Black Sox Blog

Not unexpected, but I fully expect Konerko to be back in a White Sox uniform next year. He’s our best hitter, and if we let him go, he’d be the best first baseman on the market.

Also, for some good reading, be sure to check out WSJ.com’s cool article talking about how baseball executives had an idea that the 1919 White Sox were going to throw the World Series.

Looking back, it seems so much easier then it should have been. The White Sox finished their sweep of the Houston Astros, and for the first time in 88 years, the city of Chicago, and more specifically, White Sox fans, have a World Series championship.

Freddy Garcia and the bullpen were awesome. Garcia went seven innings and gave up only four hits with seven strikeouts. The big guy, Bobby Jenks, got the save by pitching a one hit ninth, and the rest is history. Jermaine Dye had an RBI single in the eighth, and that was all the White Sox needed.

Dye was picked as the MVP. Anytime it’s a short series like this, it can be tough to narrow it down to one guy, but Dye had a hit in each of the four games, including three last night. He drove in three and scored three.

Celebrate everyone!! The drought is over.

The last time the White Sox won the World Series, World War I, while winding down, was still happenning. The Great Depressing was well over a decade away, and a man named Woodrow Wilson was the President.

The 88 year drought could end tonight.

Wow.

Let me say it again. Wow. Down 4-0, I had pretty much wrote this game off. Then the fifth came, and the White Sox could not be denied. Joe Crede led off the inning with a solo homerun to make it 4-1. I’m not sure if that was the inspiration that the White Sox needed, but the flood gates opened. Juan Uribe, Scott Podsednik, and Tad Iguchi all singled and it was 4-2. Another single by Jermaine Dye and it was 4-3. Paul Konerko flew out to make it two outs, and the A.J. Pierzynski came up huge with a two run double. Down by four entering the inning, the White Sox left the inning with a one run lead. Prior to that, Roy Oswalt had given up only two hits. In the fifth inning alone, he gave up six hits.

A Jason Lane RBI double in the eighth (he had also homered earlier in the game) tied things up and we went into extra frames. From innings 10 through 13, the two teams combined for only one hit. It wasn’t until the 14th that the White Sox finally broke the game open.

Jermaine Dye led off with a single, but that baserunner was immediately eliminated by a Paul Konerko double play. The inning seemed to be all but over, and then Geoff Blum went yard to give the White Sox a one run lead. Not satisfied with just one run, Aaron Rowand, Joe Crede and Juan Uribe all singled back to back, and then Chris Widger drew a walk to put another run on the board.

The Astros threatened in the 14th by getting two men on (a walk and an error), but Mark Buehrle came in to get the final out of the inning to secure the White Sox win. It can all be locked up tonight!!

Playing in the rain, the White Sox accomplished what they’ve done all season. It wasn’t pretty, but they did just enough to win. In the top of the fifth, Morgan Ensberg drove in two runs with a double and the Astros looked like they were going to cruise to a 4-2 lead.

Paul Konerko had something else to say about it though. In the bottom of the seventh, Paul Konerko hit a two out grand slam to give the White Sox a 6-4 lead. The rest of the game wasn’t without it’s drama though as the Astros tied the game in the ninth on a two run single by Jose Vizcaino.

Then with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Scott Podsednik, who didn’t hit a single homerun during the regular season (and now has two in the post season), hit a walk off solo shot to end the game.

What a game. The White Sox head to Houston with a 2-0 lead. While the Red Sox last year taught us that no lead is sacred, I’m definitely feeling good about the series. Jon Garland throws against Roy Oswalt tomorrow.

My favorite White Sox is Joe Crede. Seeing him play the way he did yesterday was simply awesome. I’ve been hoping he’d turn into the 30 homer, gold glove third basemen that some thought he might, however, if he can nab a World Series MVP instead, it would be even sweeter.

Three huge defensive plays at third and a solo homerun were his contributions. Jose Contreras pitched well, as did Cotts and Jenks out of the pen. And Jermaine Dye gets an honorable mention for putting the Sox on the board in the first inning.

And while you hate to bad things happen to an icon like Roger Clemens, it’s also a good thing we won’t have to face him the rest of the series (speculation).

2-2 in the fifth. Go Sox.

Game one of the World Series was always for Saturday, but as of last night, the White Sox have an opponent. The Houston Astros topped the St. Louis Cardinals in five games, so the Astros travel to Chicago for game one.

