It's painful to have to write about what transpired on the field last night at Boston's Fenway Park.  For two and ½ innings, you thought to yourself, hey, the White Sox can play with these guys.  This Buchholtz isn't so tough.  And then, reality happened.

Here's the sad part.  It happened with two outs. After a lead off single from Alex Gonzalez, Jose Contreras got the next two Bosox out before he allowed the roof, his season and perhaps the season of his teammates come crashing down like Sputnik from the heavens above.

And it was all so unnecessary.  A two out walk to Victor Martinez.  A two out hit by pitch to Kevin Youklis. Bases loaded TWO OUT, David Ortiz at the plate.  Dribbler down the first base line that Contreras can't field cleanly and it's 4-2.  And in that one play, you may have seen the White Sox season begin to empty near the nearest drain.  Still, Contreras had a chance to get off the hook.  Bases loaded, still TWO Out and he walked Jason Bay.  It's now 4-3.

Let me digress for a second and say that if I were managing the White Sox, Contreras would be headed to the showers at this point. We continue.

Now Contreras, in an effort to get out of the inning with the bases still loaded and still TWO OUT, tries to bear down on his forkball.  We know what happens when he does that.  Past A.J., to the wall, Red Sox have tied the game.  Still TWO OUT, still a chance to get out of it.  Instead, Contreras serves up a room service fastball to Mike Lowell who hits the ball halfway to Braintree.  Suddenly, the White Sox have gone from being up 4-1 at the beginning of the inning to being behind 7-4.  They would never recover.

With Freddie Garcia on the mound tonight, White Sox fans are not feeling optimistic.  I guess the win is that the White Sox have finally convinced themselves that Jose Contreras is more a liability than an asset and that if he pitches for the White Sox again, it will be out of the bullpen.  Alternatives at this point include Carlos Torres or Daniel Hudson.  I would be shocked if the Sox let the kid Hudson start his major league career at Yankee Stadium or against either the Cubs or Minnesota.  There is also Jake Peavy, although reports are fuzzy at best as to what his status and availability might be on Saturday.

In the meantime, the Wynonna Judd concert scheduled for Detroit in late September has been moved to Chicago and may be on as early as Labor Day.