Does Major League Baseball do steroid testing in the postseason? Maybe it should.
The hero of Game Two, Chicago White Sox left fielder Scott Podsednik, did not hit a single home run in over 500 regular season at-bats. Podsednik has now hit two dingers in the 2005 playoffs, including Sunday's game-winner off the Houston Astros' flamethrowing closer Brad Lidge.
Right now it seems the planets are aligned for a White Sox title in 2005. After benefiting from a bad call in Game Two of the American League Championship Series, Chicago once again lucked out in Game Two of the World Series when the home plate umpire claimed a 3-2 pitch hit batter Jermaine Dye, sending Dye to first and loading the bases. Replays showed the ball clearly bouncing off Dye's bat.
The call would lead to Houston's eventual downfall, as first baseman Paul Konerko - who has carried the Chicago offense all season - crushed a Chad Qualls pitch into the left field stands for a grand slam that gave the Chisox a 6-4 lead.
But questionable officiating shouldn't take anything away from Chicago. The White Sox have been both lucky and good this postseason. In fact, they couldn't have played much better in October, and almost every team that has success in the postseason benefits from luck at one point or another (just ask the 1996 New York Yankees and their friend Jeffrey Maier).
The White Sox got off to a lead in the series thanks to their dominant bullpen. Lefty Neal Cotts and righty closer Bobby Jenks absolutely shut down Houston in Game One, as the two pitchers combined to strike out five batters in two innings. Jenks had a bit of a hiccup in Game Two, but Podsednik bailed him out of trouble with the homer.
As a side note, Chicago owes much of its success to its ability to turn around the careers of previously-ineffective pitchers. Other teams gave up on two of the stars from Game One, as Jenks was waived by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Yankees dumped Jose Contreras. Dustin Hermanson, a 32-year-old veteran and the Sox' closer for much of the season, cranked out only one quality season in his career before this one (and that was in 1998). Yet all of these players have played pivotal roles to Chicago's success.
The big weakness for the White Sox in the regular season had been their offense, but weak bats have not held Chicago back so far in the postseason. Although Chicago's lineup doesn't dominate, it has been timely, and that's all the team really needs in the playoffs when it has such great pitching and defense.
Chicago's manager, Ozzie Guillen, has also done a nice job of not getting in the way of his players. Ozzie loves to put pressure on the opposing team and be aggressive, albeit sometimes too aggressive, on the bases. But in the postseason, he has run at the right times and not gotten out of control. He hasn't had to do much work with his starters completing so many games, but the few pitching changes he has made have been good ones. He has certainly outmanaged Astros skipper Phil Garner, who has made a number of head-scratching moves already in the first two games.
So as the Astros limp back to Houston, will they have a shot to turn this series around?
The final outcome now weighs very heavily on one player - Astros ace Roger Clemens. Clemens was the best pitcher in Major League Baseball in 2005, but after pulling his groin in Game One of the World Series, his status for the rest of the series is sketchy at best.
Houston has a good shot to take Game Three with 20-game winner Roy Oswalt on the mound. But in Game Four, Houston's lack of a quality fourth or fifth starter will play out as Chicago counters with Freddy Garcia, who has a strong track record of success.
If Houston stands a chance, it will need Clemens to come back and be at his best in Game Five. But even with Clemens at the top of his game, the Astros will find it extremely difficult to rally against Chicago's deep pitching staff.