the seventh. Jose Contreras was tiring and needed some help to get out of that inning. It was a little too early to bring Linebrink in. So, manager Ozzie Guillen summoned Boone Logan.

Logan gave up an infield single to Johnny Damon to load the bases. Guillen then went to Octavio Dotel to face Derek Jeter. Dotel got Jeter on strikes, but then he gave up a game-changing grand slam to Bobby Abreu.

Matt Thornton poured gasoline on the fire in the eighth, surrendering a three-run homer to Damon.

Who can the Sox trust out of their bullpen in the seventh inning? Dotel? Thornton? Logan? Don't think so. It's a problem, and it needs to be solved if the Sox are going to win the division this year.

Worst of all, Sox announcer Darrin Jackson repeatedly refers to Dotel as, "O, Do Tell." It's a lame play on words, since Dotel's first initial is O.

I can't tell what's worse: Dotel's pitching or Jackson's crap. Spare me on both counts.

Thomas, not surprisingly, went straight to the media and complained the move was based on the Blue Jays' desire to prevent him from reaching contract incentives. His comments were out of line, and Toronto management had every right to take exception to them.

However, it was shocking to see the Blue Jays release Thomas on Sunday. For all his faults, Thomas was Toronto's leading run producer last year, finishing with 26 homers and 95 RBIs. The man can still hit.

Sure, he's off to a slow start, hitting just .167 so far. But Thomas is a notorious slow starter, April the only month his career average is below .300.

Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi explained the move by saying, "I don't know that we have a luxury of waiting two to three months for somebody to kick it in because we can't let this league or this division get away from us."

True, the Blue Jays play in the rugged A.L. East. They currently sit at 10-10, 3.5 games behind first place Boston.

Nevertheless, it is hard to see how Toronto made its team better by releasing Thomas and deciding to use a platoon of Matt Stairs and Rod Barajas at DH. Just two Sundays ago, I watched Thomas hit a grand slam home run off Boston's Manny Delcarmen that helped the Blue Jays complete a three-game sweep of the Red Sox.

Good luck waiting for Stairs or Barajas to deliver a big hit like that. Bad move, Blue Jays. You should have exhibited more patience with Thomas, despite his chronic whining.

Thomas will probably catch on again with another A.L. team that needs a DH. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in Oakland, Seattle or Minnesota soon.

Urlacher has not participated in the Bears' voluntary workouts this offseason and he may or may not take part in the team's mandatory mini-camp at the end of May.

The reason? He wants a contract extension with more guaranteed money.

That's a little curious considering the Bears rewarded Urlacher with a nine-year contract worth $57 million in 2003. If my math is correct, he's in pretty good shape through 2012.

The Bears are talking with Urlacher's agents. Reportedly, they've offered him a one-year extension.

To me, even that seems generous. Urlacher is coming off neck surgery in January. He had one of his worst seasons in 2007, an arthritic condition in his lower back hindering his play.

Naturally, the player claims he is healthy.

Urlacher was quoted this week as saying his neck is "back to normal," and that his back is better now than it was at any point last season.

Of course it's better now, Brian. You haven't played football in four months! How do you know if it's going to hold up once the season starts?

This would be the worst time for the Bears to give Urlacher more money. Urlacher first needs to prove he's healthy. Then, he needs to prove he can still perform at the high level he played at pre-2007.

Furthermore, the Bears are coming off a subpar 7-9 season. No one on that team played up to expectations last year, except for Devin Hester.

No other Bears player, not even Urlacher, is in position to demand more money after that sorry performance.

Brennaman has a point

Kudos to Cincinnati Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman for calling out the Wrigley Field bleacherites for their obnoxious behavior during Wednesday night's game. Brennaman scored even more points with me when he refused to retract his remarks after they came under heavy criticism Thursday on Chicago talk radio.

Laughably, a letter to the editor in The Chicago Tribune Saturday called for MLB commissioner Bud Selig to suspend Brennaman for 50 games without pay for his "affront on the very fabric of the game itself -- the revenue generating fan."

On the contrary, the purchase of a ticket does not entitle fans to behave boorishly. Major League Baseball has a guest code of conduct that states, "The progress of the game will not be disrupted by guests' actions or unauthorized persons on the playing field."

The throwing of objects on the playing field disrupts the progress of the game. It is specifically against MLB rules that govern fan conduct in all 30 stadiums, including Wrigley Field.

Those who cannot hold their liquor, those who cannot control their behavior, those who cannot follow the rules ruin it for everyone else.

Those who criticize Brennaman should save their venom for those who deserve it, namely, these so-called "fans" who think the purchase of a ticket gives them the right to make a spectacle of themselves.

That's almost the opposite order that quite a few experts had going into the season. The question is, will it stay that way?

I can almost guarantee you the Tigers are going to be heard from before it's over. I still disagree with those who picked Detroit to win the World Series. Once you get past Justin Verlander, there isn't a consistently good pitcher in their starting rotation. With Joel Zumuya and Fernando Rodney on the DL, their bullpen stinks. But that lineup is the best in baseball, despite an early slump. They'll slug their way to a winning record if they have to.

