Astros or Sox???

I pick the White Sox in 5, but I'm rooting for the Astros.

I voted for the Astros in 7. But I really don't care who wins as long as it's a great series.

It's gonna be a good series, but I voted for the White Sox in 6.

Finally! A World Series without the usual teams in it. Just when you thought MLB's postseason was going to be another yawner of a love fest between ESPN/FOX and some East Coast team, Baseball treats us to two teams so well-deserving of a World Series appearance.

I can't wait to see us long-suffering White Sox fans witness a smack down of the mediocre-hitting Astro's.

GO WHITE SOX!
I have to say, that if it was against any other team, I'd be pulling for Houston....

I don't think anybody could have predicted a White Sox-Astros World Series at the start of the season.

And despite the disparate payrolls of many teams, since 2000 there has been a different World Series Champion and they have alternated leagues:

2000 NY Yankees (AL)
2001 Arizona D-Backs (NL)
2002 Anaheim Angels (AL)
2003 Florida Marlins (NL)
2004 Boston Red Sox (AL)
2005 ???

W Sox in 6, maybe 5.

Just don't think the Astro's have the hitting ability they do.

Now if I can just explain the game to Ian. eek!

R

Battle of the Blown Call Beneficiaries! *ducks*

The White Sox have an anemic, home-run-dependent offense (ignore Joe Morgan, please) but have the pitching. Pale Hose in 7 is a guess.

Interesting matchup. Both teams certainly proved the adage that pitching is what counts in the postseason. The Sox have a better lineup, although it's far from threatening. However, I think the Astros overall pitching depth is superior. I say Astros in six, with Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte duplicating the postseason efforts they used to provide the Yankees.

I think the White Sox will take it. Their pitching staff is really good and rested.
I hear Faux Sports is PO'd, no big name teams (Chicago is a big market but the Sox are the #2 team) and no real superstars beyond Clemens.
Damn, have to just focus on baseball.

Much as I'd like the Astros to win (love when the wild card takes it all) I think it'll be the White Sox in 6.

~Adam

I went for the Astros in 7 because I do think it'll be a great competitive series (not like the boring choke from the Cardinals last year) and I think there's something about the Wild Card entries. And the Astros have momentum. And they have more hot players.

Their offense is anemic??? What crack you been smoking? Obviously you have not watched them play much this year...

The Sox really don't have a lot of weapons on offense. Their biggest tool is Podsednik, if and that's a big if, he can get on base and steal a few. Astros pitching staff wins this series.

I have been behind both these team since the playoff started and now that both made it I struggle on who to root for this World Series. I always go for the underdogs but in this case, and despite good performance from both during the regular series, I feel they are both underdogs.

Now I know that watching the games won't be the same unless I can pick a favorite so I guess I have between now and tomorrow night at 7:35PM to do so.

Am I the only one in this predicament? I doubt it..

Cheers to good Baseball...

[ October 21, 2005, 06:23 AM: Message edited by: climber30 ]

I like both of the teams, but, as I said on another thread, the sight of Barbara Bush behind homeplate for every game in Houston pulls me definitively towards the White Sox. I'm gonna' say Sox in 7

Astros' pitching staff??? Huh? The Sox's is far superior, and their offense has proved itself this post-season, better than the Astro's, that's for sure.

One down, three to go for the White Sox. Too bad Clemens had to leave early. If he were healthy it might have made a difference in how the game went.

Guess the White Sox bullpen isn't too rusty. wink

I've seen a number of their games, but I also know where they rank in the league by looking at season totals -- do you? From Joe Sheehan in Baseball Prospectus:

And those are the facts, ma'am.

Perhaps the most 'Ozzieball' moment in Game 1 was Carl Everett bunting two runners over with NONE out, an incredibly foolish waste of an out from your DH. And how many did Chicago score as a result? None. And yet the idiot Karl Raveches of the world continued to summarize the win with "moving runners over"!! Didn't they notice the Sox scored most of their runs on extra-base hits, including 2 homers??

I liked the way Guillen signaled for Jenks: right arm, then holding his hands wide apart and over his head: BIG FAT GUY.

Couldn't Liz Phair have sung "F*ck & Run" instead of that awful jingoist crap?

[ October 23, 2005, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

White Sox in 5, though 4 would be great too!

Cha-ching! The sound of Paul Konerko's 2006 salary continues to rise. (And yet another umpire's call helps the White Sox...hmmmmm...)

OH MY GOD!!!

DID I JUST SEE WHAT I THOUGHT I SAW?!?

KONERKO HITS A GRAND SLAM TO GIVE THE SOX A 6-4 LEAD!!!

OH MY GOD!!!

Just when I was getting so ticked over our baserunning blunders tonight, Paulie continues this storybook season with an unfrickin'believable GRAND SLAM!!!

Mr. Reinsdork, PLEASE re-sign Paulie, whatever the cost.

Joe, I wish Dye would've just not moved. God knows that pitch was ball four anyway.

6-6...it ain't over yet.


BUT ITS OVER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go White Sox

[ October 23, 2005, 08:28 PM: Message edited by: ltskinmdterp ]

Famous last words: I think Lidge got that bad taste out of his mouth (re: Pujols HR in Game 5)

next pitch: Podsednik homers, Sox win 7-6

The more and more I think about it, the near collapse seems to be the Sox getting that bad baseball outta their system

Amaizing Game two... nothing like October Baseball.. and just in time.. before Wilma wipes us all out here in So Fla...

