| Ashok Ayyar. 30th October, 2005 - 12:14 am
 We just witnessed one team crush another by one run.
After game four?s 1-0 White Sox victory, I started to realize that winning close ones is more impressive than pounding the other team. In a World Series marked by close games and bum closers, the consistent ability of the White Sox to prevail over the Astros proved who was baseball?s best. The White Sox did it with great starting pitching, solid relief, and timely hitting. A team full of decent hitting always found somebody with the hot stick?think Pierzynski, Crede, Podsednik, Dye and Konerko. In the Astros?s dugout, only Berkman belonged in the company of these decent hitters.
The White Sox were not taken seriously even after they won the AL Central. Hopefully people respect what they did this season: 99 wins, 11-1 in the postseason. That?s convincing.
The Astros were not the best team in the NL?that honor clearly belonged to the Cardinals?but they were the hottest team into the playoffs. Behind surprise hitting from the likes of Ausmus, Lane, and Burke, the Astros outlasted the Braves and out-pitched the Cardinals. Oswalt, Clemens, Pettitte, AND Backe did their job in those series.
That?s where the fall classic differed from the pennant race. Even when Pettitte and Backe pitched great ball games, the Astros? meager hitting wasn?t doing enough to compensate. In those starts, the one unexpected run driven in by an Ausmus or a Burke in earlier series, was missing and would have made the difference. The Clemens and the Oswalt starts were also narrow games that better hitting could have saved, but the Astros?s stud pitchers, who led the majors in ERA, didn?t bring their best stuff and so are more accountable for the L. They simply allowed more runs than the Astros could match. Not by a lot, mind you, but the Astros? anemic offense could not produce when the going got tough and the nights grew late.
In sum, the Astros? hitting was overmatched by a deep and excellent White Sox staff. Conversely, the White Sox produced just enough scoring to leapfrog the Astros, game after game. Hence the sweep. Despite narrow wins, I believe there?s no margin for error in edging out your opponent four times in a row.
Management took some risky moves in 2005 that turned paid off. For one, without Morgan Ensberg?s 26 HR improvement, this Astros?s squad isn?t even in the playoffs. The other move was of course not over-paying Carlos Beltran. Beltran went on to have a high-wage mediocre season with the Mets this season.
But honestly Mr. Purpura, Vizcaino and Everett at SS? Orlando Palmeiro as the first guy off the bench? Lamb, Lane, Ausmus and even Biggio? None of these guys are respectable hitters, even at the level that the White Sox?s Carl Everett is. Add that to a MIA Ensberg in the playoffs, and without air-tight pitching this team was sunk even before the WS started.
2006 is a season of promise if they can bring back Clemens and add two quality bats. Losing Jeff Kent to the Dodgers hurt more than many thought?his power and runs batted in could have made a huge difference. The $18 million the team paid to Jeff Bagwell in 2005 looks like an egregious accounting error, but it?s true. Bagwell will never be worth half of that again, and he sure looked much less than that in the World Series. The Astros should have the extra cash, though, to make a push for a couple big namers. I?ll keep you posted throughout the off-season on that score.
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Ashok Ayyar can be reached at ashok33@gmail.com.
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