GaryMrMets
10-23-2005, 04:40 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/story/358469p-305471c.html
Guillen's gang is
something special
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/columnists/harper_j.jpg
CHICAGO - Bobby Jenks finished off one of the most remarkable innings of any World Series with a fastball that hit 100 mph on the scoreboard radar gun, and U.S. Cellular Field shook with the kind of noise that sounded like Yankee Stadium on so many October nights.
It seemed appropriate. The White Sox, thought to be a little soft, certainly vulnerable in this postseason, look more and more like a championship team in the manner of those great Yankee teams of the recent past.
You thought they were all about starting pitching after their history-making ALCS, and then last night they showed you defense that was both clutch and brilliant, and a bullpen that was untouchable when anything less would have meant a tie game.
"They say they don't see my bullpen," Ozzie Guillen chortled afterward, referring to the four complete games by White Sox starters against the Angels. "Well, now they see it."
Three straight strikeouts, two by lefty Neal Cotts, one by the righty Jenks, with the tying run on third base will go down as one of the great sequences of World Series history. At the very least it was the signature moment of a 5-3 victory over the Astros in Game 1.
Most of all, it stamped the White Sox as clear favorites over the Astros, and perhaps as a team on the verge of greatness, as the hyped pitching matchup between Roger Clemens and Jose Contreras turned into a showcase for what folks in this city call Ozzie Ball.
"You just saw a Chicago baseball game," was the way Guillen summed it up. "That's how we win. We build this team on pitching and defense. That's our game."
Maybe it would have been different had Clemens been on his game. But he is a power pitcher with a balky hamstring, and apparently even the Rocket can't will himself above the aches and pains of being 43 years old.
He tried to make everyone believe he could. On Friday he had stared hard at a reporter who asked if the hamstring might be a problem in Game 1, and then delivered an answer in the John Wayne fashion that defines his personality.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "I don't care how my body feels at this time of year. If you need aspirin, if you need more heat, if you need more ice, this is the time you get it, and you don't ask questions."
Apparently his hamstring didn't get the message. So Clemens was gone after two ineffective innings last night, and so was the enticing prospect of a duel with Contreras. From a New York perspective, it stole much of the drama out of Game 1: the two ex-Yankees, one an American legend, the other emerging finally in recent weeks to live up to all the hype as a Cuban legend.
But then came the late innings and World Series drama that you wouldn't have wanted to miss.
Oh, Contreras earned the win and added to his reputation as a changed pitcher, perhaps never again to be condemned as a guy who couldn't perform on the big stage. He wasn't as dominant as he had been lately, but he was good enough to go seven-plus innings.
But the defense and the bullpen were the difference.
Crede looked like some combination of Graig Nettles and Brooks Robinson, making diving plays to get Contreras out of jams in both the sixth and seventh innings.
And then Cotts and Jenks made a lie of any suggestion that nearly two weeks without work for the bullpen would wind up costing the White Sox.
Cotts, the lefthander, did the hardest work, striking out Morgan Ensberg and Mike Lamb when a fly ball or even a ground ball would have tied the game at 4-4. But while Cotts should get credit for a rescue, it is Jenks who makes this place rock the way Mariano Rivera makes the Stadium rock.
The barrel-chested rookie has come out of nowhere to give the Sox a power closer, and maybe the hardest thrower in the game right now. His rotund physique is just part of a fast-growing mystique that Guillen added to last night by signaling for him from the bullpen in unique fashion - gesturing with his arms that he wanted his full-figured righthander.
"I don't want to embarrass the kid," Guillen said with a laugh, when asked about his gesture. "But I wanted the big boy."
Jenks hardly was embarrassed. He revels in his image as a country hard-baller.
Far from intimidated facing Jeff Bagwell, Jenks then proceeded to add the wow factor to the inning, hitting 100 mph as he struck Bagwell out swinging. All fastballs.
"I was just going off the scouting report," Jenks said. "He chases fastballs above the zone, so I was going with my strength and his weakness."
For good measure, he struck out two more Astros in the ninth, again at 100 mph. Again U.S. Cellular Field sounded like the Bronx. Perhaps for good reason.
