GAME 7: CHICAGO 2 - HOUSTON 0; SOX TAKE SERIES REPLAY, 4-3!

"SOMEWHERE, OVER THE RAINBOW, BLUEBIRDS FLY..."

“UN-BEE-FLUBBING-LIEVABLE!”

Fiction has superseded fact by the proverbial long shot as the Chicago White Sox rallied for the fourth game in a row to take The 2005 World Series Replay like the cruel-hearted actual baseball villains that we Houston fans have come to know them to be,

Once hanging from the cliff of an almost certain four game sweep loss to the Houston Astros, the Chicago WHite Sox used a 9th inning grand slam by Tadahito Iguchi off Brad Lidge to take a 7-6 win in Game 4 before adding two more tough-fight wins in Games 5 and 6 to reach the big stage that played out in Game 7 at US Cellular Field in Chicago tonight.

The Sox sent Freddie Garcia to the mound in this final game with all their hopes we might keep them close against Master Roger Clemens, the guy who tossed a no-hitter in Game 3 and then came into this oe storming the mound for more.

Clemens was great again tonight. If anything, he was better than he had been in his no-hit Game 3 gem. AT least through 7 and 1/3 innings he fared better. By the time Aron Rowand came to bat with one out in the bottom of the 8th, Clemens had posted 11 strikeouts in an overpowering  tour de force performance that seemed to be leading him and the Astros to their first World Series title and the greatest ever performance by any pitcher in any World Series.

Roger’s problems in the twilight of the game were quietly two: (1) Freddie Garcia of the Sox had not merely kept his close. He had kept them even in a scoreless tie through the top of the 8th. Garcia had allowed only six scattered singles, striking out 6 through 8; and (2) Clemon was tiring in subtle ways, losing a little of his speed and control over pitch location.

Juan Uribe: Game 7 Kill Joy.

What happened next struck with all the power and acceleration of a train wreck. In two consecutive softer, gone awry pitches, Roger “The Icon” Clemens yielded a sharp single to right by center field Aaron Rowand and then a parabolic homer to left by Sox shortstop Juan Uribe. All of a sudden, the no-hitter was gone, the Astros were down by two, and Houston had only one time at bat left to make amends or figuratively to die. Clemens then got Perez and Podsednik on harmless flies to right, but the damage had been done. CHICAGO 2 – HOUSTON 0 looked larger than anything still floating through the air as Houston World Series hope.

In the top of the 9th, a now recharged Freddie Garcia took the mound and quickly retired Lance Berkman on a line drive to Timo Perez in right. Perez  had been forced into action in Games 6 and 7 after starter Jerome Dye was lost to the Sox for the Series in Game 5 due to a beaning.

Garcia suddenly hit another level, He got both Jason Lane and Mike Lamb on hapless defensive strike three swings to up his final “K” total on the night to 8. Garcia (1-0) soon collapsed under the weight of all the running, laughing, joy-mauling White Sox teammates who descended upon him at the pile that now covered the pitching mound.

The Astros sat almost statue-like in their own dugout, too stunned to move, too hurt to cry.

Two late-in-the game pitches had lost the immortality of two consecutive no-hitters in a World Series, the game, and the World Series itself.

We won’t bother you this time with all the triviality of post-game quotes from the jubilant Chicago White Sox. They deserve their air time, but this is not their broadcast booth. As for manager Phil Garner and the Astros, their silence is their choice. There are no words to convey how a loss of this magnitude would “hurt so bad” in reality. The medicine we took in real-time back in 2005 was bad enough, but this defeat excruciated pain. A loss on this level of disappointment in reality would have taken Houston to a new level of doldrums and self doubt.

Statistically, the hitting in this Series was horrible. Houston batted .198 with 52 total hits and 4 homers. Astros pitchers posted a 1.90 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 71 innings. Mike Lamb led all players on both teams with a .250 batting average and 8 total hits.

The White Sox, who went scoreless over their first 42 innings, reaching the middle of Game 4, ended up hitting .140 with 17 runs, 34 hits, and 4 homers. Their team pitching ERA was 2.63 with 50 K’s in 72 innings pitched. Juan Uribe led “”The New Hitless Wonders” with a .217 mark over seven games.

