I told you yesterday, the White Sox needed seven innings from Jose Contreras yesterday if they were going to beat the Royals.  Not only did you get seven quality innings, but you got a stellar line of 7ip, 8k and only 1bb and most important of all, a 4-2 win.  Where the heck has this guy been the last two months?

There's no telling if this will continue, but hey, there's nothing to say it can't.  If Contreras can give the Sox, say, six more starts similar to this, there is hope in Sox land.  After all, Detroit lost last night, cutting their lead to only two games and hopefully the Mariners will take them out again this afternoon cutting another ½ game off their lead.

The Sox had a good day with the long ball, getting three home runs, one each from Gordon Beckham, Alex Rios and Carlos Quentin, who looks like he is about to go on a tear.  Add to the mix a returning Jim Thome and maybe, just maybe, the Sox can pull off that long overdue sweep against the Orioles this weekend.

Look, if you are crying in your Falstaff now, you are going to have a real problem with September.  As bad as these guys can look (take the last game in Oakland or Tuesday night's game for instance) they are still hanging around.  And that's really all they need to do at this point.  Yes, the evil Twinkies are only 5½ games back, but the odds of them catching lightning in a bottle with their battered pitching staff are pretty slim.  This is pretty much a two horse race and I'll still continue to wager that the little jockey from Venezuela will find a way to whip his horse just right down the stretch.

And if you are morose, glum or otherwise annoyed with the play of this team, look no further than the other side of town where the team that "the experts" thought was going to run away with their division is in a state of free fall, six games behind the Cardinals and the poison pens and wagging tongues calling for everything from wholesale firings to gutting their underachieving roster.   Even the stoutest of rats is having trouble staying on that ship.

Like I said, if Contreras, a guy nobody even expected to be here at this point can turn it around, if Freddy Garcia can build on his last start and if Jake Peavy can come back ready to rock, there is hope.  And for now, hope is all I need.