Slump buster

I returned from vacation just in time to see my pick for 2009 White Sox MVP thus far--Mark Buehrle--pitch another gem and break a six-game Sox losing streak. The Sox beat the dread Piranhas 6-2 at home, giving Buehrle a 6-1 record and 2.77 ERA.

Buehrle has gotten a bit of luck getting run support from a Sox offense that has been increasingly anemic for his rotation mates, but if it weren't for Buehrle's luck, the Sox would have none at all. Having just been swept in a four-gamer by the Blue Jays (who afre in first place, but still...), it was good to see the Sox come back and take it to their most-hated rival (no, that's not the Cubs in my book).

The Sox still have plenty of problems, with Jose Contreras pitching in the minors to figure himself out, a talent void in center field (Sorry, Pods, but it's no longer 2005), a lingering slump at shortstop (The Missile is still sputtering on the launch-pad), and now downward batting averages at second base and third base as well.

Finally, to my mind, The Great and Powerful Oz seems a bit lost for possible solutions to it all. Injuries have been a problem, as they are for all teams, but this team seems undermotivated. I wonder if a well-timed tantrum by Ozzie could help things out. In his first few seasons at the helm, Ozzie's emotions, and how and when he chose to put them on display, were a key ingredient to the Sox' success. It's been a tough year all around, but at 16-22 and with the Tigers and Royals playing better ball than expected so far, I would like to see Ozzie step up and step out of the dugout a little more frequently, even if--and particularly if--it's intended to get a rise out of his own players.

Say it ain't so, Jose

The White Sox dropped Jose Contreras from the starting rotation after another horrible outing Friday night in which he gave up 5 runs (3 ER) in 3-2/3 IP to the Rangers, who stomped on the Sox 6-0. Contreras is now 0-5, and is painful to watch as he struggles to throw strikes. He piled up 81 pitches last night.

I was at the game, and when he finally exited, he was met with a loud chorus of boos, but also screams that he should get out of town, and that he should go have sex with himself (in far more colorful language, of course). To my mind, everyone was being a bit harsh to a guy who not only helped win a World Series, but alos has proven himself capable of coming back from losing streaks and turning them into winning streaks.

Contreras definitely has problems, and it now seems likely maybe he should have com back more gradually from injury, if only to give him more time to work out what seem like mechanical kinks. Still, I don't think we have heard the last of him.

At 13-15, the Sox definitely need help. Contreras isn't only pitcher having problems, and offense has been inconsistent as well. Alexei Ramirez was neched for a while this week, and previouslt hot hitters like Paul Konerko, Carlos Quentin and Chris Getz have been cooling off. Ozzie Guillen has been tremendously patient so far this year, but I have to think he's about ready to blow off some steam, perhaps in an on-field rant after a questionable call, something that may serve to wake up his slumbering Sox.

The year of the injury

What's a good way to ruin the positive vibes brought on by winning 6 of 7? Losing 3-2 to Milwaukee after being up 2-0 is a nice start, but watching your main RBI man dislocate his shoulder and head to the deal for 4-6 weeks finishes the job.

Aramis Ramirez was injured for the second time already in this young season, and this time it was a doozy: He dislocated his shoulder diving for a line drive and proceeded to roll around on the ground in tremendous pain.

One of the keys to success is avpiding big injuries to key players, and while Alfonso Soriano was injured during parts of the last few seasons, the Cubs seemed to have bats to spare. Not so this year, and in addition to A-Ram's injury, obviously the worst this season, we still have Derrek Lee and Geovany Soto battling chronic pain, Carlos Zambrano out briefly with a pulled hammy, Carlos Marmol have recovered from a sprained knee that looked bad when it happened and Kevin Gregg possibly having some sort of pccasional stiffness.

The Cubs have let two division titles go by without winning a play-off game, and perhaps the nature of the sport is catching up with them a little. But, it's still early--we're going to say that until at least the All-Star break.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee's win tonight gave them sole possesion of second place in back of the Cardinals, and the Brewers have been looking very strong lately, so the Cubs need to hang around regardless of who gets hurt. Tonight, Randy Wells, just up from the minors, kept them in the game and left with a 2-0 lead after only 84 pitches. Wells pitched well in spring training, and the way the bullpen has been going, blowing the game for him tonight, maybe Wells has a chance of sticking around for some relief duty after Zambrano gets healthy (Jeff Samardzija was already shipped out for being ineffective in his brief call-up, so the pen spot is there for the taking.)

Another bit of news: The Joey Gathright Era has ended. He was traded to favored trade partner Baltimore for versatile, speedy Ryan Freel. With A-Ram out, the timing could be good for Freel to get some starts, since he has played plenty of third base in the past. Freel, like Gathright, has had strong moments in a career that has never quite fulfilled its promise. He can still steal a base, but he's older than Gathright, and, uh-oh, kind of injury prone (He already missed time this year after getting hit in the head with a pick-off throw.) Oh well, if he does any better than Gathright's 3-14, he'll be worth the paperwork.

Mighty K.C.

The Sox have lost two in a row in Kansas City and four in a row overall. With the struggling Jose Contreras set to take the mound Wednesday night, I'm not feeling confident about their chances to bust the losing streak.