Originally published on October 23, 2005
Guillen's gang is
something special
http://www.nydailynews.com/images/columnists/harper_j.jpg
CHICAGO - Bobby Jenks finished off one of the most remarkable innings of any World Series with a fastball that hit 100 mph on the scoreboard radar gun, and U.S. Cellular Field shook with the kind of noise that sounded like Yankee Stadium on so many October nights.
It seemed appropriate. The White Sox, thought to be a little soft, certainly vulnerable in this postseason, look more and more like a championship team in the manner of those great Yankee teams of the recent past.
You thought they were all about starting pitching after their history-making ALCS, and then last night they showed you defense that was both clutch and brilliant, and a bullpen that was untouchable when anything less would have meant a tie game.
"They say they don't see my bullpen," Ozzie Guillen chortled afterward, referring to the four complete games by White Sox starters against the Angels. "Well, now they see it."
Three straight strikeouts, two by lefty Neal Cotts, one by the righty Jenks, with the tying run on third base will go down as one of the great sequences of World Series history. At the very least it was the signature moment of a 5-3 victory over the Astros in Game 1.
Most of all, it stamped the White Sox as clear favorites over the Astros, and perhaps as a team on the verge of greatness, as the hyped pitching matchup between Roger Clemens and Jose Contreras turned into a showcase for what folks in this city call Ozzie Ball.
"You just saw a Chicago baseball game," was the way Guillen summed it up. "That's how we win. We build this team on pitching and defense. That's our game."
Maybe it would have been different had Clemens been on his game. But he is a power pitcher with a balky hamstring, and apparently even the Rocket can't will himself above the aches and pains of being 43 years old.
He tried to make everyone believe he could. On Friday he had stared hard at a reporter who asked if the hamstring might be a problem in Game 1, and then delivered an answer in the John Wayne fashion that defines his personality.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "I don't care how my body feels at this time of year. If you need aspirin, if you need more heat, if you need more ice, this is the time you get it, and you don't ask questions."
Apparently his hamstring didn't get the message. So Clemens was gone after two ineffective innings last night, and so was the enticing prospect of a duel with Contreras. From a New York perspective, it stole much of the drama out of Game 1: the two ex-Yankees, one an American legend, the other emerging finally in recent weeks to live up to all the hype as a Cuban legend.
But then came the late innings and World Series drama that you wouldn't have wanted to miss.
Oh, Contreras earned the win and added to his reputation as a changed pitcher, perhaps never again to be condemned as a guy who couldn't perform on the big stage. He wasn't as dominant as he had been lately, but he was good enough to go seven-plus innings.
But the defense and the bullpen were the difference.
Crede looked like some combination of Graig Nettles and Brooks Robinson, making diving plays to get Contreras out of jams in both the sixth and seventh innings.
And then Cotts and Jenks made a lie of any suggestion that nearly two weeks without work for the bullpen would wind up costing the White Sox.
Cotts, the lefthander, did the hardest work, striking out Morgan Ensberg and Mike Lamb when a fly ball or even a ground ball would have tied the game at 4-4. But while Cotts should get credit for a rescue, it is Jenks who makes this place rock the way Mariano Rivera makes the Stadium rock.
The barrel-chested rookie has come out of nowhere to give the Sox a power closer, and maybe the hardest thrower in the game right now. His rotund physique is just part of a fast-growing mystique that Guillen added to last night by signaling for him from the bullpen in unique fashion - gesturing with his arms that he wanted his full-figured righthander.
"I don't want to embarrass the kid," Guillen said with a laugh, when asked about his gesture. "But I wanted the big boy."
Jenks hardly was embarrassed. He revels in his image as a country hard-baller.
Far from intimidated facing Jeff Bagwell, Jenks then proceeded to add the wow factor to the inning, hitting 100 mph as he struck Bagwell out swinging. All fastballs.
"I was just going off the scouting report," Jenks said. "He chases fastballs above the zone, so I was going with my strength and his weakness."
For good measure, he struck out two more Astros in the ninth, again at 100 mph. Again U.S. Cellular Field sounded like the Bronx. Perhaps for good reason.
Originally published on October 23, 2005