At this time last year, a team that had not won a Word Series title in 86 years made its push towards October success. This year, another group of curse breakers are at it again. The Chicago White Sox inched closer to its first title since 1917 over the last weekend after beating the Anaheim Angels in a series marred by controversy. In spite of the Angels’ complaints, the White Sox, the better team, deserve to be where they are: competing for a championship. One common theme throughout the 2005 ALCS was the poor umpiring. Between the infamous catch/no-catch incident involving Angels’ catcher Josh Paul and the AJ Pierzynski’s catchers interference in game four that was not called, the Anaheim Angels had plenty to complain about. But it was not the umpires that gave up Joe Crede’s walk-off double in the ninth inning in game two, or turned the crucial double play in game four off the catcher interference incident. The White Sox won because of its ability to capitalize on situations thrown at it, whether they were caused by poor Angels play or bad umpiring. A great team adjusts to the situation presented to it, something the White Sox did, but the Angels did not. Even though the umpiring in the series was awful, it was not as bad as the Angels’s offense. The Halos mustered only 11 runs in five games with a .175 batting average. The White Sox starting staff was nothing short of amazing, pitching 44 1/3 innings out of a possible 45. The starters kept the Angels off the base paths, a place where the Halos thrive with flawless execution of small ball; the losers only had two stolen bases in the series. The combination of Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia and John Garland held the Angels’s most dangerous hitter, Vladimir Guerrero, to one hit in the entire series. The Sox staff shut down the pulse of the Angels lineup, leaving its hitting lifeless and pitching staff hopeless. The White Sox outplayed the Angels in every facet of the game; pitching, hitting and defense (the Angels committed seven errors to the White Sox’s two). The White Sox deserve to be where they are regardless of blown calls. The team is good enough to bring a World Series title back to Chicago…the White Sox are for real.