We’ll go back to what passes for normal on The Pecan Park Eagle tomorrow. Thank you for indulging me on the week of time that this simulation replay consumed. All I can say in closing is that this replay series has been an exercise in painful redundancy, with one big difference.. Had this been the way things happened in reality back in 2005, the memory of our loss would have been infinitely more painful to bear, I think. To come this close – and then witness Brad Lidge become the hinge pin on a devastating collapse from the brink of a four-game sweep win – man alive – that would have been entirely too much art following life for my creaky old nervous system.

Now go in peace from this place. Have a nice day. And forget this ever happened. Because it never did.

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.”

Konerko HR IN 8th is Difference Maker in 3-1 Sox Win. Astros’ Lead in Games Drops to 3-2. World Series Heads Back to Chicago for Game 6 & 7, If Necessary.

GAME 5: CHICAGO 3 - HOUSTON 1.

KNERKO BLAST PLATES 2, DOWNS QUALLS, ASTROS.

What are the chances that a World Series game that starts out with a lead-off homer by tiny Willie Taveras will hold form as an Astros win? I’m with you. It isn’t highly probable – and it didn’t happen in Game – even though that’s exactly how it all began.

Leading off the bottom of the 1st, Willie Taveras caught up with a second pitch fastball on an 0-1 count and lined it into the left field Crawford Boxes for the first score of the game. Unfortunately for the Astros, Willie T’s swat turned out to be th club’s only score of the game.

With some help n the last two frames from Bobby Jenks and Dustin Hermanson, Mark Buerhle shutdown the Houston Astros the rest of the way, surrendering isolated singles only to Craig Biggio, and Adam Everett from the 3rd through the 9th. The only other time the Astros mildly kicked up a mild threat came in the 7th, when Morgan Ensberg walked, yIelded his place on a grounder force from a ball batted by Jason Lane, and then saw a runner move to 2nd base on a single by Adam Everett after Mike Lamb fanned, Brad Ausmus then ended things on a soft liner to center field.

The Astros uprising in the 7th brought Bobby Jenks in to pitch the 8th and the first two outs of the 9th after the White Sox awakened with a 3-spot 8th and a lasting 3-1 lead in the game.

Prior to the 8th inning, Astros starter Andy Pettitte had held the White Sox to two singles, but he was starting to tire. When Jose Uribe started the top of the 8th with a sharp single to left center, Astros manager Phil Garner pulled him in favor Chad Qualls.

Pablo Ozuna then pinch hit for Sox starter Mark Buerhle and sacrificed Uribe to 2nd base.

Scott Podsednik then singled hard to left to score Uribe with the tying run. When the ball got away from Berkman in left, Podsednik was thrown out on a 7-5 play at 3rd base. The play left it 1-1 in runs, 2 outs, 0 on, top of the 8th.

Tadahito Iguchi then turned up the burner heat with a double into the right center gap. With Paul Konerko coming to bat, Garner went to the mound for a confab with Qualls. After a lot of head shaking and some considerable talking into gloves, things broke up and play resumed.

With the count at 1-2, Paul Konerko then caught a curve that didn’t break and drove it high, far, and wide over the train track in left center for a two-run blast that moved things to what would soon become the final score: Chicago 3 – Houston 1.

Enter Russ Springer to strike out Aaron Rowand and end the threat of further damage to an already fatally infected cause in Game 5.

Orlando Palmiero pinch hit for Russ Springer to start the bottom of the 8th. He walked, but Taveras then fanned and Biggio forced Palmiero on a grounder before Berkman ended the inning on a routine ground ball to short.

Dan Wheeler took the mound for the Astros in the top of the 9th and quickly fanned Timo Perez., who had entered the game in the 7th for Jerome Dye after the starting right fielder was removed from the game by a hard pitch from Andy Pettitte, the second serious HBP by Pettitte in the game. Andy had almost taken out Aaron Rowand in the 4th with a hard pitch that hit him in the back. An umpire’s warning had gone out to both sides after the Dye departure, but pitcher Wheeler either had not heard, did not care, or couldn’t help himself.

When Wheeler plunked A.J. Pierzynski, he was quickly chased. Brad Lidge came in to retire Joe Crede and Jose Uribe on Xerox quality shallow flies to left to end the Sox 9th.