With the exception of a 3-0 loss to 2009 Cy Young Award Winner Zack Greinke the other night (What? You say they haven't given him the Cy Young yet?), the problems have been mostly in the pitching department. Last night, gavin Floyd let another lead get away from him after the Sox put him ahead 4-1 early on. Things actually looked pretty good in the early going because the Sox managed to hit well off Kyle Davies, the K.C. pitcher who previously has mystified them.

But, Floyd eventually let 6 runs go to waste before departing, and Matt Thornton and Octavio Dotel helped the Royals to a 7th run as this one went into extras 7-7. The Royals won 8-7 in 11 innings. No, K.C. is not the whimpering mess it once was, and the Sox are now 1-4 this season against the Royals. The worst stat from Wednesday night's game was a woeful 11 walks issued by Sox pitchers.

The Sox actually out-hit K.C. 16-11, so maybe they should have come up with a few more runs. Jermain Dye and Josh Field both homered, A.J. Pierzynski was 4-5, Carlos Quentin was 3-5, and Scott Podsednik had 2 RBIs, but as a team, the Sox left 13 men on base.

Still, I find pitching more troubling right now, as the bullpen has begun to weaken, and Contreras, Floyd and even John Danks have strung together a series of poor outings. Who thought at the start of the season that Bartolo Colon would be the second-most effective pitcher on the Sox after Mark Buehrle. Giving Contreras a breather might not be a bad idea, especially with Aaron Poreda picthing well in the minors, but Ozzie Guillen seems resolved to let Contreras find his old self while hacking his way through meaningful games.

Yes, it is still early, but K.C. is in 1st place, and we don't want them to get used to it.

Better off with Ted

The Bulls haave lost and are out of the play-offs, the White Sox are in Texas losing 9-1 in a game interminably delayed by rain, so alll Cubs for this post. And the Cubs actually got a win today that seemed easy, a rare thing this year. They beat the Marlins 6-1 behind a very strong performance from Ted Lilly (8 IP, 1 ER, 10 Ks, 0 BBs).

It seems easy partly because the Cubs scored early and often, but also because they didn't dip until the bullpen until the 9th inning, and neither Lilly nor Aaron Heilman, who pitched the 9th, yielded a walk--the stat category that has been the source of many problems for Cubs pitchers this year.

Lilly also helped himself with a rare (very rare) 2-run double on what was described on ESPN as a "softball swing." Let's put it this way: He was lucky the Marlins pitcher hit his bat. The other offensive blows came from Ryan Theriot, who homered for the second day in a row, Derrek Lee, who finally got his second homer of the year, and Mike Fontenot, who singled in a run. Things really seemed to click today, as every started except Kosuke Fukudome had a hit, and he still was active with 2 BBs and 2 SBs. Whatever the Cubs ate for breakfast, they shoulod have it again tomorrow, as they go for their second three-game winning streak of the season.

The-Riot delivers some chaos

"You can't quiet The-Riot."--Slogan on T-Shirt seen outside of Wrigley Field.

Other than the resurgence of Kosuke Fukudome and the more patient hitting of Alfonso Soriano, the one thing a slumping Cubs offense has been able to count on this year is Ryan Theriot, who always manages to get a hit or two.

Well, today he had the unexpectedly big hit, a grand slam that rallied the Cubs from a 5-2 deficit against the Marlins, and that re-awakened Wrigley fans from their grumpy drunkeness. It was Theriot's first career grand slam, and it could happen to a more deserving guy, who even when he's not hitting manages to force pitchers to burn their arms by going deep into counts.

The Cubs eventually won 8-6 in a game in which Rich Harden started poorly and only got worse, lasting 3.2 IP with 5 ERs and only 2 Ks against 4 BBs. There were a couple signs of resurgent offense in this one (though we thought that was the case the other night in Arizona, too--we'll see if it sticks). Most notably, beyond Theriot's blast and a couple of timely walks drawn by the Cubs, two slumping Cubs came alive, Derrek Lee was 2-4 and Geovany Soto was 2-3 with an RBI.

The bullpen was sufficient in this one, with closer Kevin Gregg yielding the only Marlins run after Harden left the game. Still, Carlos Marmol was shaky for the second straight game, walking 2 to open the 8th inning, but battling back to strikeout the side. Neal Cotts was pleasantly unsucky, giving up a walk but striking out 2 in his scoreless inning on the mound. Still, the bullpen walked 5 men total, which ain't good even if only one run scored in 5-1/3 of work.

Scotty Pods is back

Scott Podsednik is back in black. After a brief stop in the minors the White Sox called him up (and sent down Jerry Owens) for what likely will be the swan song to Scotty Pods' career. The only question: How long will it last?

If tonight is any indication, Pods is feeling comfortable with the organization which he helped drive to World Series Championship glory back in 2005. He was 2-4 with an infield hit, and caused enough havoc on the basepaths to draw a balk. He also had a nice hit-and-run on his second hit.

Who know how long it will last, but with Owens shipped and Brian Anderson injured, we're likely to see more of Pods in the days to come.

The Sox won, by the way, 4-3, behind gutsy pitching from Mark Buehrle against the team he no-hit last April, the Texas Rangers. But, tonight was almost as impressive, as Buehrle held the Rangers to 3 runs in a park that usually yields many more.

Jim Thome had a bases-loaded double to score 3 of the Sox' 4 runs, and Chris Getz tripled to score Podsednik in the 7th inning immediately after the balk brough him to 2nd base.