Contreras getting respect.

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Contreras approaching a great baseball record

Elliott Kalb / Special to FOXSports.com

Posted: 14 hours ago

 

White Sox right-handed pitcher Jose Contreras has won his past 14 decisions.

 

He doesn't go nine innings. In fact, he has just one complete game in his 82 career starts.

 

He doesn't strike out 10 batters per game.

 

He just wins.

 

He is almost 60 percent of the way to one of the great records ever.

 

You can talk all you want about major league pitchers having outstanding earned run averages, or high strikeout totals. The only thing that is truly important is victories. The record for consecutive victories is held by "King" Carl Hubbell, who had 24 consecutive wins for the New York Giants in 1936 and 1937. The record has stood for 70 years, longer than Joe DiMaggio's consecutive-game hitting streak.

 

Contreras pitched seven innings on Wednesday night against the first-place Tigers to pick up his 14th win in a row. "My arm was in the right place, and my mind is fine," said Contreras after the game, talking about his fourteenth consecutive win, but first since May 4. Jose was an overpowering 5-0 to start 2006, but a stint on the disabled list and three no-decisions since his return meant he went over a month without a victory. He's gone nearly 10 months without a regular-season defeat, however.

 

Contreras hasn't lost in awhile, but he doesn't always win. He could easily be 8-0 this season. He left his first start with a 3-2 lead against the Indians. He left on May 21 with a 4-2 lead against the Cubs. Both ended up as no-decisions.

 

If Contreras somehow does come close to this record, the pressure will be comparatively nothing for him. This is the same Jose Contreras that was Cuba's Male Athlete of the Year three times. He struck out 10 Orioles in a 1999 exhibition game for Cuba, in front of Fidel Castro. He helped Cuba win the gold medal in Sydney in 2000. Even that pressure was miniscule compared to pitching in and defecting during an American Series tournament in Mexico in October of 2002.

 

Jose Contreras just keeps going and going and going. (Ron Vesely/MLB / Getty Images)

 

The spotlight seems to find Contreras, who has played in the World Series in two of his three major league seasons. In 2003, Contreras was given the ball in Yankee Stadium by Joe Torre in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series with nine outs to go to win the pennant. Contreras allowed a triple to Nomar Garciaparra, a double to Manny Ramirez, and after a wild pitch, singles to David Ortiz and Bill Mueller.

 

The Yankees would need to win the following day, in Game 7, on an Aaron Boone extra-inning home run in the 2003 World Series, the series was tied 2-2 when David Wells departed Game 5 after one inning with a back injury. Contreras was called on in a pinch. He lost that game, as well, giving up four earned runs in three innings.

 

Last fall, Contreras started Game 1 in all four postseason series for the White Sox. He won three times, including Game 1 of the World Series against the Roger Clemens and the Astros.

 

Contreras lost the first game of the American League Championship Series, but that doesn't count against his consecutive-wins. That, of course, is a regular season mark, one of the most under-appreciated records in sports.

 

Think of all the great pitchers that never came close to Hubbell, nicknamed "The Meal Ticket." Walter Johnson never won more than 16 in a row. Neither did Sandy Koufax or Lefty Grove or Christy Mathewson or Greg Maddux. Only Roger Clemens has won at least 16 games in a row on two separate streaks.

 

When Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games, it was a very, very big deal. Now, when anyone climbs halfway up Mount DiMaggio, there is national attention on a daily basis. We saw that in April, when Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins opened the season with a 36-game hit streak.

 

You have to get more than 14 wins in a row to get talked about as a pitcher. The record for most consecutive victories before Hubbell's streak was 19, by Rube Marquard in 1912. Marquard was cheated a victory by today's rules, in fact, as he entered a tie game in the eighth inning during his streak and wasn't credited with the victory when his team won. Marquard's streak started on Opening Day and ended in July. Hubbell's 16 straight wins to end the 1936 season left baseball with a quandary.

 

Ford Frick, the president of the National League at the time, ruled that Marquard's record could only be broken by a pitcher who won more than 19 games in a single season. That sort of burst Hubbell's bubble, so to speak. Frick's 1937 ruling that had prevented Hubbell's accomplishment from entering the record books was rescinded in 1974. Marquard still holds the single-season record, and yet Hubbell's streak is considered the longest ever (as Rollins' would have been, had he hit in 57-straight over two years).

 

Over the course of the 1958 and 1959 seasons, Pittsburgh reliever Roy Face won 22 games in a row. That's been the closest challenge. Of course, the other reason that Hubbell's record is unappreciated by the masses is the same one that Contreras would face. He lost a postseason game in the middle of this great regular season streak. Hubbell, the MVP in 1936, started Game 1 of the World Series against the Yankees and easily won 6-1. Hubbell came back in Game 4, and allowed four runs in the first three innings. Gehrig hit a homer off him, and the Yanks won 5-2.

 

Contreras has a few things going for him. He plays for a very good team, which started this season 33-17, in defense of a World Series title. Jim Thome and Paul Konerko lead an offense that is capable of bailing out their starting pitcher, even on his rare off days. The White Sox have a closer in Bobby Jenks, that has saved 17 games in 18 opportunities.

 

Include the 2005 postseason, and Contreras is 17-1 in his last 22 starts (even accounting for the three straight no-decisions prior to his latest victory). He has won 14 consecutive regular season games. The Braves' reliever Oscar Villarreal has won nine straight games (7-0 this season). Arizona's Brandon Webb lost the 2005 regular-season finale, but started 2006 a perfect 8-0. The Mets' Tom Glavine has won seven straight, as has Yankee Mike Mussina.

 

That's the object of every pitcher when they take the ball. Just win, baby. Contreras, 41-18 in his major league career (and winner of 157 games for Cuban's National team) does it a little better than most.

[whitesoxfan101]

Now if he could also get run and defensive support, he very well could win the Cy Young.