Bobby Jenks struck out Morgan Ensberg and Jason Lane to start the bottom of the 9th, but hen gave up a sharp single to left center by Mike Lamb, prompting Sox manager Guillen to bring in Dustin Hermanson. Jose Vizcaino entered the game as a pinch hitter for Adam Everett, but quickly ended the game on a looping liner fly out to Aaron Rowand in center field.

Final Score: Chicago 3 – Houston 1.  Mark Buerhle (1-1) got the win for Chicago; Bobby Jenks picked up a hold credit (H1); and Dustin Hermanson (S2) grabbed the save. Chad  Qualls (1-1) picked up all the bad medals for losing the game after blowing the save (BS1).

“I am reminded of the words of Bobby Kennedy,” barked Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, “when he said – ‘Now it’s on to Chicago and let’s win there!’ – You know what I mean? I mean – my players play good – and they play even better at home. And that’s good – for Chicago. And I’m always down with whatever’s good for Chicago – on the south side, anyway.”

Lucidity reigns.

As for the Astros, Phil Garner had little to say beyond this gem:  “We know where the airport is. We know where the ballpark is on the south side of Chicago. And we’ll be there on time – and ready to play Game Six. – Count on it.”

ART IMITATES LIFE. – BRAD LIDGE BLOWS SWEEP IN 9TH. – IGUCHI GRAND SLAM FOR 7-6 WHITE SOX WIN DROPS ASTROS’ LEAD IN GAMES WON TO 3-1.

Brad Lidge Eyes Tadahito Iguchi Rounding Bases in 9th.

The Houston Astros were right there – right there at the door of a sweeping victory celebration of their first ever World Series championship.

Didn’t happen.

Let’s explore why not.

Let’s begin with a familiar first scene in this all too well-known script.

Act I: Things Start Well.

The Astros grabbed the early lead in the bottom of the 2nd when Morgan Ensberg led off with a rope-skipping double to left center and then came home on a towering home run to right by Jason Lane. HOUSTON 2 – CHICAGO 0.

Houston added two in the 3rd. After Oswalt led off with a single to left, Taveras hit into a force play. Taveras then came all the way home on a Biggio chalk-kicking double down the right field line. HOUSTON 3 – CHICAGO 0. Berkman then walked, but he and Biggio both quickly advanced to 2nd and 3rd bases on a wild pitch by Sox starter Freddie Garcia. Biggio then scored an a long sacrifice fly out by Morgan Ensberg. HOUSTON 4 – CHICAGO 0.

ACT II: Things Bode Well.

The Astros tacked it on the Sox in the bottom of the 5th. Garcia fanned Taveras and Biggio to start things, but a single to left by Berkman and a booming home run shot beyond Tai’s Hill by Ensberg spread the lead to cork-popping intensity. HOUSTON 6 – CHICAGO 0.

ACT III: Things Fall Apart.

Through the first five innings of Game 4, the Chicago White had continued their skein of goose eggs, giving them a run of 42 straight scoreless frames in this Series, plus one more from 1919 and World Series record of 43 straight run-less innings by a single club’s offense.

Not very pretty, but the bad luck of the Chicago south siders was about to encounter the misfortunes of the Houston all siders.

With one out in the top of the 6th, Iguchi and Konerko both walked for the Sox. Those passes brought Astros manager Garner to the mound, who pulled starter Oswalt in favor of reliever Dan Wheeler. Aaron Rowand awaited with unkind greetings. Rowand then broke the Chicago run drought by slamming a caroming triple down the right field line. HOUSTON 6 – CHICAGO 2.  A shaken Wheeler then walked Dye and hit Pierzynski to load the bases before surrendering a deep sac fly to right by Joe Crede. Wheeler then retired Uribe on a liner to Biggio, but the Astros lead had been cut in half. HOUSTON 6 – CHICAGO 3.

BAD OMENS: Houston loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th, but could not score. Gallo and Springer had kept the score at 6-3 Houston going into the top of the 9th, but now it was World Series closure time. Manager Garner had CALLED upon closer Brad Lidge to ice the sweep of the Chicago White Sox.

TOP OF THE 9TH: After Joe Crede started the Sox off with a double to left, Jose Uribe lifted a can of corn fly to left for the first of what Astros Nation hoped would be the final 3 outs of the Chicago White Sox.

