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White Sox Take 2-0 Lead
Oct. 24, 2005
CHICAGO - If you didn't know better, you'd think it was 1919 in reverse. This time, the White Sox obviously are trying to win the World Series, but they're getting so many breaks from the umpires, it almost makes you wonder if Shoeless Joe Jackson has been reincarnated to make amends, once and for all.
Maybe he's Doug Eddings, who called the infamous dropped third strike on A.J. Pierzynski in the American League Championship Series. Or maybe he's Jeff Nelson, who called the phantom hit-by-pitch on Jermaine Dye on Sunday night in Game 2 of the World Series, a blessed little event that set the stage for Paul Konerko's go-ahead grand slam.
Oh, the integrity of the men in blue is not in question, merely their competence. And say this for the White Sox: They might be lucky, but they're also good. Every time the umps hand them one of those handy little postseason gift certificates, the Sox respond as if they've been handed a winning lottery ticket, cashing in big.
Dye's foul-ball-turned-free-pass isn't the reason the White Sox defeated the Astros 7-6 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Konerko had to follow with his slam on the next pitch to give the Sox a 6-4 lead. And then, after the Astros tied the score on a two-run, pinch-hit single by Jose Vizcaino with two outs in the ninth, Scott Podsednik had to hit a walkoff homer off Astros closer Brad Lidge — Podsednik's second of the postseason after going 507 at-bats in the regular season without one.
Still, the umpires were again an issue, and while they're only human, Major League Baseball is one more blown call away from a major uproar. Heck, that uproar already would be taking place if Konerko's slam had stood as the decisive blow. Instead, White Sox closer Bobby Jenks blew the save in the ninth, and Podsednik hit his game-winning shot with one out in the bottom half of the inning.
Dye freely admitted afterward that Astros reliever Dan Wheeler did not hit him with a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the seventh, yet Nelson sent him to first, loading the bases for Konerko. "The umpire told me to go to first base, so I went to first base," Dye said. "I didn't argue with him. It was a big break for us."
Nelson did not directly address reporters, but spoke afterward with Major League Baseball spokesman Pat Courtney.
"He thought at the time that he made the right call and he thought it in his heart," Courtney said.
There's no way to know if Dye might have drawn a walk on the next pitch, just as there's no way to know if he might have struck out to end the inning. Astros catcher Brad Ausmus asked Nelson to get help from the first- or third-base umpire, but according to Astros manager Phil Garner, Nelson responded that it was his call. Garner said he asked Nelson to check if the ball had a black mark from Dye's bat, but "the ball already was gone."
"I certainly can't see it," Ausmus said. "The ball is moving 90 mph. I'm incapable of seeing where it hit, what it hit. I based my judgment on the reaction of the hitter after the play. I felt like there was no reaction. If you were hit in the hand, you wouldn't just throw your bat down and go to first base. But it's a very difficult call. The ball is moving so fast, it happens in a split-second."
The Astros knew they had no excuses — Chad Qualls replaced Wheeler after Dye went to first and Konerko crushed the reliever's first pitch for his fifth homer in 41 postseason at-bats. Two innings later, Lidge allowed his second consecutive ninth-inning homer, grooving a 2-1 fastball to Podsednik, who never will be confused with Albert Pujols.
The White Sox have now won 14 of their last 15 games, including their last five in the regular season. They're 9-1 in the postseason, 66-35 in games decided by two runs or less, 108-64 overall.
All championship teams get breaks; the White Sox's success clearly is not a fluke. But for his next trick, maybe Shoeless Joe will return as a fan at Houston's Minute Maid Park for Game 3, reach over the left-field wall and grab yet another unexpected Podsednik home run. The crowd will howl for interference. The umpires will react with another collective shrug.
It's not 1919 in reverse. But for the White Sox, a team that last won a world championship 88 years ago, things certainly are evening out.
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