MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Keystone Piece Shining Through

In a February article, I wrote about how I felt that Jose Contreras was the “Keystone Piece” to the success of the 2008 White Sox.

While the final success of this team won’t be determined until the Fall, Contreras has been an integral part of the 24-20, and AL Central leading club.

His last three starts have been stellar.  He has won all three games, and only given up one earned run in each outing.  In fact, he has kept the team in each of his nine starts, with earned four runs being the maximum he has allowed.

With Javier Vazquez emerging as the team ace, and Mark Buehrle struggling mightily this season, the veteran presence of Contreras has meshed nicely with young John Danks and Gavin Floyd.

Starters one through five make up a nice rotation that can be rivaled by very few teams…and boy do they need it.

While the overall pitching ranks third in the American League with a 3.55 ERA, the offense continues to struggle, and ranks second-to-last in the AL with a .247 average.

Last night, two solo homeruns were all the team could muster until the eighth inning, and then two more insurance runs were tacked on.  The late insurance runs were put on the board with a team effort and some small ball, but it really could have been better.

Bases were loaded with nobody out in the eighth inning, and Paul Konerko was at the plate.  He struck out.  Not only did he strike out, but he looked lost in the at bat.  Luckily Pablo Ozuna and Nick Swisher knocked in two runs before the end of the inning, but those are the types of situations that can come back to bite this club.

It was nice to see double-digit runs against the Giants on Sunday, but it is obviously not something to count on.  This looks like it will be a season of 2-1, 3-0, and 3-2 ball games, which is okay with me, as long as the Southsiders are on the winning end.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 7:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.