Calm down, things will be OK.

[IlliniKrush]

White Sox still in great shape

 

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jose Contreras gets it.

 

He had been asked about the importance of his victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday, what with the Cleveland Indians breathing down the White Sox's neck and all. He at first answered the question, giving interpreter Joey Cora a stock reply about "a big series," but then followed Cora's translation with an unsolicited assessment.

 

 

"I'm very confident with a 3½-game lead," Contreras said. "We haven't been playing good, but we still have the lead. Now we play Cleveland head-to-head, and if we do well, everything will be fine."

 

And if they don't play so well?

 

The truth is that if the Sox can win just one of three, things still might be fine.

 

While many hyperventilate about the Sox's underwhelming second half, they are still in great shape.

 

Forget about the white-hot Indians, who visit U.S. Cellular Field beginning Monday night. The team that matters most for the Sox's playoff hopes is the New York Yankees, who are second to Cleveland in the wild-card race. And the Sox have a five-game edge on them.

 

Not that finishing second is ever anyone's goal, but what difference does it make if the Sox advance to the playoffs as a division champ or a wild card? It probably would mean going to Boston as a road team instead of opening the first round at home against the Angels.

 

That's an insignificant difference, given the American League's balance and that the Sox have the best road record in the league at 47-27. Factor in their nine-game home losing streak in the playoffs, which dates to Game 1 of the 1959 World Series, and that the last three Series winners have been wild cards and you can make a case that they'd be better off qualifying as the runner-up.

 

I'm not going to, but you could. The ideal route for the Sox is to get good enough pitching to win 10 of their remaining 14 games and go in with the confidence of a 100-game winner. But regular-season success has had very little carryover into October since baseball went to the three-tier playoff format.

 

The Sox have had their ugly moments along the way, sure—those back-to-back losses last week in Kansas City stand out—but the reality is their lead has disappeared more because of Cleveland's great play than their bad play. The Indians' 32-11 record since Aug. 1 gives them a shot at one of the fastest finishes in history. They've made up 111/2 games on the Sox, who once held a 15-game lead.

 

But it's wrong to paint the Sox as a team clinging to a life preserver. They haven't had a run of injuries and appear to be in stunningly good mental health, with few players hanging their heads like the Cubs did late in 2004.

 

"They're pretty good," manager Ozzie Guillen said of his players. "They're having fun. My clubhouse is loud. People are talking. We're not sitting in chairs just thinking about how things are going."

 

Guillen wishes his team had been better than 3-7 since Sept. 7 or 22-23 since Aug. 1, but he knows how baseball goes in cycles. He also knows that the teams that win have players who step forward when other players have slowed down.

 

So it is that he has begun turning ninth-inning leads over to rookie Bobby Jenks, who is on the roll of his young life, while appreciating Dustin Hermanson's humility.

 

Hermanson was warming up in the ninth inning when Guillen walked to the mound and motioned for Jenks to replace the forgiven Damaso Marte with two outs and the Sox leading Minnesota 2-1 on Sunday at the Metrodome. Hermanson could have left a pall over the victory by sulking, but instead he patted Jenks on the back and said he knows his stuff isn't what it should be.

 

That's a sign of a team with some shelf life.

 

Ditto the emergence of Contreras, who is having a second half to rival the fast starts by Jon Garland, Mark Buehrle and Freddy Garcia. He basically blew the Twins away for eight innings, needing only 90 pitches to get his 24 outs.

 

The guy the Sox would have sent to Florida to get A.J. Burnett—who is 0-5 with a 7.40 ERA in his last five starts—has not only put himself in the Sox's potential postseason pitching plans but could be the No. 1 starter. He has gone 9-2 with a 3.23 ERA in 13 starts since the All-Star break. Cleveland's Jake Westbrook is the only other AL starter with as many wins in that span.

 

"There's been a lot of work since I've been [in the U.S.] for three years," Contreras said through Cora. "I've been working every spring training and every other time, and now it seems like I have put it together."

 

Contreras is due to make his final regular-season start Sept. 28 in Detroit, which lines him up perfectly for the Oct. 4 playoff opener. There's a bittersweet quality to the anticipation for Conteras, however, as he would be taking the rotation spot previously held for fellow Cuban Orlando Hernandez, who has played the role of mentor.

 

"Obviously he feels bad about El Duque," Cora said after relaying a question to Contreras. "He knows El Duque works hard, goes out there every day and gives it all he has. Everybody knows the quality of pitcher he is, [but] everybody goes through hard times. At the same time, he's very confident he'll come out of it when the team needs it the most."

 

The truth is Hernandez probably won't pitch again until the Sox have wrapped up a playoff spot. The good news is they could still do it early enough for him to get a couple of starts.

 

Alright, i'm feeling good about this series. Let's not crush all of our hopes White Sox. Let's get this done.

[Jordan4life_2007]

I think it would be horrible to settle for the WC after being up 15 games in your division. That's a terrible way to back into the playoffs.

[The Critic]

I think it would be horrible to settle for the WC after being up 15 games in your division.  That's a terrible way to back into the playoffs.

Yeah, but it does beat to s*** the thought of missing the postseason altogether.

As ugly a thought as the Wild Card is, the thought of a total collapse is 1000 times worse.

