Contreras out for season

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Will this be remembered as Black Saturday, the day the bottom fell out for the White Sox?

In only one gloomy evening, the White Sox lost pitcher Jose Contreras, their postseason ace in 2005, for the season and again lost their grip on first place in the American League Central as they made a flurry of roster moves.

"We don't deserve to be in first place," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "The guys in first have played better than us the last couple of weeks.
"But we will fight. Now we'll see what they are [made of]."

Coupled with the Twins' victory in Kansas City, the White Sox's 6-2 loss to the Red Sox Saturday night dropped them into second place for the second time this month.

And in the second inning, Contreras suffered a ruptured left Achilles' tendon while covering first base that, at 36, could threaten his career.

"Those kinds of injuries, I don't know how you can come back," Guillen said. "The only thing I hope is that he can pitch again."

Making up for his loss will be a challenge.

"Somebody will have to step up and take his place," catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. "The worst part is that it was very encouraging the way he was throwing. He was somebody we were going to count on down the stretch."

After the double setback earlier in the evening, the White Sox made several roster moves.

They acquired left-handed reliever Horacio Ramirez from Kansas City for Class A outfielder Paulo Orlando. Ramirez is 1-1 with a 2.59 ERA in 15 games.

Plus, they optioned third baseman Josh Fields back to Charlotte and will option Saturday's loser Boone Logan on Sunday.

They announced no replacements for either, debating into the night whether to bring up two pitchers or one pitcher and an infielder.

Logan changed a 1-1 tie to a 5-1 deficit in the seventh inning and left to loud boos from the sellout crowd of 39,243 at U.S. Cellular Field.

"This is a pennant race. I want men on the field," Guillen said. "I kept telling [GM] Kenny [Williams] that we have what we need here, but some people are making me look bad."

Now the question is: Who replaces Contreras?

D.J. Carrasco, who made it through 41/3 innings allowing one run as Contreras' immediate successor Saturday, could be the immediate answer.

"We might start Carrasco," Guillen said. "I'm not 100 percent sure, but in my heart he should be the guy."

Carrasco wants the ball.

"When I signed here in the off-season, that's what I came here to do," Carrasco said. "If that's what they want, by all means, that's what I'm going try to do."

Of course, there is also the possibility of waiver trade, although that becomes extremely difficult with so many teams in division races.

While Contreras was missing games with a sore elbow, the Sox had summoned starter Clayton Richard from Triple-A Charlotte and more recently Adam Russell. Reliever Ehren Wasserman was sent to the minors to make room for Contreras' start.

Richard was 0-2 with a 10.83 ERA before his demotion, and Guillen said Saturday night "I don't think he threw the ball good enough" to come up again.

Lefty Wes Whisler (11-7) and righty Lance Broadway (10-7) are the two winningest starters for Charlotte, although Richard is still 6-0. Whisler, a second-round pick in 2004, has a 2.05 ERA in his last six starts.

One intriguing possibility is last year's first-round pick, Aaron Poreda, who pitched for Double-A Birmingham on Friday.

In his last three starts, the hard-throwing left-hander has struck out 20 and walked only two in 21 innings. He is 2-3 with a 3.43 ERA at Birmingham.

 

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Lee likely out for year with broken finger


Prior to Saturday's game, Astros manager Cecil Cooper gushed about Carlos Lee and challenged reporters to find any player who has performed better since the beginning of June.

An hour into the game, however, Cooper and the Astros were suddenly faced with finishing out the season without Lee. The left fielder was diagnosed with a broken left pinky finger after he was hit with a Bronson Arroyo pitch in the third inning, and he's out for six to eight weeks.

In other words, Lee is done for the year. The Astros will place him on the disabled list on Sunday and purchase the contract of Reggie Abercrombie, who will be in Cincinnati in time for the finale at Great American Ball Park.

Lee, who has never been on the DL in his career, will have surgery to repair the fracture on Monday around 1 p.m. CT. Team doctor Tom Mehlhoff will perform the procedure.

After the Astros' 3-1 win over the Reds, Lee's eyes welled up a bit as he talked about the injury that ultimately ended his season.

"I've never felt this good in my career at the plate," Lee said. "I believed I was going to help [the team] to make a comeback and do the best for the team but now, I'm out. It's pretty bad. I have to get it operated on and they say six to eight weeks, so probably, I'm out [for the year], unless the guys make a comeback and I'll be back for the playoffs."

Immediately after he was hit on the hand, Lee grimaced and fell to the ground, where he was tended to by head athletic trainer Dave Labossiere. As Lee stood up and walked off the field, cameras captured a close-up shot of the little finger on his left hand, which was dripping with blood.

"I knew it right away that it was not going to be good," Lee said. It hit me square."

Lee did not place any blame on Arroyo, whose 2-2 fastball crushed Lee's finger.

"He was trying to go up and in," Lee said. "I couldn't get out of the way. I'm a hitter that attacks the ball -- I don't wait back. I saw it coming, and I tried to get out of the way, but the ball's coming in pretty good."

The injury occurred one day after Lee logged his 100th RBI of the season and the 1,000th and 1,001st of his career. The loss of Lee could have lasting effects on the Astros, who have won 11 of their last 15 games but are still considered a long shot to make the postseason.

It's difficult to imagine the Astros will have enough offensive power to make a playoff push without Lee, who was hitting .314 with a team-leading 28 homers at the time of the injury.

"With men in scoring position, he's just been an awesome player," Cooper said. "Getting big hit after big hit. He's carried us over the last month and a half or so with home runs, base hits, and he's played terrific defensively. It's a big hole to fill."

Darin Erstad will receive the majority of the starts in left in Lee's absence, but Abercrombie could see playing time there as well, and Cooper mentioned Ty Wigginton as an outfield candidate, too.

"That's a tough one," Miguel Tejada said. "To lose a guy from your team is hard. But Carlos is a guy who has been, in the last month or two, carrying this team. We felt like we had a chance. Now we lose one of the best hitters on the team, and it's hard.

"I'm sorry for him, because I think this year could have been one of the best years of his life. It's not good."

 

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Orlando Hudson could miss the rest of the year with a dislocated left wrist suffered Saturday against the Braves.



It'd be a major blow to Arizona's hopes. "(It?s) not great, dislocation, fracture of a bone in his wrist, and we?re not 100 percent sure whether he has to have surgery," manager Bob Melvin said. "Probably a pretty good chance, but we will know in the morning. If he has the surgery, he?s out for the rest of the year, and if he doesn?t, there?s still a chance he could be out for the rest of the year." The Diamondbacks figure to make Augie Ojeda their primary second baseman, with Chris Burke backing him up. They could also attempt to trade for someone who has cleared waivers. Brian Roberts and Mark Ellis probably wouldn't, but lesser options like Tadahito Iguchi, Ronnie Belliard and Mark Loretta could be available.