Jose Contreras will square off against one of the greatest pitchers ever, Roger Clemens. Clemens had some leg problems (I want to say it’s his hamstring) so hopefully Konerko and company will be able to take care of business.

For another week, this White Sox fan will get some excitement. It’s hard to believe that when I started blogging in February that I’d be covering THE year for the White Sox.

The Cardlinals avoided elimination last night with some two out heroics in the ninth inning. In the meantime, I recommend you check out this White Sox column by Broken Cowboy.

For the fourth straight game, and the fourth straight win, a White Sox starter has gone the distance. It’s been almost a week since the Sox used a reliever.

Jose Contreras gave up three runs on only five hits. The White Sox got on the board first with a sac. fly by Joe Crede in the second inning but the Angels matched that with a run in the third. The Sox then took the lead back on a Jermaine Dye double in the fifth, only to yield the lead to the Angels in the bottom half of the inning.
Joe Crede was the man. He hit a solo shot in the seventh to tie the game up, then he drove in a run in the eighth to give the Sox the lead for good. The White Sox got two insurance runs in the ninth that eventually weren’t needed.

The Astros are up 3-1, so they’re our likely opponent. If that’s the case, we should see some great pitching.

The White Sox are four wins away from winning their first World Series since 1917. Go Sox!!

The White Sox are up 3-1 and they have a chance to win the series without even having to come home to play in Chicago. Freddy Garcia was the third straight starter to shut down the Indians as he went the distance. He gave up only two runs on six hits with one walks.

Once again, the White Sox got all they needed in the first inning. A repeat of yesterday, Paul Konerko hit a three run homerun to give the White Sox a nice cushion before the Angels even picked up a bat. Joe Crede and Carl Everett both had two hits and two RBIs.

Tomorrow it’s a repeat of game one. Jose Contreras takes the mound against Paul Byrd. Hopefully the end result will be different and the White Sox can lock up a chance to play in their first World Series since 1959.

Who needs a bullpen. Jon Garland, like Mark Buehrle in game two, went the distance. 83 of his 118 pitches were for strikes as he gave up only four hits and one walk while striking out seven.

Paul Konerko came up huge as well. Three for four with a homerun, and three of the White Sox five runs were driven in by him. Tad Iguchi made the most of his two times on base and scored both times. They didn’t even try to steal a base, but it might have been because they jumped out to an early lead.

The White Sox have a chance to leave Anaheim with a 3-1 lead. Freddy Garcia throws against the rookie Ervin Santana. And if Garcia falters, we have a nice rested bullpen.

This is how they White Sox have won all season. Ride your starting pitcher, then pick up some runs here and there. They led the league with 35 one run wins this season, and it’s nice to see their continuing to pull these games out.

Mark Buehrle was spectacular. Nine innings, five hits, now walks and four strikeouts. The game finished in a typical fashion for one his starts. Two hours and 34 minutes for a playoff game is unheard of these days. His sole blemish was a fifth inning, game tying, solo homerun by Rob Quinlan.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the ninth. A.J. Pierzynski, one of my goats in game one, struck out but on a weird play, catcher Josh Paul sort of fumbled the low pitch. The Angels ran off the field, Pierzynski ran to first base, and the umpire called him safe. Pablo Ozuna pinch ran, stole second, and a guy who’s angling himself for the MVP of the series, Joe Crede, drove him home with a walk off double. Crede is hitting .375 in the two games and has two RBIs.

I touched on this yesterday, but the use of K-Rod on Tuesday (he also pitched on Monday) meant we were facing Kelvim Escobar in the ninth and not K-Rod. Things might have been very different had we not forced him to pitch Tuesday night. Now we get a day off and play tomorrow in Anaheim. Jon Garland throws against John Lackey.

Ozzie Guillen did everything he needed to do to sweep the Red Sox. Whether it was right or not, it worked. Yesterday’s game was disappointing for the reason that we ran ourselves out of some potential rallies. The Angels got to Contreras early and that’s where the mistakes began.

Mistake number one came in the fifth inning. Scott Podsednik drew a one out walk and he got gunned down by Molina. Benji Molina is a gold glove catcher, and Podsednik had a horrible second half stealing bases. Yes, we were down by a run, but the Sox not only took a guy off the bases, they created an out they couldn’t afford. It’s the third time Podsednik has been caught stealing in the post season.

