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| Andy Pettitte | Jose Contreras |
| 6 - 7, 5.44 | 7 - 0, 2.96 |
Out of the frying pan and into the fire. From Francisco Liriano to perhaps the only pitcher in either league pitching better than Liriano: Jose Contreras.
From the good news that the Sox swept the Cards to the bad news that now the Pale Hose line up against us.
The biggest question in baseball these days is what you think of Ozzie Guillen's act. Is he evil, is he a clown, or is he crazy like a fox?
Without even having to get into an examination of Jay Marriotti's own less-than-noble behavior, I might suggest answer number three.
The effect that a manager has on a club's won/loss record is consistently overstated. For the most part, a 90-win club under one skipper is a 90-win club under any other. And it wouldn't matter if Miller Huggins was managing the Cubs this year.
But the one thing a manager can do--HAS to do--is put his team in the best position to win. And you'd be real hard pressed to say that Ozzie Guillen has not done that for the Sox this year.
You may not be buying if I were to say the Guillen had anything to do with the unparalleled success Contreras has had over the last calendar year. You may think it's unreasonable to give Guillen credit for the more than serviceable season the Sox are getting out of the trainwreck that is Bobby Jenks. You may, in fact, feel that Guillen should get none of the credit for any of the many fine seasons that are being posted this year on the South Side, from Jermaine Dye to Jim Thome to Paul Konerko.
But you would have to at the very least admit that Ozzie's done nothing to fuck it up, either.