Posts tagged ‘Jose Contreras’

The best pitching staff in the American League figured to have at least one All-Star right? How about the best hitting catcher not named Joe Mauer? Or the guy with more home runs than Manny Ramirez, Vlad Guerrero, Magglio Ordonez, and JD Drew? Or the hot-shot rookie immigrant who’s hit .358 since June 1? Surely one of them merits consideration for the All-Star team, right?

Well, no. AJ Pierzynski, Alexei Ramirez, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Matt Thornton, Bobby Jenks, and the rest of the White Sox all joined with the Final Vote runner-up Jermaine Dye in finalizing thier plans for a four-day vacation next week. Carlos Quention and Joe Crede will represent the Sox in the Farewell to Arms at Yankee Stadium.

While it would’ve been a great source of pride to place two or three more deserving Sox players on what is (in theory) supposed to be a squad of 2008’s best players, it’s not the worst thing in the world to let a surprising team take four full days to rest and recharge before what is certain to be a bare-knuckle brawl in the AL Central during the second half. As play wrapped up after tonight’s 4-1 loss to Kansas City, (where the Sox continued to prove that down is up in 2008 - after consecutive stinkers from Jose “I’m Distracted by My Mancrush on Pablo Ozuna” Contreras and Javy “Did I Really Strike Out 10 Guys in My Last Start” Vazquez, two games the Sox managed to win via late-inning comeback, Mark Buerhle takes a shutout into the 8th inning and LOSES) the Sox are now 53-38, 2.5 up on Minnesota and 7 ahead of the Detroit Tigers with 71 games left to play. After a recent run which has featured up-and-down performances from the starters and a small but significant dip in the bullpen, let’s just get the Pale Hose through this last series in Arlington before a well-deserved break. They’ve already beaten down one set of expecations, now it’s time to rest up and get ready to take down another - the expectation that they can’t possibly keep this up through the end of the year.

Same teams, same city, same stakes. Different ballpark? All the difference.

All the City Series managed to confirm beyond reproach was the one thing already widely assumed: both Chicago teams are fantastic in their home parks, but something gets lost in translation when they go on the road. How else do you explain Jose Contreras, with the 9-run meltdown at Wrigley, come back six days later and go into the 7th inning against the same lineup in an equally (if not more) hitter-friendly ballpark? Conversely, Ryan Dempster was pounded for 8 runs (7 in one inning) five days after making the Sox look silly…while the Sox bullpen which couldn’t close a screen door last weekend looked like an even better version of the crew that helped win a World Series in 2005. I guess if there is some destiny at work to get the Sox and Cubs into a Crosstown World Series…we better pray the American League wins the All-Star Game.

I said last Friday that I liked the attitude, the sense of urgency coming from the Sox clubhouse after the win at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. They knew what they were coming home to, not just three games that mean infinitely more in the stands than on the field, but three games at home that they needed to have while two teams charging hard in the division kept getting hotter. Nothing changed as the Twins took two of three from the Brewers and and the Tigers swept the Rockies to climb over .500. That’s the true importance of this weekend; sweeping the Cubs was awesome, but picking up a game on the Twins and keeping the Tigers at bay was far more significant in relation to the big picture.

Said big picture really kicks in now, as the Sox welcome supposed divisional heavyweight Cleveland to Comiskey with an opportunity to bury them in the standings, before matchups with Oakland, Kansas City, and Texas to close out the first half. Sweeping an excellent Cubs team that looks like the class of the National League was a nice acheivement, but it will only matter if the Sox take the renewed momentum and start cleaning up where it counts. In 2005, Ozzie told the team “Don’t be happy just to be in the playoffs - win to stay in.” Now would be a good time to say, “Don’t be happy just to be in first place”.