Coda

What do we root for? Why do we feel good when the team we love wins? It's not that the players are from Chicago. I don't personally know the players or the front office guys. I don't do anything that directly influences the team, although I guess the money I pay for tickets and merchandise does something. What connection do I have?

I love baseball because my father loves baseball, taught me the game, taught me what to watch. Aside from my family, the Sox have been the one constant since I've moved here. My following of the White Sox has been longer than any friendship I've had.

The funny thing is that I could have moved away from here for college, but I chose to stay near Chicago, because I was tired of moving around so much, and wanted some continuity. As silly as it may be, rooting for my baseball team is part of that. I email and phone my brother, now in Rome, and we've talked about the Sox constantly during this playoff run. I made sure we caught games when he came back to visit. Whatever "home" might be, in all of its connotations of warmth and comfort and ease, the White Sox is part of that for me and for my brother.
Although we strive to be the best in the small ways we can, it's so very rare and difficult to ever be the best. So we share the vicarious joy of our baseball team actually proving themselves to be so, because it shows, in a small way, that it can actually happen, that not everything is destined for endless cycles of failure or ruin.


It's also vindication for not being stupid, in a way. It's the reply to every time I've heard "why are you a *White Sox* fan?" ever since I started following this team when I moved back here as a sophomore in high school. It's for all the endless "who's better: Cubs or Sox?" arguments with friends, which always consisted of more Cubs fans than Sox fans in the north suburbs. It's a little payback for the agony of watching the Twins and the Indians always be just a little bit better (sometimes a whole crapload better) than the Sox every year.


I feel so good for Frank Thomas. He's the best player in the history of a franchise that is over a hundred years old, and has done everything there is to do: MVPs, All-Star Games, been in the playoffs, been the hero, will probably go into the Hall of Fame. But he never had the ring, never could get his proper due because he'd never won a championship. People blamed him because his personal greatness never lifted his teams high enough. And he didn't even play this year, except for 105 ridiculous at-bats (he homered 12 times), couldn't get into the action. But he was here, he stayed because he wanted to win one in Chicago, although he could have opted out of his contract and played somewhere else (although I won't get into the fact that no other team would pay him as much either). And now... vindication, for a guy that never should have needed it in the first place, because he was that damn good.

When standing at the edge, you don't say anything

Like the monkey that hits random letters on the keyboard and ends up typing the Gettysburg Address, Ozzie has concocted an alchemy that has turned Houston strength into weakness, and Sox weakness into strength. To wit:

No bench pop - Ozzie double switches Blum, who hit .143 in September, for the Gooch in the 14th inning, setting off creative and unique profanity from me and fellow Blum-hater ToddH. How do you put Blum in for the steadiest player outside of Konerko? And if you're going to double-switch, why insert Blum instead of Ozuna, who's a better glove and a offensive threat with his speed? Whatever, Blum delivers a 2-0 fastball into right field and a stomach punch to the Astros fans.

The return of Everyday Damaso Marte - Ozzie had even gotten to the point where he doesn't use Marte at home because the fans boo when he starts to warm up. For the second night in a row the bullpen gave up the lead, with Ozzie burning through every arm until only Marte was left. And the undeiably worst reliever on the staff slams the door for one and two-thirds by re-finding mid-90s cheese and a humpback slider.

Clemens and Oswalt will both finish in the top 5 in Cy Young Voting, and Lidge is the best closer in the National League, but all three got knocked about by the vaunted(?) Sox offense, which displayed a patience and a knack for fouling off pitches that extended pitch counts and crumbled away at morale.

Freddy to close it out?!

the power of podsednik, los dos

No matter the outcome of this World Series, this Sox team has burned itself into the cultural memory of White Sox fans forever. In 2075, grandparents will still remember and talk about the starting rotation and the lineup for the 2005 White Sox. Fantastic sports weekend by the way, with NU pirate-raiding Michigan State, and the Bears "beating" the Ravens.

Game-Changing Break (TM) - Dye's HBP, loads the bases, Paulie's spanks one into the misty night. The new Sox drinking game is taking a swill every time an ump blows a call and the Sox cash in. The other one involves when AJ pisses someone off (like calling time and stepping out of the box when Clemens was in his windup). Double bonus if AJ's the one that drives in the run. Speaking of which, I think Clemens is done for the series. That's three series in a row that the Sox have missed the other team's top starter (altho, I'd probably put Oswalt ahead of Clemens).

