2008 Woodie Awards
White Sox Win With Ease in Game One of World Series
John Harper/New York Daily News (KRT)
Issue date: 10/24/05 Section: Sports
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Bobby Jenks finished off one of the most remarkable innings of any World Series with a fastball that hit 100 mph on the scoreboard radar gun, and U.S. Cellular Field shook with the kind of noise that sounded like Yankee Stadium on so many October nights.
It seemed appropriate. The White Sox, thought to be a little soft, certainly vulnerable in this postseason, look more and more like a championship team in the manner of those great Yankee teams of the recent past.
You thought they were all about starting pitching after their history-making American League Championship Series and then Saturday night they showed you defense that was both clutch and brilliant, and a bullpen that was untouchable when anything less would have meant a tie game.
"They say they don't see my bullpen," Ozzie Guillen chortled afterward, referring to the four complete games by White Sox starters against the Angels. "Well, now they see it."
Three straight strikeouts, two by lefty Neal Cotts, one by the righty Jenks, with the tying run on third base will go down as one of the great sequences of World Series history. At the very least it was the signature moment of a 5-3 victory over the Astros in Game One.
Most of all, it stamped the White Sox as a team as clear favorites over the Astros, and perhaps as a team on the verge of greatness, as the hyped pitching match up between Roger Clemens and Jose Contreras turned into a showcase for what folks in this city call Ozzie Ball.
"You just saw a Chicago baseball game," was the way Guillen summed it up. "That's how we win. We build this team on pitching and defense. That's our game."
Maybe it would have been different had Clemens been on his game. But he is a power pitcher with a balky hamstring, and apparently even the Rocket cannot will himself above the aches and pains of being 43 years old. He tried to make everyone believe he could. On Friday he had stared hard at a reporter who asked if the hamstring might be a problem in Game One, and then delivered an answer in the John Wayne fashion that defines his personality.
It seemed appropriate. The White Sox, thought to be a little soft, certainly vulnerable in this postseason, look more and more like a championship team in the manner of those great Yankee teams of the recent past.
You thought they were all about starting pitching after their history-making American League Championship Series and then Saturday night they showed you defense that was both clutch and brilliant, and a bullpen that was untouchable when anything less would have meant a tie game.
"They say they don't see my bullpen," Ozzie Guillen chortled afterward, referring to the four complete games by White Sox starters against the Angels. "Well, now they see it."
Three straight strikeouts, two by lefty Neal Cotts, one by the righty Jenks, with the tying run on third base will go down as one of the great sequences of World Series history. At the very least it was the signature moment of a 5-3 victory over the Astros in Game One.
Most of all, it stamped the White Sox as a team as clear favorites over the Astros, and perhaps as a team on the verge of greatness, as the hyped pitching match up between Roger Clemens and Jose Contreras turned into a showcase for what folks in this city call Ozzie Ball.
"You just saw a Chicago baseball game," was the way Guillen summed it up. "That's how we win. We build this team on pitching and defense. That's our game."
Maybe it would have been different had Clemens been on his game. But he is a power pitcher with a balky hamstring, and apparently even the Rocket cannot will himself above the aches and pains of being 43 years old. He tried to make everyone believe he could. On Friday he had stared hard at a reporter who asked if the hamstring might be a problem in Game One, and then delivered an answer in the John Wayne fashion that defines his personality.