The Sox? Depends on the back of the rotation, as I've said all along. So far, so good for John Danks, Jose Contreras and tonight's starter in Baltimore, Gavin Floyd. Will it last? No one knows.

The Royals? Gil Meche, Brian Bannister and Zach Grienke. You can do a lot worse than that top three as far as starting pitching goes. Bannister and Grienke have been dominant in their first three starts. Still, I don't see Kansas City hanging in the race because their lineup is a work in progress.

The most interesting story, though, plays out in Cleveland. Defending Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia has been putrid in his first four starts, 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA. The Tigers creamed him Wednesday, 13-2. The Tribe's other ace, Fausto Carmona, walked eight in his last start. He tries to rebound tonight against Detroit.

The two favorites in the division are both 5-10. Even though I picked Cleveland to win the AL Central just three weeks ago, I think they might be in bigger trouble than Detroit right now. They need Sabathia and Carmona to right the ship. The Indians closer, Joe Borowski, has already blown two saves and just went on the DL.

if the Cleveland aces continue to struggle, that opens the door for the Sox and Kansas City to get some traction in the division race.

There are probably only a handful of outfielders in the American League who can make that play. It takes speed to cut the ball off and a cannon arm to do something like that. Few players possess both those skills. Ichiro makes it look routine, but he's a freak anyway. By mortal standards, Ramirez's play was incredible.

In addition, Joe Crede made a diving stop to rob Mark Ellis of extra bases. What else is new? Crede should have won a Gold Glove by now. In addition, Carlos Quentin robbed Brown with a leaping catch at the wall in the seventh.

Tough day for Emil Brown, but a great day for John Danks and the Sox.

Thome used several curse words, had to be restrained by manager Ozzie Guillen and threw a cup on the field once he finally returned to the dugout.

Certainly, the outbust was out of character for Thome, who has been ejected from a game only three times in his 17-year, Hall-of-Fame-worthy career. Given Thome's actions, I can't say I disagree with the suspension.

However, what about Hoye? He blew not one, not two, but THREE CALLS, drawing Thome's ire. The player is rightfully being held accountable for this incident. The umpire should be held accountable too. Hoye was awful in that game. Did he get suspended or fined? He should have been.

The umpires should not be above reproach. When they blow calls so badly, they should be taken to task. Jim Thome rarely argues with anyone. When he gets that pissed off, chances are he has a point.

The reason? The Detroit Tigers (Sunday's opponent) are right-hand dominant and Vazquez is right-handed. In addition, the Oakland A's (Monday's opponent) struggle with lefties. Hence, it makes sense to pitch the left-handed Buehrle against them.

Pitching coach Don Cooper said the changes were being made to create more favorable matchups for the Sox. Seems reasonable.

Levine's interpretation? He claimed the Sox were "hiding an injury" with respect to Buehrle.

Let's say, hypothetically, that Buehrle actually is hurt. Would delaying his start 24 hours really make a lick of difference? Hell no, and anyone with an IQ over 15 realizes that. There's no chance that was the rational for Cooper's decision.

Now, let's look at the results of this move: Vazquez pitches seven shutout innings in a 11-0 win over Detroit. That worked out nicely, no? Buehrle pitches seven innings in a 2-1 defeat against Oakland. Good performance, just no run support. Tough loss.

The Sox obviously made the correct moves with their pitching staff this week. Teams juggle their rotations for favorable matchups ALL THE TIME. Here in Chicago when that happens, various members of the media start irresponsibly speculating that some sort of shenanigans are taking place.

No wonder we have so many ill-informed baseball fans in these parts. We live in an era where gibberish is taken as fact.

I hope my readers think critically about the crap I spew here and in my columns. I encourage everyone to take everything you hear on the Chicago radio stations with a grain of salt as well.

Sometimes, you really can take comments from the Sox pitching coach at face value, ya know?

Not quite.

It's about 6:30 here on the East Side of Aurora, and it's raining like hell. I don't think they could have gotten tonight's game in if they had tried. The Sox made the right decision calling it early. Why waste thousands of people's time by having them get to the ballpark, only to sit in the rain and be sent home with no baseball?

Last year, the Sox butchered a similar decision. They were scheduled to play a Saturday night game against Tampa Bay. The weather was iffy all day. I arrived at the Cell around 5:45 for a 6:05 start. It was drizzling, but not raining too hard.

At about 6:03, they called the game and sent everybody home. What!!!!??????

Turns out they thought more storms were on the way, and they called game as a precaution. That's fine, but couldn't they have made that decision at 3 o'clock and spared all us fans a trip downtown?

The way the Sox handled Thursday's situation was the right way to do it. Make a call on it early. Hey, the weather sucks. To hell with trying to play baseball in these conditions. Let's try to play this game again in June.