I'm outta here

Ozzie Guillen really has to do something especially egregious to get me worked up about his in-game decisions anymore. I haven't cared about wins or losses in over a month, and thus Ozzie's peculiar decisions don't seem to get to me at all. That wasn't the case Friday night, however.

Thankfully, I missed the 5th inning debacle -- I can only imagine what my reaction would have been upon seeing Ozzie call for a Thome-style shift against a sub-.200 hitter -- In fact, I missed all of innings 4 through 7. My first thought upon see Contreras on the mound in the 8th was "What the heck is this bum still doing in there?" I had seen Contreras give up a 3-run HR in the first. I could see that he allowed 4 more runs to score in the 5th (though I was unaware at their bizarre circumstances at the time). I knew that Contreras has allowed 5 or more runs in 16 of his last 29 starts. He couldn't be left out there for much more than a batter, could he?

• Hard hit single back up the middle. Alright, Ozzie'll pull him now.
  
• Long double high off the monster in left-center. Ozzie must be in the clubhouse bathroom. C'mon Coop, go get him.
  
• Walk. You've gotta be kidding me Ozzie!
  
• LONG sac-fly.
  
• Ozzie visits mound. Finally!
  
• Ozzie returns to dugout without removing rotting corpse of Jose Contreras. I give up. Grady Little is laughing at you, Ozzie.
  
• HBP. A bullshit HBP, but another free baserunner and still no hook from Sleepy
  
• First pitch Grand Slam pulls Ozzie from his Three Star Sudoku puzzle.

Ozzie has to know that Kenny has been doing everything in his power to trade Contreras' dead weight. I can't believe he'd leave him out there to be exposed like that. Kenny and Ozzie have rarely been on the same page this year, and it's really hurt the franchise. * * * * *

I had expected the Sox to make some bold moves by now, but with each passing day that's looking less and less likely. I still think they'll get rid of Jermaine Dye, but I don't know if we'll see any other projected regular get moved. I'd peg Rob Mackowiak and Tadahito Iguchi as the next most likely to be traded. Update [2007-7-21 2:28:59 by The Cheat]: It looks like the Mets will really need a 2B unless they think that Ruben Gotay is the answer. Jose Valentin broke his leg Jermaine Dye style.

Of course now that I'm doubting a big shakeup, the Sox will completely overhaul their roster while I'm gone for the next 10 days. I'll be back before the trade deadline, but I won't be posting anything other than comments over that time.

The site's in your hands while I'm gone. Treat it well.