Not to be.

Lidge gave up a sharp single to left by pinch hitter Willie Harris. Crede had to hold at 3rd. Lidge then walked Podsednik to load the bases. Garner again came out for a massive mound meeting, but Lidge stayed in, even though Qualls was heating up in the pen.

Enter the dragon – Tadahito Iguchi!

After running the count to 3-1, Iguchi caught a failed slider on the sweet spot. The ball took of like a cannon ball to left. It kept on low-rising as it splattered into the concourse that runs right behind the Crawford Boxes. Special Series broadcaster Greg Lucas had a possible play on the ball, but declined at the last minute to take it. “I just had my nails done this afternoon,” Lucas later explained.

Pin drop time. Brad Lidge jaw-drop time too. The adjusted score was still trying to burn its way through the latest veneer of Houston Shock: Chicago 7 – Houston 6.

Chad Qualls then came in to get Konerko and Rowand on flies to left and center to end things, but (plug-in your own favorite cliché here. We’ve all heard the one about the horses and the barn door ad nauseum).

Hermanson relieved for the Sox in the bottom of the 9th. He took out Taveras on a 4-3 grounder to Iguchi before retiring Biggio and Berkman on easy flies to left and center. FINAL SCORE: CHICAGO 7 – HOUSTON 6. 

Luis Vizcaino (1-0) got the win and Dustin Hermanson (Sv 1) got the Save for the White Sox. Brad Lidge (0-1, BS 1) picked up the loss and the blown save for the Astros.

“I was trying too hard to not leave that last slider in the dirt,” Lidge explained at the press conference. “I overcompensated and left it over the white part of the plate and you saw the rest.”

“It was a tough loss,” said Craig Biggio, “but now we just have to put it behind us and come out tomorrow and play that game as well as possible.”

“You don’t want a quote from me tonight,” said Astros manager Phil Garner.

“I never give up on my guys,” said a smiling Ozzie Guillen. “Never!”

Mark Buerhle of the White Sox will take the mound against Andy Pettitte of the Astros tonight in Game 5 at Houston.

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

HOUSTON 1 - CHICAGO 0 (19 INNINGS). HOUSTON LEADS SERIES, 2-0.

Jose Contreras fans 21 in 18.2 innings, but 174 pitches on the night, he still loses, 1-0.

In a masterful game of hit and miss that led to a new World Series record of most innings pitched by a single player, as well as most strike outs recorded by one pitcher in a single game. Cuban expatriate Jose Contreras persuaded White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen prior to the start to let him pitch Game Two as though he were still back on the island, trying to pitch his way to freedom.

It almost worked.

For 18 and 2/3 innings. Contreras held off every assault by the Astros to leave nothing but goose eggs on the top side of the runs-per-inning score board. His problem was easy to state. This was one of those days when the rarest rubber arm, great stuff, and masterful control simply were not enough. Starter Andy Pettitte of the Astros and the four guys who followed him also were on their game for a 19 K, six hit shutout of the host South Siders on another cool, windy, and damp evening in Chicago.

The scoring threats in Game Two were few and far between. The Astros placed runners on first and second in both the 2nd and 6th innings, but each of these early threats were wiped out by double plays. The White Sox got two men on base in the 4th by way of a walk and a hit batter, but also failed to take advantage. They also lost Jerome Dye for the balance of the game as a result of that high hard one from Pettitte. How ironic? In the top of the 4th, the Astros had lost Craig Biggio for the rest of the game after he was plunked by a 92 MPH Contreras fast ball. After Dye, the home plate umpire put out the warning against further bean-balling.

Pettitte tired in the 8th, surrendering a lead-off double in the right center field gap to Scott Podsednik to start the frame. The sharpness of the crack quickly brought Astros manager Phil Garner to the mound for a switch to Dan Wheeler. The “Mellow Man” then quickly retired the next three batters, two by the strike out route, to end the mild threat.

Once the game moved to extra innings in a scoreless deadlock, it hit one of those low gear phases that we often see with extended stanza contests between two tired, unproductive offenses. The fans stayed, but they had to make it into the late night hours prior to a working day, watching a string of  “one. two, three and your out” innings.

