Romp
ALDS Game 1: October 4, 2005
Red Sox (0-1), 2
White Sox (1-0), 14
L: Matt Clement (0-1)
W: Jose Contreras (1-0)
White Sox lead the series 1-0
When the Red Sox make the postseason, for good or ill, history is often made. The White Sox won their first postseason game at home since the 1959 World Series and had their second-best inning in their not-so-storied playoff history when they scored 5 runs in the 1st.
Clement did nothing to improve his spotty postseason renown, which was based on two starts for the 2003 Chicago Cubs with 12.1 innings pitched, 13 hits, 7 earned runs, 6 walks, 6 strikeouts, and 1 home run. In fact, he may have irrevocably damaged his reputation with his 3.1 inning appearance last night in which he yielded 7 hits, 8 earned runs, and 3 homers. He had no walks or strikeouts.
The much-coveted Contreras at last displayed why he was so highly sought after in the 2003 offseason. The righty of indeterminate age showed his unsolvable splitter to Red Sox batters over 7.2 innings, culminating in a line of 8 hits, 2 earned runs, no walks, and 6 strikeouts.
The Chicago AL club was boisterous in its offensive outburst. A.J. Pierzynski hit 2 homers while Paul Konerko, Juan Uribe, and Scott Podsednik each had four-baggers of their own. In fact, Jeremi Gonzalez gifted Podsednik with his first circuit clout of 2005 in the 6th inning. In the regular season, Podsednik’s slugging percentage was a mere .349.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox failed to cash in on several key scoring opportunities. Their momentum lurched to a standstill in the 4th inning when Kevin Millar broke for third on Bill Mueller’s sharp grounder to second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. The ball reached Iguchi more quickly than Millar anticipated and the Red Sox first baseman broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball: never make the first or last out at third.
For fans, last year’s come-from-behind win in the ALCS pays dividends to this day. My local news station just showed a series of interivews with Red Sox fans that made the journey to Chicago’s South Side for this series and most of them remain sanguine in the face of this blowout. Five-game series are harrowing, to be sure, but leaving the hog butchers of the world with a split is still possible. Even if that turns out not to be the case, comebacks in short series are not unprecedented. The 2003 Red Sox were down 0-2 in the ALDS to Oakland and won three games in a row to advance.
This isn’t 2004’s team, nor 2003’s. Pedro Martinez isn’t going to come walking through that door. Derek Lowe isn’t going to come walking through that door. And if they did they would be older and asking for more pay. Who of the team will be willing and able to heed the call? We’ll find out tonight.
Comments
"Their momentum lurched to a standstill in the 4th inning when Kevin Millar broke for third on Bill Mueller’s sharp grounder to second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. The ball reached Iguchi more quickly than Millar anticipated and the Red Sox first baseman broke one of the cardinal rules of baseball: never make the first or last out at third. "
I bash KM as much as the next man, as long as the next man isn't terry Francona, but you can't blame him on this one. You're taught to break for third if you are on secondbase and the ball is hit on the ground to right side of the infield. Rule breaking here was the WS 2b, with the rule being go for the sure out. Of course, Kev was probably running like he got the last bucket extra crispy and with extra gravy, it probably wasn't that much of a gamble throwing that way. (There I go bashing Millar again.)
Once again, I am soooo glad I missed the game.
yazgoesbacklookingupitsgone ∙ 5 October 2005 ∙ 8:03 PM