Typically, South Side Polish parades clear the street before proceeding, but Grand Marshal AJ Pierzynski would have none of it yesterday after Gordon Beckham’s walk-off single. The delirious receiver spearheaded a celebratory procession to second base that put the young infielder on his heels. In his moment the kid showed less resolve than the groom at the wedding I was attending, but to be fair, the betrothed did not have to contend with the vision of a hulking, armored Pole bearing down at full speed.
But enough about the bridesmaids. As tends to happen with the Crosstown tilts, Game 2, Electric Boogaloo was a wild affair of eight lead changes, questionable defense, and excitement aplenty. Mark Buehrle (5.2 IP 6H 5R 3BB 3K) kept a lid on the Cubs until Beckham’s throwing error in the 3rd put Andres Blacno in scoring position, followed by another bad throw by Alexei Ramirez that allowed Bradley to reach. A Buehrle balk in the 5th set up the tying run to come in on a Soriano sac fly.
But the bottom of the frame had Ryan Dempster (5IP 8H 5R 3BB 2K) heading for the showers after giving up a bomb to Scott Podsednik, a sigle to Ramirez, a walk to Thome, hitting Konerko and a 2-run single to AJ.
The North Siders came right back with their own 3-run inning in the 6th, ending Buehrle’s day with a walk and a single, promoting Ozzie to call upon DJ Carrasco, who promptly gave up a two-run double to Soriano, who scored on the subsequent single by Theriot.
To answer yet again, Dewayne Wise stretched out a triple when he sent an errant Aaron Heilman heater over Fukudome’s head, scoring on one of Podsednik’s 4-for-5 PAs and tying it back up. As I traveled to Hickory Hills in solid traffic on the Stevenson, I wondered if these extraordinary proceedings had mustered any excitement from Joe Buck. I glumly read the Bush ’04 bumper stcker in front of me, knowing I would never know.
One more run apeiece in the 8th and it was time to head to the banquet hall. So I missed Beckham’s single, I missed the celebration, and I missed the happy outcome of Bobby Jenks (W 2-2) second win. However, in his honor, I did eat an extra piece of chicken.
if young Mr. Beckham had been half as fast dodging Thome and Pierzynski as CSTB’s resident Cubs-fan-that-doesn’t-live-in-LA was in beating a hasty exit (I do believe we were speeding towards downtown before Becks’ game winner had landed) the local papers would be making fewer Schillinger/Beecher analogies.
OK, that wasn’t fair. For one thing, the very sporting Ms. Clayton did hang around a full 20 seconds after the game’s conclusion, and from our sec. 518 vantage point, we could see a rather crazed Billy Idol wannabe molesting the White Sox 3B of the future/present.
Also, we had ample reason to vacate what Liz charmingly calls “Sox Park”. These guys were headlining the Bottom Lounge last night, and I can assure you, they’ve never sounded better.