…and by that, I don’t mean he failed to reach a ground ball 10 feet to his left.
More on this finale later tonight. For now, Juan Uribe’s running catch of Chris Burke’s 9th inning foul ball stands as the defensive play of the series. And what the heck is Don Nelson doing behind the Houston dugout? (He’s got every right to be there, mind you, it’s just a little disconcerting.)
After the Astros managed to go their final 15 innings without scoring a run (and hitless in their final 29 at bats), I’d really like to hear from everyone who still thinks they didn’t need Carlos Beltran.
Backe and Garcia (above, right) were each fantastic. Losing pitcher Brad Lidge, given no margin for error made exactly two mistakes — the sinker that wasn’t to Willie Harris, and allowing a dribbler through the infield to eventual MVP Jermaine Dye. It would really be shame to continue hearing how Lidge has crumbled — under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have even been out there in such a situation.
Fox’s failure to turn the microphone over to Don Cooper the second this one ended is their loss. Taking nothing away from Ozzie, Chicago’s pitching coach is a riot.
I’m gonna let Tivo weave it’s pause-worthy magic while running an errand — I sincerely hope this tremendous victory brings great joy to our White Sox supporting friends, as well as providing Carl Everett with the national TV platform he’s long deserved to expouse his unique theories on, well, everything.
Addendum : XM’s Home Plate Channel is once again, right on top of the story. When Paul Konerko squeezed Uribe’s assist to clinch the first White Sox championship in 88 years, who amongst us didn’t wonder “How must this feel compared to what Rob Dibble went through when the Reds swept the A’s in 1990?”
Really, any ham and egg media outlet can resort to the most obvious postgame angles — interviewing Guillen, Dye, Jenks, Konerko, Phil Garner, Jeff Bagwell’s ex-wife, etc. But it take real visionaries to allow Dibs to wax nostalgic about the Reds visiting McDonalds when Marge Schott was too cheap to throw a party. If only Kevin Kennedy hadn’t been occupied with his Fox TV duties, he could’ve compared Guillen’s achievement with what it was like to manage in a Triple-A All-Star Game.
Comcast’s postgame coverage featured a tearful embrace between Cliff Politte and Journey’s Steve Perry. I realize that Styx is guilty of some terrible crimes against music, but this is a sad affront by any reasonable measure.
i can’t tell you if it will bring great joy to the city but it is bringing increased random gunfire to the ukrainian village.
Gunfire — that’s because when a Sox fan (me) said “go sox (white)” on this list, you told him (me) to eat “hot shit.” Keep your head down, Kevin, they’re too drunk to hit you if you hide.
And JEERS to CSTB for bumping the World Series winning White Sox from its top story for a euro-soccer song! Two hours later and the Sox are already second class citizens.
Ben
must be a bitter time to be a cubs fan indeed. so much i guess that now you’re a sox fan?
not too many people mentioned Cotts in the postgame TV coverage, he pitched incredibly gutsy in some tricky places, game one particularly.
So, with an 11-1 postseason record, can we please stop talking about gift calls from the umps? GO SOX.
as good as the starting pitching was for the sox, all year, the middle relief was equally good. politte and cotts were great. marte was the problem child, and he was actually ok most of the year.
and they went through three closers without missing a beat
what a cool team
indeed, I remember a fair amount of howling on Chicago yack radio during the season’s first week about Ozzie’s handling of the closer role — way before Jenks had been called up, of course.
Chicago’s pitching was tremendous throughout the postseason. Though Houston will try to take some solace in how close all 4 games were, they might also mull over how unlikely their run was given their limitations offensively. Would Carlos Beltran (or…hate to say it…Jeff Kent) have fared any better with runners on base? We’ll never know, but they couldn’t possibly have done worse.
Jesper: It’s always a bitter time to be a Cubs fan.
Since I agree with everything Ozzie says about Wrigley and the Cubs, it’s hard to hate him or the Sox.
Ben
I can’t take Guillen seriously enough, be it through some unconscious racism or the fact that he seems like an actual crazy person, but he sure managed his team brilliantly this year — consider that his closer at the start of the season finished the year as the only guy challenging Danny Graves for the bottom rung on the Mets’ bullpen. And with the exception of Carl Everett — who I like because he was an entertaining Met and shares my views on evolution/dinosaurs/the gay people — they’re a pretty likable bunch, too. And Cotts could be a B.J. Ryan type in a little while: a setup guy who’s so good he becomes a closer more or less by accident.
Courageous showing by Roger Clemens, though. Heart of a champion, frosted tips of a NASCAR dandy.
I really wish I’d taped the comcast stuff with Steve Perry. Younger (not much) studio guy says that he saw Journey at the Allstate Arena in 1982 (“my first concert”). Older fuck grumbles something about “players are often superstitious when it comes to playing certain songs” and sort of implies that Steve Perry should be more flattered at being in the prescence of the World Champs than vice versa.
If only the Astros had mounted an improbable comeback, a similar scene could’ve been played out between Milo Hamilton and Paul Wall.
Thanks for the JY/Styx interview in USA Today link, CSTB. It must really suck to be asked “Where’s Dennis DeYoung?” all the time.
I watched every game, yet I managed to miss Liz Phair’s performance!
Tim,
if I could get over it, I’m sure JY will, too.
I’m sure Ted Nugent gets sick of being asked “where’s Tommy Shaw?”. He must get that, what, at least twice a year.
I watched every game, yet I managed to miss Liz Phair’s performance!
that’s not quite as good as hitting powerball, but it’s close.
you think guillen was making a political statement everytime he mentioned venezuela?