The Pecan Park Eagle

For replay coverage of earlier Series games, start with The Pecan Park Eagle column of Friday, July 8, 2011. 

HOUSTON 7 - CHICAGO 0. HOUSTON LEADS SERIES, 3-0.,

CLEMENS NO-HITS SOX; CHICAGO NOW SCORELESS IN 37 INNINGS.

In the first World Series Game ever played at Minute Maid Park, Roger Clemens walked three men to load the bases in the top of the 1st with one out before escaping harm with a strike out of Jerome Dye and a final out rescue from right fielder Jason Lane on a deep drive fly out by Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski that was caught at the wall. Clemens later walked Paul Konerko in the top of the 3rd with one out and pinch hitter Geoff Blum in the top of the 8th with one out, but those slips were it for the night. That was it.

Coasting behind a 7-0 Astros lead through six innings, Roger Clemens completed the second no-hitter in World Series history in a masterful dominance of the Chicago White Sox at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The joint was rocking as the Clemens masterpiece extended the Houston 2005 World Series lead to 3-0 in games won – and saddled the Pale Hose with their 37th consecutive scoreless inning in 2005 World Series play.

Until this year, 2005, the White Sox have not played in a World Series since 1919 – and most would argue that they weren’t playing then. They did finish it out back then in Game Eight by going scoreless in their final inning at bat. That goose-egg stanza, plus the 37 blankeroos they’ve added through Game Three of this year, has helped the White Sox to a World series consecutive scoreless inning streak of 38 fruitless frames.

The no-hitter by Clemens was his first, and only the second in World Series history. Who threw the first one, a total game perfecto? …. Let’s not always see the same hands. If you really need to know, either look it up – or write me.

The Astros drew their first blood off Sox starter Jon Garland by way of back-to-back doubles to right center and the then the right field line by Lance Berkman and Morgan Ensberg. The ‘Stros scored next on a one-hot solo hot to right field off the bat of Mike Lamb to make it Houston 2 – Chicago 0. Garland still held back the Astros pretty tight until the bottom of the 7th – when all hell broke loose.

After Adam Everett and Brad Ausmus led off with hard singles to left and right to place runners at 1st and 2nd, pitcher Roger Clemens laced an opposite field single to right, scoring Everett and sending Ausmus to 3rd.  Garland then got Willie Taveras on a 6-3 ground out that kept Ausmus on 3rd, but moved Clemens to 2nd. Craig Biggio then plated Ausmus with a sacrifice fly out to deep left to up the ante to Houston by 4-0. Clemens held at 2nd on the play, but soon moved to 3rd on a seeing eye single between 2nd and 1st by Berkman that was too swift and shallow to score the Astros pitcher. Garland then walked Ensberg to load the bases.

The 4-0 deficit and the bases loaded situation prompted a mound visit from Sox mentor Guillen, but the Wizard of Ozzie elected to stand by his man. Two pitches later, Jason Lane whacked a chalk-dusting double down the right field line to score all and extend the Houston lead to a light-out 7-0. Orlando Hernandez came in to retire the side on a harmless Mike lamb fly ball to right, but it was another case of the cliché closing of the barn door after the horses had already made their gallop-away, Houston led 7-0 and there was no turning back.

Clemens picked up four more strikeouts in the 8th and 9th to make it 9 K’s on the night, but the real story was the no-no pitching performance and the complete inability of the Chicago White Sox to score at all.

In the middle of an almost premature pandemonium in the Astros clubhouse, a well-meaning reporter mentioned to manager Phil Garner of the other importance to todays home win. “Houston now stands only a game away from their first World Series victory of all time, Mr. Garner,” said the reporter. “Do you have any thoughts on tomorrow’s game?”

“Only that we have to play it, and win it, for any of this other stuff to matter!” Garner barked in his spew of conventional baseball wisdom.

Rogers Clemens (1-0), of course, was the Game Three winning pitcher and Jon Garland (o-1) took the loss.

Garner plans to stay with his three-man rotation. Roy Oswalt (1-0) will take the mound on short rest from Game One, while a totally fresh Freddie Garcia (o-0) makes his first start for the Chicago White Sox.

“The hole we’ve dug for ourselves is like any other,” said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. “We dug it one spade-full at a time and we’ll get out of it the same way.”

The White Sox manager failed to explain how continuing to dig gets you out of a hole that you’ve dug for yourself. And nobody dared ask Ozzie for further clarification.

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