I was so down after Houston tied it up in the 9th, then so up after Scotty Hottie hits the walkoff dinger. At least by winning it this way, it negated the plate umpire's flub of Dye's hit-by-pitch. By Houston tying it up, those runs by Konerko were moot.

Anyway, the ChiSox have won these post-season games on their own when all is said and done. Kudos to them.

And to think I gave my tickets for tonight to my folks for their anniversary.

I hope I'm going to Heaven for that.

There were two outs when Dye was at bat. Had that been correctly called a foul ball, there's no telling what would've happened on the next pitch.

It doesn't take away from the White Sox victory, but the runs on the grand slam were not made moot.

Dye would've walked. I had foreseen it.

I just hope my taxes don't go up from all the city money Daley is obviously shilling out to the major league umps this postseason.

What can I say? It's the little franchise that could. If somehow the Sox blow this after all we've been given, you know this is a cursed baseball town, once and for all.

My favorite part? The different hero every night. Winning 9 of 10 postseason games, and 9 different players coming up with big hits at various times, not to mention the 8 pitchers who can each be given one game ball apiece: Contreras, Buehrle, Garland & Garcia for the 4 victories against the Angels; Jenks for game 2 of the ALDS & Cotts for last night, Politte for tonight (fantastic 8th inning); and El Duque of course for Game 3 of the ALDS). No goats, either, so far (except maybe Marte, and even he was bailed out). Solid defense after a rough beginning to the Angels series. I only wish America had a chance to see what I saw all year - day in & day out great defense, particularly from Rowand, Uribe and Iguchi. Oh well, I guess I'll take it.

The luckiest team in the history of the world? Sounds good to me. Let's get it done twice more, boys.

Despite the big name stars/teams of the game being absent, this has been an extreamely exciting series. And, as at least one sportswriter noted, it's making people forget about baseball's steroid scandals.

...except for those of us who hardly ever think about it in the first place. Like most of us who aren't sportswriters or congressmen.

I just wish the quality of play was a little higher; the Astros' defense gave the Sox some gift runs early last night... and Chicago ran the bases rather stupidly in the second and third innings.

Bill, I agree with you on your comment that there was some boneheaded baserunning by the Sox in that game--too much of it, if you ask me.

And Posednik's boneheaded fielding earlier in the game.

BUT THE WHITE SOX WON!!!

Unfortunately they have to go down to Houston, where we may be subjected to shots of Poppy and Barf kissing again!

GO WHITE SOX!!!

If the White Sox do lose a game (and don't sweep) it might be tonight. Oswalt is quite good. I thnk CWS will win overall, but might lose this one.

Um, there is no game tonight, Merloni.
But at least the White Sox won't win tonight, either.

After the 1919 WS the White Sox were investigated for fixing the WS. If the Sox win this year, will the umps be investigated for fixing it in favor of Chicago? eek! Dye may or may not have made the third out, but how can an ump not tell the difference between a ball that hits a wooden bat vs a ball that hits a human body? But it did make for an exciting game.

That sportswriter must not be paying attention to the MLB commercials; you know, the one saying how bad steriods are.

MLB isn't too pleased about latest Got Milk? commercial.

Whoops! LOL I've worked 12 out of the last 14 days, 12 hours each day...I'm forgetting what day is which

0/' Meeeerloni.

You don't have to put on the red light.
Those days are over.
You don't have to sell you body to the night. o/'

Podzilla sure made up for it, though, didn't he? wink

Our local news reported tonight that Major League Baseball has ordered the Astros to keep the roof OPEN for game 3, and the club is quite ticked about this.

Truthfully, if they're the home team and supposed to have "home field advantage," I can't see why they should not be allowed to close the roof. Regardless, the Sox have done a good job of quieting opposing crowds, so who really cares?

There's an AP article about this. It says, in part:

The problem is the roof was kept closed throughout the playoffs up to now -- and I heard no mention of there being bad weather at any point. In fact, a couple of times it was mentioned how nice the weather was in explaining that the Astros kept the roof closed because they wanted the crowd noise kept in. Suddenly MLB is stepping in, and that's wrong.

Well, as I said, Joe, if it's their home field and they've got "home field advantage" for these three games, why can't they be given the right to decide for themselves?

However, I realize that like the Super Bowl, the World Series comes under the complete jurisdiction of Major League Baseball and not the two teams involved. Unlike the individual playoff series or regular season games, the World Series is MLB's show, so I guess that's why they're retaining the right to have the final say.

It's all so they can get those pointless blimp shots. The money that the (fill in the blank) blimp pays surely has something to do with this.

The Astros should be able to do what they want, but this is not unprecedented. Selig also ordered the roof to remain open for the Diamondbaks-Yankees WS.

Let's posit that Selig decrees the roof be open. If the Astros, in an act of defiance unseen since the Boston Tea Party, close the roof, what can Selig do? Isn't his biggest weapon merely a fine of some amount? Big deal.

~Adam

Well he did order the All Star game to end in a tie, so I guess he could order the umps to hold the game until the roof was reopened. It would a PR nightmare, but he could theoretically do it.

I don't see how having the roof open or closed affects play? If it's to get louder reveberations of the crowds, I'm sure the Astro fans can make enough noise to generate loudness even with the roof open.

I do think it's a bit much of MLB officials to step in and say keep the roof open when it's still early in the day when weather can change.

Anywho, I think the Astros have more important things to worry about, like closing a game.