October 24, 2005
World Series: Game 3 preview
Tuesday night’s matchup of Roy Oswalt and Jon Garland represents Houston’s biggest advantage in starting pitching in the series, and that’s not a knock on Garland. It’s just a recognition of how well Oswalt has been pitching.
Continue reading "World Series: Game 3 preview"Could be funny or sad
Apple’s iTunes Music Store asked each player on the two World Series teams to submit a song for a “World Series ‘05 Player Picks” playlist. I’m not going to reproduce the entire list here, but I will note a few things.
Continue reading "Could be funny or sad"Radio appearance
Brandon Rosage of the Outsider Radio program that is part of the 360 the Pitch Internet radio network interviewed me last night about the first two games of the World Series. You can find the broadcast and information on subscribing to the podcast here.
World Series: Game 2 review
Short of Ozzie Guillen picking up a bat and doing it himself, you couldn’t have surprised me more than Scott Podsednik did by hitting a home run to right-center field off Brad Lidge to give the White Sox a stirring 7-6 victory over the Astros in Game 2 of the World Series Sunday night. It’s been said probably a hundred times on ESPN already, but Podsednik hit zero home runs during the regular season, and now he has two in the postseason. The first was at the end of a blow-out win in the division series, but this one ended a game that had all the makings of a disaster for the White Sox.
Continue reading "World Series: Game 2 review"October 23, 2005
More previews, if it’s not too late
Sports Fan Magazine asked me to answer a few questions to preview the World Series. Making predictions makes me nervous (I really hate to be wrong), but thanks for inviting me anyway, Sports Fan Magazine.
Speaking of previews, Chris Dial at Baseball Think Factory made the case for the Astros winning the World Series and for the White Sox winning the title in a pair of columns. I find the Sox winning column more persuasive, of course, but I appreciate the ability to make both cases the way Dial did. It’s a good intellectual exercise.
October 22, 2005
World Series: Game 1 review
Just like in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, I took notes on my laptop while watching the game. With just some minor editing and additions, here they are.
Continue reading "World Series: Game 1 review"World Series: Game 1 preview
José Contreras and Roger Clemens have somewhat similar repertoires, as they throw mid-90s fastballs and then rely on a tumbling offspeed pitch — a forkball in the case of Contreras and a split-fingered fastball from Clemens — to put batters away. They couldn’t be much farther apart in terms of how long they have excelled in the major leagues. For Clemens, it goes back to 1984. For Contreras, it goes back to mid-July.
Continue reading "World Series: Game 1 preview"Getting under their skin
I was riding the L to work Friday morning when I saw the bottom half of the front page of the New York Times. Lined up in a row were pitctures of four Yankee pitchers who are no longer Yankees: Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Orlando Hernández and José Contreras. (Item updated after the jump at 16:40 on 10/22/05.)
Continue reading "Getting under their skin"October 20, 2005
World Series preview: batting
The Astros struggled mightily all season to score runs, finishing 11th in the National League in runs scored and being shutout 17 times.
Continue reading "World Series preview: batting"World Series preview: bullpen
The Astros bullpen has been outstanding during the regular season and the postseason, and it has been used a lot more than the White Sox bullpen in the postseason.
Continue reading "World Series preview: bullpen"Getting tired of me yet?
I was invited Thursday to appear on two Internet radio podcasts that are available for download. Just another reason that having your team win is great, eh? Jaime Mottram of AOL interviewed me for his program Sports Bloggers Live earlier today — you can find it here (you can find the full program on the right-hand side of this page). I also was interviewed on Baseball Prospectus Radio by Brad Wochomurka. If you haven’t already subscribed to the podcast, find out how here, or just download the newest podcast when it becomes available.
I forgot this
When I wrote about Jay Mariotti’s Wednesday column ripping the White Sox for “failing” to hammer out a contract with Paul Konerko during the off days between the American League Championship Series and the World Series, I forgot to mention that Mariotti didn’t even come up with that bad idea on his own. I hadn’t read the column at the time, but I had seen the headline on Barry Rozner’s Tuesday column: Why not sign Konerko this week? Well, when I was explaining why not yesterday, Rozner’s column slipped my mind. So Mariotti is neither wise nor original.
(Music to write by: Jimi Hendrix Experience, “Electric Ladyland” and Pearl Jam, “Vitalogy.”)
Congratulations, Houston
We’re all set now. The Houston Astros won their first National League pennant by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals by a 5-1 score Wednesday night, and they will face the American League champion Chicago White Sox. Sorry to get all formal on you, but there’s a certain majesty in typing “American League champion Chicago White Sox.”
Continue reading "Congratulations, Houston"The latest nonsense
Jay Mariotti has found a new club to hit Jerry Reinsdorf over the head with: Paul Konerko’s impending free agency. Mariotti writes that the White Sox should sign Konerko right now to a new contract, during the days off between Sunday’s pennant-clinching win over the Angels and Saturday’s Game 1 of the World Series.
Continue reading "The latest nonsense"Thanks, Deadspin
I just wanted to take a moment to thank Deadspin: Sports News without Access, Favor or Discretion, for naming Exile in Wrigleyville one of the best White Sox blogs to read. Here’s what they had to say: “2. Exile In Wrigleyville. We made a mistake in an earlier post and forgot this excellent blog. We are now correcting it. We apologize to Exile and the great all-baseball network. Don’t hate us!” No worries, Deadspin. You got the name spelled right, and that’s all I ask.
(Music to write by: Guns ‘N’ Roses, “Use Your Illusion I.”)