[IlliniKrush]

No i would hate to back in, and will only look at that option if i find something other than a -- in the GB column next to the white sox. Even without the wild card, we're still in great shape. No one can beat Cleveland...every night we look up and they won. Well, they have to beat us. We can put an end to their magic run right here and right now, at home.

[DePloderer]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...hitesox-utility

 

Is he talking sense? I think he probably is.

[kapkomet]

oh, NO, we're CHOKERS. Even if we get in the playoffs, and win a series in October, we're CHOKERS.

 

Seriously, if we get into the playoffs and win a series (or more), ZERO of the 162 games mean nothing, except that we got into the playoffs, and hopefully we have the confidence in tight ball games.

 

Is it all roses right now? Nope. But, we need to get to October, and anything can happen.

[bighurt2719]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...hitesox-utility

 

Is he talking sense? I think he probably is.

 

sure. sounds good to me.

[Rowand44]

No i would hate to back in, and will only look at that option if i find something other than a -- in the GB column next to the white sox. Even without the wild card, we're still in great shape. No one can beat Cleveland...every night we look up and they won. Well, they have to beat us. We can put an end to their magic run right here and right now, at home.

Definitely. We're not going to get much help the rest of the year so we're going to have to put away Cleveland and it's that simple. Rogers makes a great point in this article of how it's been more about Cleveland winning then us losing. Everyone here has said all year "well if we play .500 the rest of the way we're in," well we've been playing .500 ball, not what we're capable of but not terrible either. This could be the series that wakes this team up and gets them back on track. Who knows this could be the series that gets us on a roll and takes us into the playoffs and deep into the playoffs, lets hope so.

[LosMediasBlancas]

I was gonna post the same thing he's saying, but I figured I'd get ripped. Who would you rather face in the 1st round Anaheim or Boston? I've said this all year: I do NOT fear the East and I'll stand by that.

 

 

...but I still we'll win the division. Let's handle business and make that last series in Cleveland irrelevant.

[SnB]

Well, leave it to phil rogers to shove a little sense into us huh?

 

Just don't get swept in this series and we should be ok, so let's just go out tonight, win, and then see what happens.

[Milkman delivers]

Definitely.  We're not going to get much help the rest of the year so we're going to have to put away Cleveland and it's that simple.  Rogers makes a great point in this article of how it's been more about Cleveland winning then us losing.  Everyone here has said all year "well if we play .500 the rest of the way we're in," well we've been playing .500 ball, not what we're capable of but not terrible either.  This could be the series that wakes this team up and gets them back on track.  Who knows this could be the series that gets us on a roll and takes us into the playoffs and deep into the playoffs, lets hope so.

 

We've been saying stuff like that for a couple months now. We've been looking for that unknown thing that will spark this team again.

[Rowand44]

We've been saying stuff like that for a couple months now.  We've been looking for that unknown thing that will spark this team again.

Very true, but there hasn't been a series like this. Also, before this last week our lead was still very comfortable only getting down to 6.5 and that lasted for all of about 3 hours.

[LVSoxFan]

I don't know, for some reason, I'm not that worried. If we can at least take the series...

 

Plus, if they start going on any kind of a losing streak, it won't be too long until we clinch.

[WilliamTell]

Yeah it'd be terrible to go in as the Wild Card winners. Going in with out the best record would be terrible too. We're 5 games up on the Wild Card and 3 1/2 games up on the division. Winning 2 of 3 in this series is crucial.

[Balta1701]

I was gonna post the same thing he's saying, but I figured I'd get ripped. Who would you rather face in the 1st round Anaheim or Boston?  I've said this all year: I do NOT fear the East and I'll stand by that.

When the Sox are playing their best baseball...getting good performances from their starting pitchers, bullpen, and getting some timely hitting/manufacturing runs, I don't fear a single team in baseball.

 

When the Sox aren't playing their best baseball...when their starters either don't have control or can't get outs, when the defense lets us down, and when the offense falls unconscious...I'm afraid of the Royals.

[DBAHO]

Getting a win tonight would just be huge though, it would send a message to the Tribe that we ain't just gonna fall to the wayside and let them take this division, especially against their best pitcher in Kevin Millwood (who BTW is going to get a very nice deal this off-season).

[Wong & Owens]

Here's another reason for optimism-- The Indians(SHHHHHH!) may be showing signs that they are cooling off. Look at these averages in Sept.:

 

Broussard-- .239

Blake-- .204

Boone-- .192

Hafner-- .200

Hernandez-- .192

Peralta-- .232

 

Crisp, Martinez and Sizemore are still on hot streaks or at least hitting well, so they are the keys to keeping Cleveland off the scoreboard.

 

Also, check out the batting averages of Indian players vs. Sox pitching:

 

Broussard-- .171

Belliard-- .195

Blake-- .143

Boone-- .222

Hafner-- .238

Hernandez-- .125

Peralta-- .194

Martinez hitting .227 at US Cellular.

 

Reasons for optimism, coming from a fan who's braced for a fight for the wildcard spot.

[SoxFan562004]

it seems all the "experts" are basically saying the Sox will still win the division.

 

I heard Gammons, Olney and various others say it, not that it's worth anything, but it's being reported so thought I would post it

[TLAK]

When the Sox are playing their best baseball...getting good performances from their starting pitchers, bullpen, and getting some timely hitting/manufacturing runs, I don't fear a single team in baseball.

You got it right Balta! When the White Sox play good baseball they are hard to beat. Not from hero crap, just a good game where everybody does their job.