Colin was only half right. I wasn't going to spend much time recapping the game, but I did have some stuff I was gonna write about. Unfortunately, my internet connection went down last night, and this is as far as I got.
In need of a 5th starter
Jose Contreras has allowed 63 hits in his last 37.2 innings pitched. He has a WHIP of 2.04 and an ERA of 8.60 during that stretch, a span of 7 starts. The Sox might be able to weather that suck storm if Contreras wasn't coming off a 2-year year stretch of sub-par performance (5.17 ERA over his last 460 IP), or if Javier Vazquez didn't have a 6.80 ERA over his last 7 starts, or if Gavin Floyd wasn't giving up HRs at a rate of 1.7/9IP over the last 2 months, or if Jack Egbert or Lance Broadway had established themselves as a 5th starter in waiting. As it stands right now, Broadway has a terrible hit rate (10.23 H/9) and Egbert has had a roller coaster of a season, though he now appears on the climb (WHIP of 0.97. ERA of 2.81, K/BB of 5.33 and K/9 of 9.00 since June 1).
Missing Pablo
The White Sox owned a league best 3.38 ERA while Pablo Ozuna played the role of 25th-man/rally monkey. Since his departure, the Sox have put up a brutal 6.05 ERA, allowing 6 or more runs in 5 of their last 6 games. Clearly, Pablo was the key to the pitching staff's excellent run prevention.