Not learning from that mistake, it happened again in the seventh. I had the game on and was only listening so I didn’t see it, but I have no idea why A.J. Pierzynski was running. Joe Crede had hit a homerun earlier in the game. It’s just frustrating when they give up not only baserunners, but outs. Sigh.

The good news is, we go to their pen. Scott Shields three two innings and K-Rod threw one. Hopefully that comes into play tonight. I hate to say it’s a must win game, but this is big. We can’t go down 2-0 and expect to be able to storm back when we don’t have the bats.

The LA Angels of Anaheim took care of the Yankees. Now they have to swing back to the midwest where they’ll face a rested and ready Chicago White Sox. Jose Contreras takes the mound against Paul Byrd, and we could play three games before the Angels can even bring in their ace, Bartolo Colon. And that’s only if he’s ready to play, because he left in the first inning last night.

In short, things have really stacked up well for the White Sox. Colon is out, and we have a team that just made a plane ride to CA, and now they have to turn around, hop on another plane and come to Chicago. Home field advantage could end up really helping us out.

What a game. Paul Konerko hit a two run homer in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie. In the Red Sox half of the sixth, Manny Ramirez hit a solo homer, and Damasco Marte proceeded to load up the bases. Orlando Hernandez came in and got two pop ups and then got Johnny Damon to strikeout to end the inning. Damon bailed us out because the pitch was in the dirt. He tried to check up, but just couldn’t quite hold back.

The White Sox added a run in the ninth when A.J. Pierzynski scored on a suicide squeeze. Bobby Jenks pitched a perfect ninth to finish the sweep.

I’ve been pretty critical of Ozzie Guillen all season, but he did a number of things right in this series. He kept Buehrle in longer then most managers would have in game 2 and Mark calmed down and gave the Sox seven good innings. Heck, even the squeeze play today was a nice call.

The Yankees and Angels are tied in their game three 6-6 with the series tied up 1-1. Hopefully we’ll take advantage of the nice break and we’ll be ready when things start back up on Tuesday.

What a game. The Red Sox jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and things looked to be done. The White Sox put two runs on the board in fifth and had Joe Crede on first with one out. Juan Uribe hit into what should have been an inning ending double was misplayed by Tony Graffanino. Two things about David Wells are, he’s a very good pitcher and he’s a pitcher who’s very good about getting rattled. He seemed to calm down and got Scott Podsednik to foul out, but then Tad Iguchi hit a HUGE three run homerun to the give the White Sox the lead.

Mark Buehrle got through seven innings before giving the ball to Bobby Jenks. Nothing like throwing the kid into the fire as the first batter he faced was Manny Ramirez. He got him to fly out and the only flaw in two innings of work was a double by Tony Graffanino in the ninth with one out. He got Johny Damon to foul out and then Edgar Rentaria to foul out.

The White Sox are now one win away from going to the ALCS, but we’re going to Fenway. It’d be nice if we could wrap this up tomorrow.

What a game. The White Sox put five runs on the board in the first inning and they never looked back. It was 6-0 before the Red Sox finally got on the board with two runs in the fourth. The White Sox answered immediately with two in the bottom half of the inning, and eventually put 14 runs up.

In all, the White Sox hit five homers. A.J. Pierzynski blasted two homers and went three for three. Scott Podsednik, who didn’t hit a single homerun in the regular season, went yard in the sixth inning.

Jose Contreras was very solid. He went 7 2/3 and gave up only two runs on eight hits while striking out six. Game two tomorrow features David Wells against Mark Buehrle, and it’s on during prime time, which is nice. No need to kill the mouse button by hitting refresh while on the Yahoo box score at work.

In a way, we brought this upon ourselves. The White Sox square off against the Red Sox in Chicago on Tuesday at 4 pm. We went 1-2 at Fenway this year, but it’s not a fun place to play, so in my mind, keeping home field advantage in our lap is a neccesity.

I didn’t expect us to sweep the Indians with nothing to play for, but I guess it goes to show you how well you can do if you’re loose and the other team is tight. In the process, we knocked the Tribe out of the playoffs. Had the Indians won the wildcard, we would have faced the Yankees, and I honestly don’t know which would be worse.

Curt Schilling pitched today, so he probably won’t be ready to go until at least Friday. By then, I’m hoping we’ll be up 2-0.