Shut UP - Bubba, don't tell the world, including Jeff Bagwell and the Astros, that you were trying to throw high heat to Bagwell at the end of Game 1 because that's what the scouting report said to do at 0-2. Game 2, Bagwell faces Jenks in the 9th, singles. The man's not a Hall of Famer because he's an idiot.

Smartball (TM) - Been noticing that if Ozzie has a runner on first with Podsednik at bat with two outs, he generally sends the runner, figuring that if the runner gets thrown out, Pods still leads off the next inning; if not, a runner moves into scoring position. Thus Uribe stealing in the 2nd inning against Pettitte, the best pickoff pitcher in the game. Smartball (TM) is also calculated risk-taking like that, and also like Podsednik, a slap hitter all year, looking to pull the fastball from Lidge when he got the count to 2-1.

The menta' game - Pujols beats Lidge on a bad slider, Pods beats him on a fastball. I didn't think he'd be fazed, but maybe he's still shaken up?

Crede - Local media were making a big deal of Joe's defense, comparing him to immortals like Brooks Robinson or Graig Nettles. He reminds me more of Scott Brosius from the championship Yankees of recent vintage, right down to the quiet demeanor, steady glove, and late-inning/bottom-of-the-lineup thunder.

Oswalt - is going to be flat-out untouchable. He's going to give up 1 run, if any. I like Garland's sinkerball stuff to keep the Astros out of the Crawford Boxes, but I don't see him shutting them out, not with how Berkman is swinging the bat.

solving the Astro puzzle

Complete game mania - I'll leave it to the media idiots to talk about whether the Sox are some sort of pioneers for throwing complete games. They're pretty unlikely to throw any complete games in this series, due to Houston's homer-friendly ballpark and the Astros' more patient approach at the plate.

Starting Pitching - The starters are pretty evenly matched. Durty thinks the Houston 3 are better than the Sox 4, which may be true, but it's not like Houston is going to be awarded 1.5 wins if Clemens or Oswalt dominate their starts. It's still one win. They also have to probably pitch Backe against Garcia or Garland, which favors the Sox. Clemens looks the most road weary and vulnerable out of the big three, and he hasn't been his normal bulletproof self in the playoffs or in his starts in September. Freddy Garcia, who tends to run up high pitch counts and gives up flyball outs, will be the most vulnerable Sox starter at Minute Maid.

Bullpen - I would expect that Ozzie would be a little more conservative and go to the 'pen at the first sign of trouble in the late innings, cuz it's the fricking WORLD SERIES. Houston's pen has been excellent, with the exception of Lidge's spectacular flat slider that Pujols deposited into the Plexiglas. Lidge is still the best reliever on either roster. The Sox counter with depth, but there's no way to tell how the long layoff will affect them. Neither lineup poses an obvious late inning pitching matchup; altho Ozzie may bring in Cotts to turn Berkman around to hit from the right, maybe Politte to face Ensberg. What can Bubba Jenks do against the Stros?

Hitting/Bench - Ozzie hasn't had to make any lineup moves, mostly because the Sox starting lineup is their best offensively AND defensively. Phil Garner has substituted defense for offense in the late innings, taking Mike Lamb out, putting Berkman on 1b, switching Chris Burke to LF and inserting Willy Taveras in CF. He's basically exchanging speed and defense (Taveras) for some more pop (Lamb), which he will probably stick with, although I think Taveras has a greater chance than Lamb of making something happen against a stingy Sox staff.

I'm guessing Garner goes with Orlando Palmeiro as DH, saving Jeff Bagwell for late inning pinch hitting. I think the Sox suffer less than most AL teams when they lose the DH, cuz Carl Everett doesn't really strike fear into anybody. In fact, taking Everett out makes the lineup better suited for Smallball (TM). Houston will definitely pitch around Konerko, which the Angels inexplicably failed to do, so it's up to Crede or Dye or Rowand or Pierzynski to pick up the slack. Houston's 1-5 is better, especially with Berkman and Ensberg, but the Sox are a little more dangerous throughout.

