World Series Preview....

Houston Astros vs. Chicago White Sox



Matchups(subject to change):
Game 1, Clemens v. Contreras
Game 2, Pettitte v. Buehrle
Game 3, Garland v. Oswalt
Game 4, Garcia v. Backe
Game 5, Contreras v. Clemens
Game 6, Pettitte v. Buehrle
Game 7, Oswalt v. Garland



Well through the first two rounds of the baseball playoffs I only made one correct prediction, the Astros over Atlanta in 4. The next closest to correct prediction I made was the 'stros in 6 in the NLCS, unfortunately i had them over the Padres, not the Cardinals - but I think I can work with that one. When it boils down to getting the series winners I was 4-2 getting the Angels, White Sox, Astros, and Astros correct. Maybe things just weren't meant for me to go 6 for 6 this postseason as the Pads revealed that Jake Peavy broke a rib celebrated thier NL West championship....after he got lit up by Reggie Sanders in Game 1. Would Bartolo Colon throwing 2-3 games in the ALCS have helped the Angels, probably not the way the White Sox played in the series - especially with the horseshoe that has been prominently stuck up their ass all of October, but i would have liked to see what he could have done against his former team.

Alas, you can't pick 'em all, but maybe I can go 5 for 7 this year. Originally picking the Astros in 7 in the world series, I'm not going to go back on that pick, but lets say that the degree of difficulty for them to win has risen in the past three weeks. The White Sox have been playing well in the postseason, and have gotton more than thier share of luck on thier side. But you need a little luck to win in the postseason, and there's no asterik next to the champ in the record books if they had lady luck on thier side during a series. Can the White keep up thier great starting pitching with timely hitting and catch a few breaks along the way? Thats the question that will be answered in the next 10 days.

The White Sox already have luck on thier side as they catch a major break since Houston cannot put Roy Oswalt out there in Game 1, where he could have possibly pitched three games in the series. Oswalt is a top 5 pitching in MLB and is hands-down the best pitcher that toed the rubber during this postseason. He'll most likely be pitching games 3 and 7 for Houston, if it goes that far. The Sox DO NOT want to be facing Oswalt in a game 7, no matter where its played, so it is imperative that they close the series in 6 games or less. The major factor in this World Series is how Roger Clemens hamstring will respond in Game 1 at the Cell. It is supposed to be damp and in the 40's in Chicago for that game and Clemens' hammy is injured to the point that it severly slowed him down during his game 3 start in Houston. If Clemens doesn't feel any after-effects of that pulled hamstring during his start he could add to his career 3-0, 1.90 ERA in the World Series. If not, the White Sox will probably take the early advantege in this series. But Clemens isn't the only pitcher hurt for the Astros in this series. Not counting the ego of Brad Lidge after giving up a 800 foot bomb to lose game 5 of the NLCS, Andy Pettitte has been trying to work off a leg injury which saw him limit the size of his leg kick to his disadvantege. It was noticable in his postseason starts up to that aforementioned game 5, where he looked more like he had during the regular season, but if its not 100%, or acts up again during his next couple of starts - this could be a short series in favor of the White Sox.

On the offensive side of things these teams are fairly equal, especially with the breakout of Chris Burke and Criag Biggio playing like he's 33 years old again. If Morgan Ensberg figures out that he used to hit with power that could be trouble for the Sox pitchers as that adds another weapon for Houston. Right now Paul Konerko is bashing left and right as he sees the dollar signs for his contract this offseason getting higher and higher while everyone else on the team, including the much maligned on the South-Side Joe Crede, is getting the timely hit. Both teams have speed guys at the top, some pop in the middle, and timely hitting in the back end (with the sox getting the edge here). It's amazing how close these two teams are all-around. The major x-factor will be how good Jeff Bagwell will be DH'ing during the games in Chicago. He has the ability to swing the offensive side of things towards the 'stros.

The edge for the bullpen has to go to the Astros for two reasons. One, the sox relief pitchers have thrown 2/3 of an inning since October 8th. TWO-THIRDS OF AN INNING IN TWO WEEKS. Thats insane, but will it be a detriment if they have to pitch in this series, for some of the guys, especially thier rookie closer Bobby Jenks, it probably will. And two, the Astros have better 7th, 8th, and 9th inning guys on thier team. Thier set-up tandem of Chad Qualls and Dan Wheeler, and closer Brad Lidge are dominant. Lidge may have given up the bomb to Pujols in game 5, he was to juiced during that outing and overthrew his slider, causing it to not slide - which is something he can probably learn from to use during this series. Power pitching usually gets it done in the late innings of the postseason and Lidge and 8th inning man Wheeler are getting 12 and 9 k/9 this postseason. Even though Lidge was gotton to by the Cardinals in two of his appearances in the NLCS he is still better than anyone the White Sox can throw out there in the 9th.

So for the breakdown of edges we have:

Starting Pitching - White Sox (slight edge)
Relief Pitching - Astros
Offense - White Sox (slight edge)
Defense - White Sox
Managers - pick'em - both of these managers fly by the seats of thier pants
Intangibles - Theres a lot going for both sides here. The Sox making thier first series since '59. The 'stros making thier first series ever. The Sox benifiting from many close to questionable calls during the playoffs. The Astros coming back from a blow in game 5 of the NLCS that many teams cannot recover from. The Astros can also ralley around the fact that this is probably Roger Clemens last few games and the fact that Bagwell and Biggio have finally made it. Negative points for both side since these two teams have two of the most notoriously cheap owners in the game in Drayton McClaine and Jerry Riensdorf, niether team should win just for that reason alone. However the Sox get more negative points for making a Journey song thier theme of the playoffs as well as a media and fan bandwagon that became longer than the Oregon trail. Plus always remember that the baseball gods like to lull you into a sense of well-being before dropping the hammer - but what happens when two teams that have been bowled over by them in the past get together? We'll soon find out. Astros get the edge here.


Fun Fact

- Earlier this season Craig Biggio joined the exclusive club of having playing 2500 regular season games without appearing in the World Series. Till the Astros pennant win in Game 6 of the NLCS joining him on that list were Rafeal Palmerio, Andre Dawson, and Ernie Banks. Care to take a guess at what those three guys have in common?