World Series desperation
Well, you win the longest ever overall playoff game, and then you lose the longest ever World Series game. Game 3 was so frustrating. You want to know the difference in this Series so far? It's not that the White Sox have been brilliant. They have made mistakes and boneheaded plays, but not as many as Houston. However, the White Sox have taken advantage of more opportunities than the Astros, and that is the big difference. Chicago has done things that a championship team is supposed to do, and the Astros are playing like rookies.
In Game 2, the Astros' bullpen was beyond bad. Last night, Roy Oswalt, the NLCS MVP, had a complete meltdown and lost a 4-run lead in one inning. And after that--all the way through the 14th inning--the Astros had chance after chance after chance to win the game and failed every time. Now, that was partly due to decent pitching, but the White Sox pitchers were not dominant by any means. They didn't have to be when the Astros lineup as a whole acted as if they had never seen a slider. If I were Ozzie Guillen, I would tell my pitching staff to throw nothing but breaking balls, because the Astros showed last night that not only can they not hit them, they will swing at all of them.
There has been another difference maker in this Series. The White Sox hitters have shown tremendous patience and discipline at the plate. They are making the Astros throw lots of pitches and forcing them to throw strikes. The Astros' pitchers have, by contrast, shown a tendency to get frustrated and impatient, resulting in lots of balls or strikes that have been easy to hit.
If the Astros can all calm down and get their heads right, they could win the next two games. Hey, I'm trying to be optimistic.
In Game 2, the Astros' bullpen was beyond bad. Last night, Roy Oswalt, the NLCS MVP, had a complete meltdown and lost a 4-run lead in one inning. And after that--all the way through the 14th inning--the Astros had chance after chance after chance to win the game and failed every time. Now, that was partly due to decent pitching, but the White Sox pitchers were not dominant by any means. They didn't have to be when the Astros lineup as a whole acted as if they had never seen a slider. If I were Ozzie Guillen, I would tell my pitching staff to throw nothing but breaking balls, because the Astros showed last night that not only can they not hit them, they will swing at all of them.
There has been another difference maker in this Series. The White Sox hitters have shown tremendous patience and discipline at the plate. They are making the Astros throw lots of pitches and forcing them to throw strikes. The Astros' pitchers have, by contrast, shown a tendency to get frustrated and impatient, resulting in lots of balls or strikes that have been easy to hit.
If the Astros can all calm down and get their heads right, they could win the next two games. Hey, I'm trying to be optimistic.
posted by WCharles @ 10/26/2005 02:18:00 PM
4 Comments:
Well, the Sox should let the Astros win the next game so they can go back to Chicago for the final game.
Chicago tried to let Houston win last night, and the Astros simply could not close the deal.
And the White Sox just took the lead in the 8th, with Lidge once again giving up a run. I think every go-ahead or winning run they have scored has come with 2 outs. Yet another way in which Houston has utterly failed to close the deal.
And in the bottom of the 8th, the Astros ONCE AGAIN leave a runner on third.
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