Luck of the Polish - What's it going to be? What kind of voodoo will AJ cook up this time? Notify the ump that Craig Biggio has too much pine tar on his helmet? Accuse Roger Clemens of using sandpaper? Cut down the pole in Tal's Hill?

I'm scared because the Sox have caught every break in crucial moments to swing the momentum back around their way. The umpiring crew from the ALCS looked especially snakebitten, missing three calls in Game 5. How good are the Sox, really, without the breaks going their way? The Astros look bulletproof to bad breaks, dealing with the Pujols drama in workmanlike fashion by calmly closing out Game 6.

I think homefield advantage will be pretty big. Cold weather up in Chi-town favors the pitchers, while the crazy dimensions in Houston favors the Astros. I think games in Chicago will be low-scoring, while games in Houston could get a little crazy. Houston is definitely the best team they've faced so far, with far less flaws than either the Red Sox or the Angels. Six or seven games sounds likely.

And now, a word from the rest of my life...

Breaking up the string of Sox posts. Hopefully, the Sox win streak will not be similarly broken. Anyway. Onward.

Took in Serenity and and A History of Violence in the past few weeks. Serenity was an engaging space adventure movie, and I particularly liked the dialogue, although some of it seemed to be mumbled over the by the actors, as if their tongues were in the way of the words. But it was entertaining without megabudget effects or name actors.

A History of Violence was a little weirder. I missed the punchline. It was too straightforward, and there were parts that confused me, not because the plot was too complicated, but because I didn't understand why the event happened. What's your reaction if a purple duck walked through your living room? Yah. Pretty much the same thing.

Checked out the New Pornographers at Metro. Extremely entertaining and a full order buffet for the ears, with 8 members and 7 instruments. I don't know any of the words but I find myself singing along anyway. Neko Case can belt it out, too.

However, the find of the night was Newest Pornographer and Immaculate Machine keyboardist Kathryn Calder, who plays keyboard and shakes a tambourine with a fetching, freespirited aplomb that had Max and I dreaming of stiffer backbones and slimmer paunches.

I can finally put my socks on in a normal amount of time. It's still no fun to have somebody tell you that you can't play sports anymore, though. There's always darts and bingo, I guess.

Bring on Houston.

This one's for Shoeless

The damage: Sox pitching staff in the ALCS?

Angels' hitting line: .175 avg, .196 OBA, .266 SLG

So much White Sox love on ESPN, Fox, and the newspapers. The best part about this is: now *everybody* knows what I know, like they're in on the secret joy of how solid this team is. Not just the ace-heavy pitching staff, or how clutch Konerko is, or how crazy Ozzie is, but...

• What a cold-blooded assassin Joe Crede is.
• How amazing Contreras's turnaround is.
• How steady the Gooch is.
• What a pain in the ass A.J. is.
• How huge Juan's swing is.
• That CarlEverett doesn't believe in dinosaurs.
• How good Garland CAN be.
• How airtight the D is.

Now that everyone knows, everyone can join in the party and share the joy. Not that there's no fear. I'm scared and all-too-aware that it can all end as quick as you can say Oswalt, Clemens, Pujols, Carpenter, Killer Bees. But now is for taking a breath, the satisfying pat on the back for a job accomplished, with the knowledge that another one awaits.

Who's not ready? Let's go get the next one.

Call 911

... cuz A.J. Pierzynski just carjacked the Angels.

