Memo to Jose Contreras

To: JC
From: Sox Fans
Subject: 2nd inning Monday night

Jose- You looked a bit lost in that second inning, just thought I'd remind you of a few things. When the catcher sets up on the outside of the plate, that means he wants you to throw it away from the batter, not middle-in. And guess what? When he sets up inside, that doesn't mean to throw it right down the middle. Also, stop trying to use your forkball to try and get ahead of guys. You don't throw it for strikes consistently, and the hitters know that. It makes no difference if they've never faced you before. They'll only chase it with 2 strikes, if they do at all. I thought you'd figured that out this season. Speaking of over-using that fork...Did you forget how to throw any other pitch during that 2nd inning? Out of the 25-30 pitches you threw in that inning, at least 20 were splitters. By the way, when you throw the splitter/fork, it helps a lot when the ball actually splits (or drops off the table, however you'd like to put it) instead of floating up to the plate like a BP fastball.

Quick Recap: Contreras was odviously terrible tonight, surrendering 8 runs in 6IP. The fact he lasted 6 innings was a miracle, as he was touched up for a 6 spot in the 2nd after giving up a run in the 1st. Contreras gave up a total of 4 HR's in the game.
At the plate, the offense was shut down by Shawn Estes, who threw a complete game while giving up just one run on a solo homer hit by Big Frank, his 3rd HR in his last 8 AB's. All there is left to say about this game is that you win some, you lose some, and early on into the game this one was tallied in the latter category.