 | SPORTS | World Series Notebook Game 4 |
| HOME | PRICE GUIDE | BUSINESS | SPORTS | OPINION | SPECIALS | STORE | ARCHIVES | CONTACT |
|
Related Pages:
Page 1 - World Series Overview
Onsite Sports Links
NFL Schedule
NCAA Football Schedule
MLB Baseball Schedule
NHL Schedule
NBA Schedule
NASCAR Schedule
NCAA Basketball Schedule
|
World Series Notebook - Game 4 Killing Them Softly; White Sox end 88 year wait, win World Series with sweep of Astros Rick Gagliano | 10/27/05
Finally, in the fourth game of the World Series, the Astros and white Sox produced the kind of pitching duel that was expected all along. There was no Roger Clemens or Jose Contreras or Roy Oswalt. This one was between Freddie Garcia and Brandon Backe, and the two of them, a night after the longest game in Series history, cruised through the first six innings in just over two hours.
Both teams had scoring opportunities in those first six frames, though neither was able to cash in. Garcia allowed only 4 hits and 3 walks, Backe just 3 hits and no free passes.
By the seventh inning the tension on both sides was palpable - Houston struggling to just stay alive, the Sox trying to finish the sweep. In the top of the seventh, with two outs, Aaron Rowand singled and then made a critical mistake. When Joe Crede belted a shot off the right field wall, Rowand inexplicably hesitated between first and second, apparently forgetting for the moment that there were two down. He was held up at third as Crede cruised into second base. With two runners in scoring position and the game on the line, Backe worked out of the jam by striking out Juan Uribe.
Garcia, who worked out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth, came back in the seventh with another strong inning, getting Brad Ausmus and Adam Everett on fly balls to right and left, and Jeff Bagwell, who pinch hit for Backe, grounded meekly to second.
Putting everything on the line, Houston manager brought in closer Brad Lidge to start the 8th, but after getting two strikes on pinch hitter Willie Harris (hitting for Garcia), allowed a sharp single to left. Scott Podsednik bunted the potential go-ahead run to second with a well-executed sacrifice bunt. Carl Everett pinch hit for Iguchi, and moved Harris to third by grounding out to second.
Jermaine Dye slapped a grounder through the middle, Harris scored and Chicago's date with destiny suddenly was only six outs away.
Once again, as he had in each of the previous two games, manager Ozzie Guillen called on reliever Cliff Politte to start the 8th. With little room for error and the champagne chilling in the clubhouse, Politte got Craig Biggio to ground out, but then hit Willy Taveras on the hand. Then, pitching to Berkman, he bounced a pitch in front of the plate that catcher A. J. Pierzynski could not handle and Taveras cruised unmolested into second.
With first base open, Berkman was intentionally walked. Ensberg lifted a fly ball to Aaron Rowand in center for the second out. Taveras tagged, and stood at third base, longing for a chance to tie the game with home plate a mere ninety feet away.
Guillen brought Neal Cotts into the pressure cooker and the move paid off as pinch hitter Jose Vizcaino grounded out to short.
After an uneventful top of the ninth, Bobby Jenks was called on to finish the job, but the Astros were determined not to go quietly. Jason Lane led off with a bloop single which dropped in front of Rowand, and he went to second on Ausmus' sac bunt. Chris Burke, pinch hitting for Everett, lofted a high pop toward the third base stands. Shortstop Juan Uribe, running full speed for the ball, snagged it as he went into the stands for the second out.
Down to the final out, it was up to Orlando Palmiero to keep the Astros flickering hopes lit. But Jenks was on his game and with Biggio, fittingly, waiting for one last chance, standing in the on deck circle, got Palmiero on a ground out to short.
Finally, after 88 years of frustration, the White Sox were the World Champions. And they did it as the previous year's long-suffering Boston Red Sox did, with a convincing sweep of a National League team.
Somewhere, roaming an outfield in some cloudy heaven, Shoeless Joe Jackson is finally at peace.
Dye, the quiet slugger who played every inning of each game, was awarded the series MVP award. He led all regulars with a .438 average, had a homer and 3 RBI, including the only one in game 4, the clincher.
The White Sox won their last eight straight and tied the 1999 New York Yankees for the best post-season record, with an 11-1 record in the playoffs.
The Astros batted a cumulative .202 (29-143) and a flaccid .171 (13-76) in the last two games. They were shut out the last 15 innings, last scoring in the 8th inning of game 3.
The White Sox put together a team batting average of .277 (44-154).
The last time the World Series was swept back-to-back was in 1998 and 1999, when the Yankees swept the Padres and Braves, respectively. The Yankees turned the trick twice before, sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1927 and the St. Louis Cardinals in 1928; and again in 1938 and 1939, blanking the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds.
In 1989, the Oakland A's swept the San Francisco Giants, and then were swept by the Cincinnati Reds the following year.
The 2004 and 2005 sweeps by the Red Sox and White Sox mark the first time for back-to-back sweeps by different teams from the same league.
Over the past ten seasons, the American League has now won seven World Series, with the only National League wins belonging to relatively recent expansion teams. Florida won in 1997 and 2003; Arizona defeated the Yankees in seven games in the 2001 series.
|
|