• This postseason has already birthed the Chris Burke game, the Bill Buckner Part Dos, and now the Phantom Dropped Strike. The most ridiculous part of this is that umpire supervisor Rich Reiker claimed they that through some "technology" in a "truck," they came to the conclusion that the ball might still have been moving or trapped. Every replay I saw showed pretty conclusively that Paul caught it, whatever mysterious alien technology the umpires' truck might have. The only hesitation was on umpire Doug Eddings' part. And the worst part for the Angels is that this type of break can turn the momentum around in a playoff series.
• Despite the histrionics, the Angels bullpen is bulletproof. Any runs the Sox get will have to be off of the Angels's weakened starting rotation. Speaking of runs, my buddy ToddH summed up the Sox offense best: "What are those wooden sticks for? Geez." Any runs that the Sox get will be via the home run; they can't string hits together to save Christmas.
• For those of you keeping score at home, A.J. is now even-steven for botching a hit-and-run and a pitchout to salt away Game 1. Which Chris Myers mentioned on the postgame interview with AJ, leading to the best face on live TV since Mike Meyers was on with Kanye.
• Hey Joey Cora, thanks for sending Aaron Rowand home after he'd run around all of the bases and got tagged out. I get the sinking feeling that Ozzie is in a pissing match with Mike Scioscia to see who can smallball better, leading him to try and take bases that aren't there. Hopefully the fluky win snaps him out of it. And why is the Sox version of smallball bunts, and the Angels version is hit-and-runs? Like in the first inning, when Podsednik reached on the error and Iguchi was up. We're giving away outs because Ozzie thinks he's only going to score 1 or 2 runs? The way the Angels bullpen is going, the Sox need to score as many as they can early, and Byrd and Washburn were ripe for the picking in the first two games, except Sox hitters hacked at too many first pitches and refused to work counts and let the fatigue set in. Instead, that opportunity is gone and the Sox face their best starter (Lackey) at their stadium.
• Contreras and Buehrle were lights-out. Too bad the Sox offense made Paul Byrd and Jarrod Washburn look just as good.

ALCS

7 Things about Angels vs. White Sox

1. Lots of pressure on the White Sox for Game 1: Angels are coming off the late night flight, a draining five game series, and the starters battered (Colon is out, Washburn back in for Game 2). White Sox are rested, have their hottest pitcher going, and playing at home. They MUST take Game 1, because they're not going to have this big of an advantage again. Paul Byrd has been hittable all year, altho very effective against righties, and the Sox should jump on him early before the Angels wake up from the champagne.
2. Marte vs. McCarthy: Marte stinks. Truth. However, he's another lefty reliever who can get ready and quickly, whereas McCarthy is a starter who is unused to getting ready quickly. Add to it that he's a 22 yr old rookie who might have to come in the middle of a jam, and that might not be fair to McCarthy. The saving grace for Marte is that Al Leiter proved that a crappy lefty can still get Darin Erstad (.232, .614 OPS vs. lefties) and Steve Finley out. Strangely enough, Finley has better splits against LH pitchers than he does righties.
3. Small balls and Big balls: People like to talk about Ozzie's smallball tendencies, but the White Sox still hit 200 HRs this year. The only guys who actually run and take an extra base on this team are Podsednik, Iguchi and Rowand. Aside from that, they can only bunt to move baserunners. The Angels play a truer version of small, with usually 7 of the 9 hitters being able to run and take extra bases on aggressive hit-and-run counts.
4. Lineup roulette: The Angels have a much more hacktastic lineup, with Chone Figgins leading the team with 64 walks. Knowing their lack of on-base prowess, they early in counts to get the runners moving to take advantage of their team speed (6 guys with 10+ steals) and minimize the lineup sinkholes like Erstad and Finley create. A White Sox pitching staff that is around the plate often and tries to get ahead with first pitch strikes might be playing right into the Angels' hitting approach. The focus should be on Figgins and Anderson, since I don't think anybody can really stop Vlad the Impaler.
5. Garland: Ozzie has him starting Game 3 in Anaheim. I'd rather see him pitch Game 2 at home, then have Buehrle and Garcia on the road (both of them have better road records). Having Garland pitching in his SoCal stomping grounds might put additional pressure in a crucial swing game like Game 3, Thunderstix and all.
6. Same old, same old: Get ahead early, because the Angels bullpen buzzsaw of Shields, Escobar and K-Rod has been untouchable. Unlike the Sox, the Angels have Disney comeback pixie dust. Also, I am unsure whether the Sufjan tshirt magic works if I'm watching the game at my house. Hmmm. Jill says keep it close just in case.
7. Media hex: ESPN has gotten on board the Sox bandwagon, which makes me nervous. I think the series goes 6 or 7.

