Jose Contreras is a workhorse and he just won his 14th straight regular season decision (2005 and 2006). He is now 6-0 this year and has quickly become Mr. Dependable. He had a recent stint on the DL, but everything looks like it’s back to normal now. He is giving up less than one hit per inning, striking out one per 2 innings and has won each game he’s been a factor in the decision on. Furthermore, he has a 2.54 ERA and is destroying right-handed batters. They are only hitting a paltry .184 against him with a .212 OBP.

However, it’s not all roses. There is some cause for concern. Upon looking over his performances for 2006, I can see a trend developing. Each month Contreras is becoming progressively worse. If you look at his WHIP number, it was 0.86 in April, .90 in May and 1.92 so far this month. Now, there is plenty of time in June left, but it is something to look at. Part of this may be the DL trip though. His last outing against the Tigers (yesterday) was fairly sharp. He pitched 7 innings giving up 7 hits, 4 walks and 2 ER. Not the best, but he controlled the walks and kept scoring down.

I am not sure the walks are something to be overly concerned with. He is known for giving up a couple a game. It’s worth noting that in April, the Tigers were the only “real” team of the five that he pitched against. That’s not a knock on Contreras, because he beat them and beat them again last night. It’s just something to note if you look at numbers solely for your betting slections.