2008 State of the Sox

May 20: White Sox 4, Indians 1

It took more than 2 1/2 seasons, but the Sox finally handed C.C. Sabathia a loss.

6-0 in his last 10 starts against the White Sox and 7-0 lifetime in U.S. Cellular Field, Sabathia found himself in uncharted territory thanks to a couple of solo homers and tough, tough pitching by Jose Contreras.

After falling into a 2-0 hole after home runs by Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome in the first two innings, the Indians had to resort to physical damage to get their only run across.  Casey Blake beat out a grounder in the hole, and then Jamey Carroll shot a potential double play ball off Contreras' achilles for another hit.  Contreras walked around gingerly, but ultimately wouldn't require much medical attention.

Asdrubal Cabrera tried testing Contreras' wheel, but his bunt went too far to the third base side and Joe Crede threw him out.  Two weak grounders later, Contreras was out of the inning, limiting the damage to one run.

Contreras did more than pitch with a bruise.  He worked around a leadoff double by snagging a one-hopper through the box and throwing behind David Dellucci to remove the runner from scoring position.  A couple of grounders should have ended the inning, but Alexei Ramirez committed his first error and brought Sox-killing Grady Sizemore to the plate.

Contreras struck him out with a nasty forkball to end the inning.

He lasted six innings, and was removed after a leadoff single put the tying run on first.  Matt Thornton picked him up with a 1-2-3 double play, and Octavio Dotel finished it off with a strikeout.  Scott Linebrink and Bobby Jenks went a quick six up, six down for the save.

Quentin provided some insurance off Jensen Lewis in the ninth.  He started with a leadoff walk, then caught Sizemore snoozing and went from first to third on a lined single to center by Jermaine Dye.  Quentin's aggressiveness not only got him to third, but Dye to second as well, forcing a Jim Thome intentional walk.

Paul Konerko had his worst at-bat of the season -- chopper foul, swing at a ball way out of the zone and frozen on a grooved fastball -- but Pablo Ozuna, who entered the game for the ejected Joe Crede, delivered with a doink single to right.  Nick Swisher should've taken a pitch in the shoulder for another run, but settled for an RBI groundout to give Jenks the biggest save cushion possible.

Crede was ejected in the fourth inning after his second strikeout --  the first on a fastball six inches off the inside corner, and the second on a changeup a couple inches off the outside corner.  He was right to complain.

Record: 24-20 | Box score | Play-by-play