ALDS

"Winning makes the beer taste better." -- Ozzie Guillen

All i want is a free ride

Last weekend, went to go hear Christopher West (who sorta looks like Dan Patrick) speak on the Theology of the Body, developed by the late Pope John Paul II. Among other things, the "culture of life" that he spoke of so often was introduced in this set of writings, taken from a series of 129 talks he gave at the beginning of his pontificate. Very interesting stuff, covering human sexuality, gender, and marriage. I'm still digesting all of it, so if you run into me in the next few months I'll be a little more spacy-eyed than usual. One of the things that I like the very most about it is that it's written with the potential of redeemed humanity in mind.

"What are the 'concrete possibilities of man?' And of which man are we speaking? Of man dominated by lust or of man redeemed by Christ? This is what is at stake: the reality of Christ's redemption. Christ has redeemed us! This means he has given us the possibility of realizing the entire truth of our being; he has set our freedom free from the domination of sin. And if redeemed man still sins, this is not due to an imperfection of Christ's redemptive act, but to man's will not to avail himself of the grace which flows from that act. God's command is of course proportioned to man's capabilities; but to the capabilities of the man to whom the Holy Spirit has been given."
--John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor

Bought the newest from Wolf Parade, which should keep me busy. The easiest comparison to make of Wolf Parade would be the Arcade Fire or even Modest Mouse. It's eerie, ghostly music, but the eeriness doesn't make the music feel cold or far away; it feels incredibly close, actually, despite all the weird synthesized noises. Check them out here.

Picked up tickets for Broken Social Scene at Metro and walked to the el to head down to Game 2. My route took me right past Wrigley. They were doing some work on the pavement on Waveland and on Sheffield, the sidewalks closed on both streets. I thought, hmm, so quiet in this neighborhood.

the gooch

7 things about the first two games:

1. 1. Jenks is a man-mountain. Give the big kid a cookie and roll him out. He became more effective in his two innings in Game 2 once he decided to go with the 98 MPH heat, crucial when Graffanino reached scoring position down one in the 9th. Cotts and Hermanson were loose in case of any problems. Ozzie does not use Jenks as a platoon specialist, AKA a righty to face righties only. I was just hoping, please, please let's finish this thing before Ortiz comes up.
2. I mean, I couldn't have been the only person thinking about Bill Buckner right when the ball slipped past Tony Graffanino, right? And then A-Rod makes a costly error in the NYY/LAA nightcap, leading to the Angels' big inning. Lucky is always better than good. Thank goodness, too, because I think the Red Sox fans were really getting worried because they had so little to complain about.
3. Playoff baseball means all of your baseball friends texting you every other inning asking for the score. It also means that as you leave after a win, everyone spontaneously cheers, and everyone understands, and perfect strangers high-five, and it feels like 40,000 people just had a birthday.
4. On the pitch before the go-ahead 3-day parkhopper, Iguchi took a questionable breaking ball that looked low and inside. Wells tried to double him up with another curve, except this one hung over the zone, and the Gooch golfed it into left, with the most intense look I've seen on him all year. He was pissed about that strike call.
5. Game 1: homer hanky type towels (a la the '91 Twins). Game 2: Thunder stix (via the '02 Angels). Can we not come up with our own thing? We've only had 6 years since our last playoff appearance to think about this. I thought it'd be cool if they actually gave one knee length sock instead of a towel. Some sort of plastic noisemaking toy (kinda like a whistle, but not as high pitched) would be great.
6. Buehrle pitched like the .500 guy he's been since the All-Star break in the first couple of innings, but bore down after the 3rd, giving up only 2 baserunners from innings 4-7. He had early command problems; his strikes were getting too much of the plate and Boston hitters were smoking line drives everywhere. He seemed to focus as the game wore on and got them to roll over changeups for easy groundballs. Speaking of which, the Sox defense has been airtight. Good defense is not making highlight reel plays but making all the ones you're supposed to, not giving away outs, and killing the momentum. Jose Valentin, we never knew ya.
7. Game 3: Freddy vs. Wakefield in a day game at Fenway. Garcia's pattern has been to pitch better on the road and in day games, and both of those things are in place. He did not pitch against Boston this year. I'm hearing nonsense about Boston fans wanting the Bloody Sock of Turin to pitch Game 3 instead of Wakefield. That's idiocy; Wakefield's been Boston's best pitcher. I think Podsednik has a great chance to let slip the dogs of war on Wakefield's 62 MPH knuckler.

