Jose Contreras used a little help from his defense, and the weakened Twins offense, to pitch the second complete game shutout of his career. Jose is beginning to gain more control of his forkball, and is spotting his drop-down stuff with much more accuracy than in his first few starts. He'll need that control if he continues to top out around 90 and strike out 5 batters per 9.
While Sox starters allowed just 2 runs during the three game series, but I'm not getting too excited. The Minnesota offense currently is a mirror image of the Sox. Their LFers have combined for an near .500 OPS, and they don't have a DH, with Mike Redmond leading the team in ABs from the DH spot. Oh, and that Mauer fellow is on the DL too, moving Redmond, already out of place as part-time DH, to full-time catcher. Why is it that three good (in recent years) teams [Oakland, Chicago, Minnesota] are having such a problem getting production in seemingly the two easiest (offensive) positions to fill?
Once again, Ryan Sweeney continues to show that he belongs at the big leagues -- or at least isn't over-matched, and is capable of performing in the absence of a true left fielder. Sweeney extended his hitting streak to 6 games with an RBI and a run scored on a nice slide combined with a poor attempt at blocking the plate by Redmond. He also demonstrated that he can handle CF if needed, which would presumably make Terrero expendable until Podsednik steals his spot back.
Ozzie seems to be coming around on Sweeney, who has given the team a bit of spark since being called up. Lord knows the Sox offense sure needed it.