Meanwhile, Senor C continued to mow down the Astros while Wheeler (8th-10th), Brad Lidge (11th-14th), Chad Qualls (15th-19th), and Mike Gallo (one final out in the 19th) held the Sox at bay.

The only scoring break of the evening came about in the top of the 19th. With two outs, Mike Lamb of the Astros lined a brutal speeding rope of a batted ball into right center field. By the time of its retrieval by center fielder Aaron Rowand, there was Lamb, standing on 2nd base with his hands on his hips and smiling.

Sox manager Guillen had finally tired of his pitcher’s “Island Nostalgia Day.” He yanked Contreras after 18 2/3 innings in favor of  reliever Luis Vizcaino.  Contreras left the mound reluctantly, but to the standing applause and cheers of those Chicago fans who had remained until 2:14 AM of  the morning after.

Vizcaino then walked Adam Everett to set up a force play, but Brad Ausmus quickly followed by lining the first pitch he saw for a hop-skipping double down the left field line. Mike Lamb scored easily for the only run of the game. Adam Everett held 3rd on the play, leaving the potential out there on 2nd and 3rd for further damage. Vizcaino got Willie Taveras on grounder to Biggio, but the fatal bell had had been rung. Houston now had a monster, 1-0, lead – and they would defend it to one more three-out end.

Qualls came out in the bottom of the 19th to pitch his fifth inning in the game. He quickly got Carl Everett and Paul Konerko on fly balls to left and center, but then he gave up a sharp single up the middle to Aaron Rowand.  Mike Gallo relieved and managed to get Pablo Ozuna on a lazy fly to center to end the game.

Chad Qualls (1-0) picked up the win for the Astros, with the save going to Mike Gallo (0-0, 1S). Stallion marathoner Jose Contreras (0-1) had to take the sack of this heartbreaking loss.

The Houston Astros now lead the Series, 2 wins to none for the Chicago White Sox. In 28 innings of play, the Chicagoans are now scoreless in 28 innings as the games head to Houston for an encounter in Game Three that features Jon Garland (0-0) of the White Sox  facing off against Roger Clemens (0-0) of the Astros.

Games Three, Four, and Five (if necessary) will be played at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

“When Jose tell me he can do it, I listen,” said Guillen at the post-game press conference. “He could have won the game too, if we had brought our bats, but so far, in both games, it’s nada. Flat nothing. I don’t know of any team that can win if it no hits.”

“Contreras was tough,” said manager Garner of the Astros, “But we were pretty tough too. Tough. Good. And Lucky. I’ll take those cards any time. Now it’s back to Houston and a chance to give it our best shot there. I like our chances with Roger (Clemens) pitching and a 2-0 Series lead,, but we will still have to settle things on the field – one game at a time. – Have you heard that one before?”

2005 World Series Simulation Replay Results To Date:

Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005, U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago:                                                                                                                                                                   Result: ASTROS 5 – WHITE SOX 0.

Sunday, Oct. 23, 2005, U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago:                                                                                                                                                                      Result: ASTROS 1 – WHITE SOX 0 (19 innings).

APBA Baseball and I go back sixty years together – to 1951 – the very year the board play contest with dice version was first released by the little simulation game company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I was totally fascinated with the idea from the start, even though I didn’t get around to actually ordering my personal copy until 1953. When I did, the game’s like-like results placed me in a wholly different level of fun from the pinball game version of simulation baseball that I had been playing since about age eight. APBA Baseball allowed me to recreate credible replays of whole major league seasons, but I never went that far. These dice-driven board games took way too much time for a kid in school who also played the game in reality.

In today’s computer version of APBA Baseball, it is now possible to replay the whole major league season in about ten minutes, but that kind of speed is more than I need. Baseball is about anticipation and and wonder, build up and let down, disappointment and overcoming same, one’s attention to details and a corresponding awareness of how today’s actions impact tomorrow. You can’t pack all of that stuff into a season that plays out in ten minutes.  

This APBA Baseball replay of the 2005 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox will play out in real time daily here on The Pecan Park Eagle, one day at a time, until one club or the other wins four games. Game One was played out last night in Chicago, on the simulated date of October 22, 2005. Results of that game are reported below.

Game Two will be played tonight, again in Chicago. After that, the Series shifts to Houston for two, or possibly three games, if needed. If we need seven games to play the entire Series, the final two games will also be played in Chicago.

