11/21/24
October 15, 2005
Chicago is One Win Away With 8-2 Win Over "L.A.": "At long last, the Chicago White Sox seem to have figured out how to make it back to the World Series: great pitching and big home runs, with lucky breaks from the umps sprinkled in."
posted by kirkaracha to baseball at 10:35 PM - 9 comments
Finley should have run it out instead of arguing with the umpire as he was running to first. He was only out by half a step, and he would've been safe if he hadn't been bitching. Exactly. He had two options, and he did neither of them: 1) Run like hell to first base. After you touch first base, THEN complain about the missed call. 2) Try the Pierzynski mind-trick. After having made contact with the ball, stop and lay the bat down and walk over to first base. While doing so, indicate calmly to your first base coach (and the 1st base umpire) that it was catcher interference. Don't even look back at the home plate umpire. Just assume he saw it as well. Obviously, the first option is the better one. But I wonder what would have happened if he'd tried the second one...
posted by grum@work at 11:22 PM on October 15, 2005
Same ol' story. Great white sox pitching, awful angel hitting, terrible umpiring. Could the umpiring be any worse? If the angels would have kept the game just a little closer, they'd really have reason to complain. The interference call was huge, a real rally killer in their most promising inning. At least one angel run shouldn't have scored. "It might of just nicked it," Pierzynski said. "It was so loud, the umpire couldn't hear it." I'm guessing he made that ridiculous statement before he saw the replay.
posted by justgary at 12:30 AM on October 16, 2005
I'm quasi-rooting for the Angels, and all the Umpiring mistakes would really make me angry if the Angels were doing anything, anything at all, to at least pretend like they were a World Seires worthy team.
posted by uglatto at 12:39 AM on October 16, 2005
Yeah, it's hard to claim umpiring is changing anything when you're down 3-1 and have been thoroughly thrashed by the Sox starter's going CG in every game but one- when Contreras "only" went 8 1/3. Uglatto's right; the umpiring is a little rough, but not so you can excuse the drubbing the Angels are getting. They might try to claim that if the umpiring were better they'd surely be 2-2 right now instead of 1-3, but c'mon: at some point, you the players take responsibility for the game. They've not lost a game yet on one single call; they've simply let the calls become focus points and excuses for being beaten so thoroughly. Kind of scary pitching from the Sox right now; if they wrap this up and 5 and the Cards push the 'stros a little more, Chicago will be well rested with a FANTASTICALLY well rested bullpen for the Series.
posted by hincandenza at 01:08 AM on October 16, 2005
well blow me down matey BURY THOSE ANGEL BUMS
posted by FrankySP at 05:02 AM on October 16, 2005
Two things. First, the umpires are not beating the Angels. For the most part, the White Sox are outplaying the Angels in most every aspect of the game, and to a lesser extent, the Angels are beating themselves. They are not playing the way they have all year and right now they look like a beaten team. It won't suprise me if the White Sox sweep them (all three games in Anaheim,er.. LA, er.. California). Secondly, has anyone thought about the ex-White Sox player connection in the post season blunders/controversy situations thus far? The Tony Graffinino error in ALDS, and the Josh Paul dropped third strike call in Chicago? Think someone's still on the payroll?
posted by Shoalbaby at 08:11 AM on October 16, 2005
Secondly, has anyone thought about the ex-White Sox player connection in the post season blunders/controversy situations thus far? The Tony Graffinino error in ALDS, and the Josh Paul dropped third strike call in Chicago? Think someone's still on the payroll? Well, the White Sox do have a history of players being paid to throw playoff games...
posted by grum@work at 10:54 AM on October 16, 2005
the Chi-Sox are just flat outplaying the hapless Angels! It's just that simple. No offense and no Colon or any consistent pitching is making this series a joke. I havent seen the Angels look this bad since the 90's! Then again, the Sox have a potent offense and solid pitching..much like the Marlins teams that won 2 series. It's over in 5 and I predict the Sox and Astros will make a pretty good World Series with the Sox winning in 6-7 games.
posted by bluekarma at 11:22 AM on October 16, 2005
There were three bad calls against the Angels: the missed catcher's interference call when Steve Finley was batting, the incorrect safe call when the Angels picked Scott Podsednik off first, and the incorrect safe call when they tagged Podsednik out as he was trying to steal second. It sucks for the Angels that the calls have gone against them, but all of that happened after the White Sox scored three runs in the first, and the Angels only scored two runs the entire game. The White Sox scored as many runs this game as the Angels have scored the entire series. Finley should have run it out instead of arguing with the umpire as he was running to first. He was only out by half a step, and he would've been safe if he hadn't been bitching. The White Sox' starting pitchers have been great (three consecutive complete games for the first time since 1973), they're hitting and running well, and they're playing good defense. They're just better than the Angels.