ALCS tickets go on sale tomorrow at noon! I'm gonna try and get two for at least game 1 and game 6/7.

ten pounds of crap for a five pound bag

10 things going into Game 2:

1. After putting up two touchdowns on the board, the Sox might be prime for a letdown and be content with a split, and a split could lead to Boston closing the series out at Fenway, where they play lights out.
2. Just in case anybody forgot, Boston was down 3-0 to the Yankees in last year's ALCS. You know the rest. I don't think being down 1-0 is going to faze them.
3. Joe Crede might only hit two-fitty, but the heads up play to tag out Millar at third on a bad throw from Iguchi sucked the momentum away from Boston in the only inning they scratched up runs against Contreras' A-game. Run prevention is just as clutch as run production.
4. SCOTT-EE, SCOTT-EE, SCOTT-EE - the reception in the left field bleachers after Podsednik trotted out to his position after cranking his first homer of the season, with accompanying kowtowing. Awesome stuff.
5. I hope Ozzie keeping El Duque on the roster for this round, basically to caddy for Jose Contreras, won't bite us in the butt, since El Duque is not going to pitch any meaningful innings. But the caddying, along with the early lead, apparently worked.
6. I like that we made Boston use 3 relievers.
7. I don't think we'll be as successful against Wells tomorrow in the running game, since lefties tend to shut down steals. But he is hittable. Having an early lead made all the difference, and chances are good for doing it again. Wells doesn't walk anybody and is always around the plate, which would seem to matchup well with the Sox's aggressive hitting tendencies. Unfortunately, Buehrle's been the same way to Boston.
8. I LOVE that Ozzie batted Dye third in front of Konerko. He must be reading this blog. Cuz why wouldn't you.
9. Good to see Cotts get the call to face only Nixon in the 8th. He'll still be available tomorrow to face Ortiz, Damon or Nixon, if needed.
10. Contreras looked completely in control, baffling lefties with the splitter (or what looked like the splitter, judging from the radar gun) and righties with a flatter, more sidearm delivery.

In other playoff news, San Diego is now toast, since Peavy is gone. Also, watching Garret Anderson do his best impression of Bernie Williams in the outfield is going to hurt them. The Angels are a pitching and defense team, and I'm surprised they would allow such a hobbled defender out in the field instead of DHing him.

I'm exhausted from watching the best game my team has every played. I can't wait to get my now-slightly-rank Sufjan shirt back on and watch it all over again. I mean, how much grilled food does it take to kill you?

welcome to october

... and it's welcome kinsman, playoff baseball.

How the White Sox can beat Boston:

• Score first - the Sox played their best ball when Podsednik's speed led to early runs, forcing the opposition to press against excellent pitching and usually airtight defense. Early leads also mean not having to come back, which the Sox have no great ability to do. I mean, Carl Everett's swing can't get any bigger, can it?
• Late inning bullpen matchups - particularly Cotts and Marte against David Ortiz, AKA the most dangerous hitter alive. I'm getting ulcers thinking about the shaky Marte against baseball's current version of Michael Jordan.
• Carl Everett - I hate to say this, but the Sox are going to need another bat to come alive, and it might have to be Everett, since Boston will most likely pitch around Konerko. This is assuming that Ozzie doesn't do something stupid like putting Aaron Rowand or Everett in the 3 hole, in which case Boston won't pitch around Konerko cuz he'll be batting with 2 outs and no one on base since Rowand/Everett will have grounded into a double play. No, I'm not bitter at all.
• Pitching and defense - you know. Those things you've been doing all year. No need to stop now

I'm too stupid to pick a winner, but I think the series goes all five games. I can't believe that missing their closer (Foulke) and having Schilling at less than 100% won't hurt them, but Ortiz and Ramirez scare me. Also, it doesn't take a lot of pitching to shut down the Sox offense. 0-0, 1-0, 2-1 scores in the bottom of the 7th might be a frequent occurrence.

Also, slightly annoyed by all the Yankees/Red Sox love. I feel like all the media outlets are talking about how classic another NYY/Bos ALCS would be. Screw you guys.

No matter what happens, I'm going to enjoy being there to sit and take in playoff baseball, with my hometown team actually participating. I'll be there with my lucky Sufjan shirt.