The teams will be managed by computerized versions of managers Phil Garner of the Astros and Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox. Players suffer from fatigue and injury – and need to be managed with those potentials in mind. Weather and wind also effect home runs in outdoor ballparks, as do ballpark dimensions effect home runs in all ballparks.

The only ungodly imposition I’ve made here is the interjection of a fresh Roy Oswalt as the Astros Game One starter. In other words, in this replay version, the infamous Pujols home run that caused the Astros to use up Roy O in an extra NL pennant clinching game never happened. This may be, hopefully, the Series we could have had with a fresh Oswalt from the start. Besides, if it weren’t for “what if,” there would be no other good reasons for a replay.

White Sox vs. Astros

GAME ONE: ASTROS DUMP WHITE SOX, 5-0, AS OSWALT HURLS 2-HIT, SHUTOUT COMPLETE GAME!

On a cold and windy October evening on the south side of Chicago Saturday night, only the White Sox bats were hitting numbers lower than those on the thermometer, The effect was no doubt magnified by the red-hot arm that Astros starter Roy Oswalt also brought with him to the ballpark on this dark and stormy night. Oswalt held Chicago to two hits by Tadahito Iguchi. Those two hits by the Pale Hosed second sacker and a walk to Aaron Rowand were the only base runners that stood between Roy Oswalt and the second perfect game in World Series history.

Granted permission by MLB to wear their normal Saturday white homey digs on the road, the Astros danced through the cold Chicago night like so many victory-hungry, but extremely talented and athletic snowmen. These snowmen had the snow balls to get the job done.

Oswalt had everything working for him and was never in trouble. He struck out six to more than make up for the single walk he gave up to Rowand in the 2nd.

The Astros got on the board first in the top of the 2nd. After Morgan Ensberg led off with a double into the left center field gap, Sox starter Mark Buehrle quickly fanned Jason Lane and Jeff Bagwell to nearly escape damage. Mike Lamb then carbon copied Ensberg’s double into the left center gap from the left side of the plate to give Houston a 1-0 lead. Adam Evertt then bounced out to short to end the inning.

The Astros tallied again in the top of the 4th. With Ensberg again on base, this time on first from a walk, and with two outs, Jeff Bagwell moved him to second when he was hit by a pitch. Mike Lamb then bounced a hopping grounder to Sox third sacker Joe Crede that should have easily been out number three. Crede, however, then  inexplicably threw the ball down the right field line.

Ensberg easily scored standing up from 2nd, but Bagwell also tried to score from 1st and was retired on a sliding out at the plate. Score that one 5-

Craig Biggio looks helmet after 2-run double.

9-4-2 to retire the side. Houston’s lead had climbed to 2-0. The Astros doubled their lead in the 5th. After Adam Everett led off with a single to deep short, Brad Ausmus took first on another HBP by Buehrle. After Willie Taveras then successfully sacrificed the runners to 2nd and 3rd, Craig Biggio cracked a double down the left field line that scored both men. Biggio ran hard enough to lose his helmet on the turn at 1st, but the runs still counted.

Daylight for Roy. Astros 4 – White Sox 0.

The Astros would add one more tally in the 7th. After Everett again beat out an infield hit, this time to the right side, Ausmus sacrificed him to second. Taveras then fanned, but Biggio followed again with a virtual carbon copy of his previous double down the left field line to make it 5-0, the final score of a game helped considerably by Biggio’s two-double, three-rbi night.

Roy Oswalt (1-0) went the distance for the win. Mark Buehrle (0-1)  went the distance for the loss. Buehrle pitched well too, striking 8 against 1 walk. He simply didn’t pitch well strategically – and he failed to get any help from the Chicago offense and defense.

Iguchi’s double in the 3rd represented the only time in the game that the Sox placed a runner in scoring position.

“Roy had it tonight,” said Phil Garner of the Astros. “When he’s on, we’ve got a chance against anybody.”  “Baseball’s a funny game. Know what I mean?” asked Chicago’s Ozzie Guillen.”Tomorrow’s another day. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. Are you with me?”

The Series resumes with Game Two tomorrow, Sunday, October 23, 2005. Andy Pettitte takes the mound for the visiting Houston Astros. He will face Jose Contreras of the Chicago White Sox.