The Pecan Park Eagle

Early Grand Slam By DH Carl Everett Paces White Sox to 5-2 Win and 3-3 Tie with Astros in 2005 World Series.

GAME 6: CHICAGO 5 - HOUSTON 2. SERIES TIED, 3-3.

TWO-RUN BLAST BY BAGWELL IN 5TH PLATES ONLY ASTROS RUNS.

The Houston Astros were so close back in Game 4 – only two outs away from a sweep at home of the Chicago White Sox for their first World Series championship in the city’s history. Then it all fell apart on a 9th inning grand slam by Tadahito Iguchi off closer Brad Lidge and good guys lost to the mean old south siders from Chicago by a score of 7-6. Then the Sox took a 3-1 win at Houston in Game 5 that sent the Series back to Chicago for today’s equivalently rousing and disappointing 5-2 win by the White Sox – and a game that now levels the Series at three wins for each club.

One more time the difference was a Chicago grand salami – this time by DH Carl Everett in the bottom of the 3rd.

The Sox took the lead off Astros starter Brandon Backe in the 1st on a single to right by Paul Konerko after Tadahito Taguchi had lined a one-out triple to the same side. Chicago 1 – Houston o.

Brandon Backe made the start after the three-starter rotation of Oswalt, Pettitte, and Clemens ran out of freshness and vigor for a Game 6 start.  On the other side,  Jon Garland of Chicago came to his home park tonight. armed and ready. Aside from one blip, Garland shut down the Astros on six hits, four of which were scattered harmlessly. Accidental starter Backe, on the other hand, failed to survive a no-out, bases loaded jam in the bottom of the 3rd.

Backe exited in the 3rd after surrendering a single to Iguchi, a walk to Konerko, and another bases-filling single to Crede,

Enter Dan Wheeler, but he wasn’t the dragon that Houston needed him to be.

The very first man to face Wheeler, old rough and tumble DH man Carl Everett, apparently decided that rude greetings were in order. Everett jumped on the first pitch Wheeler offered and launched it on a high, fast exiting, but majestic arch ride over the left field wall. That was it for the day from the White Sox, but CHICAGO 5 – HOUSTON 0 would prove big enough a lead to stand up against the Astros’ lone later assault.

Of the six hits that Garland gave up on the day, only two hurt him, and both of these came in the top of the 5th. After Jason Lane grounded out to 3rd, Mike Lamb popped an opposite field single to left, followed the bad-armed Jeff Bagwell, who was limited to DH?PH duty only in this Series. Bagwell caught a low-grade fastball over the lower outside wide zone of the strike zone on a 3-1 pitch and drove it deep over the wall in left center. Chicago 5- Houston 2 would also hold up over time as the final score, with Garland (1-1) going all the way for the win.Brandon Backe (0-1) took the loss, with Wheeler getting no serious rules assignment bad grade for his role in the big slam he gave up to Carl Everett. Astacio and Gallo worked the last 2 plus innings for Houston, allowing no further harm.

Well, now the Series comes down to one big Game 7 encounter. Will it be the club that waltzed through a field of Chicago goose eggs in the first three games to prevail? Or will be the cliffhanger kids from Chicago and their bag of magic grand slams that soon stands alone? The answer may come on the heels of which club produces a starter fresh enough to give it his best in the big finale.

The White Sox have learned that the incredible marathon performance of Jose Contreras has rendered him unavailable for further starts due to an extremely fatigued and sore arm. The Astros will place their final hope in the strong right arm of Roger Clemens (1-0), who rode his power stuff to a no-hit win for Houston in Game 3. The White Sox will  hand the ball to Freddie Garcia (0-0) in the faith that magic and momentum are both on their side this time.

“We’ll see what happens,” said Astros manager Phil Garner.

“You right, Mr. Garner,” echoed White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen with a mischievous smile. “Whole world now see what happens.”

Tags: 2005 World Series Replay

This entry was posted on July 13, 2011 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.