Game 4, 2005 World Series

[Rowand44]

Enjoy.

[The Sir]

Damn. It's blacked out in my area. Well, I'll watch Boys In The Hall on FSSouth. It's on Bob Feller right now; he sounds like an awesome dude.

[elgonzo4sox]

"Big Game" Freddy looking awfully good tonight...

[GoSox05]

I still get nervous when I watch this.

[kjshoe04]

I love Juan Uribe.

[South Side Fireworks Man]

I love Juan Uribe.

He was great with the Sox at every position he played. They haven't had a better fielding SS, 2b, or 3b since he's been gone. Wish he were still here.

 

And he was a good hitter too, except when he listened to Walker.

[RockRaines]

He was great with the Sox at every position he played. They haven't had a better fielding SS, 2b, or 3b since he's been gone. Wish he were still here.

 

And he was a good hitter too, except when he listened to Walker.

Except for Crede and the middle infield we have now, you are correct.

[RockRaines]

And if anybody watched it or taped it, did they show a story about a guy going to the bathroom during Konerko's grand slam? Because that was my season ticket partner and I submitted the story.

[South Side Fireworks Man]

Except for Crede and the middle infield we have now, you are correct.

Juan played 3B for the Sox after Crede was gone. He's better than Morel even though I think Morel is pretty good at third. And I'd take Juan over Alexei at SS and Beckham at 2B easily. Not knocking either one but Alexei can be erratic and Beckham isn't quite as good as Juan was at 2B. Alexei and Gordon are damn good fielders, but Juan was even better - and you couldn't beat his arm.

[LittleHurt05]

I caught the last 3 innings, a few observations that no one will care about:

 

-In that 8th inning, you could see the wheels already coming off on Politte/Cotts. How the hell did the Sox get sub-2.00 ERA seasons out of those two jokers?

 

-Juan. Uribe. I forgot about that great play to end the 8th as well.

 

-I think he had the Tommy John, but Brandon Backe really fell off the radar quickly. I thought he'd be a solid starter for a while, had some great playoff performances.

 

 

[GreatScott82]

He was great with the Sox at every position he played. They haven't had a better fielding SS, 2b, or 3b since he's been gone. Wish he were still here.

 

And he was a good hitter too, except when he listened to Walker.

Hey now. The dodgers are 11 games back. I can see them trying to move Uribe before the deadline You have to give Uribe credit. He isn't the best player in the world, but when it counts, he sure comes through! He now has 2 rings to show for it.

[Milkman delivers]

I caught the last 3 innings, a few observations that no one will care about:

 

-In that 8th inning, you could see the wheels already coming off on Politte/Cotts. How the hell did the Sox get sub-2.00 ERA seasons out of those two jokers?

 

-Juan. Uribe. I forgot about that great play to end the 8th as well.

 

-I think he had the Tommy John, but Brandon Backe really fell off the radar quickly. I thought he'd be a solid starter for a while, had some great playoff performances.

 

I remember thinking exactly that.

[Steve9347]

I saw this on last night and it made me happy. I, thankfully, have the DVDs. I wish they'd release them in bluray and properly formatted to fit the screen widescreen instead of weirdly formatted with the black bars, but I doubt there's enough demand to warrant another run.

[fathom]

I caught the last 3 innings, a few observations that no one will care about:

 

-In that 8th inning, you could see the wheels already coming off on Politte/Cotts. How the hell did the Sox get sub-2.00 ERA seasons out of those two jokers?

 

-Juan. Uribe. I forgot about that great play to end the 8th as well.

 

-I think he had the Tommy John, but Brandon Backe really fell off the radar quickly. I thought he'd be a solid starter for a while, had some great playoff performances.

 

Some great observations here hurt, especially the second point. That was a gigantic play by Uribe, even more important than the final out of the game. As for Cotts, I still say he had the luckiest season I can ever recall. Case in point, the strike out in game 1 against Ensberg. I'm still not sure how he missed that final pitch.

[chw42]

Some great observations here hurt, especially the second point. That was a gigantic play by Uribe, even more important than the final out of the game. As for Cotts, I still say he had the luckiest season I can ever recall. Case in point, the strike out in game 1 against Ensberg. I'm still not sure how he missed that final pitch.

 

Cotts was lucky that year, but he wasn't THAT lucky. He still had a 2.95 FIP, which is pretty damn good. Politte was lucky as hell. 3.75 FIP. Both had low as hell BABIPs and very high strand rates (especially Politte).

 

Those two are the perfect example of relievers riding a luck streak for a whole season and then falling apart in later seasons. You can't outrun your true talent forever.

Edited July 14, 2011 by chw42

[fathom]

Cotts was lucky that year, but he wasn't THAT lucky. He still had a 2.95 FIP, which is pretty damn good. Politte was lucky as hell. 3.75 FIP. Both had low as hell BABIPs and very high strand rates (especially Politte).

 

Those two are the perfect example of relievers riding a luck streak for a whole season and then falling apart in later seasons. You can't outrun your true talent forever.

 

I'm not saying Cotts got lucky with a lot of hard hit balls at defenders (that would have been Hermanson). Rather, I can't believe a lefty who throws 91 mph high fastballs nearly every pitch only allowed one homer all year.

[Steve9347]

I'm not saying Cotts got lucky with a lot of hard hit balls at defenders (that would have been Hermanson). Rather, I can't believe a lefty who throws 91 mph high fastballs nearly every pitch only allowed one homer all year.

This is the way of relievers. Sometimes they get really, really lucky.

[chw42]

I'm not saying Cotts got lucky with a lot of hard hit balls at defenders (that would have been Hermanson). Rather, I can't believe a lefty who throws 91 mph high fastballs nearly every pitch only allowed one homer all year.

 

He had a deceptive delivery. But hitters will adjust to that, which is pretty much what they did after 05. xFIP thought Cotts would regress after 05 and of course...he did and ended up giving up a HR on 18% of his fly balls in 06.

 

Hermanson was another lucky SOB. The Sox just had everything go right for them that year. Plus, remember when Buehrle appeared to have broken his foot in ST and was going to be out for like two months? He shutout the Indians on opening day. 2005 was a true gift from the baseball gods.

[chw42]

This is the way of relievers. Sometimes they get really, really lucky.

 

Which is why it's stupid to throw money at any reliever without a good history (like Benoit).

Edited July 14, 2011 by chw42

[GoSox05]

Every team that wins a championship has odd things go their way or a bad player have a good year.

 

 

[hogan873]

I'm not saying Cotts got lucky with a lot of hard hit balls at defenders (that would have been Hermanson). Rather, I can't believe a lefty who throws 91 mph high fastballs nearly every pitch only allowed one homer all year.

It was probably the hair.

[lasttriptotulsa]

He had a deceptive delivery. But hitters will adjust to that, which is pretty much what they did after 05. xFIP thought Cotts would regress after 05 and of course...he did and ended up giving up a HR on 18% of his fly balls in 06.

 

Hermanson was another lucky SOB. The Sox just had everything go right for them that year. Plus, remember when Buehrle appeared to have broken his foot in ST and was going to be out for like two months? He shutout the Indians on opening day. 2005 was a true gift from the baseball gods.

 

Not quite everything went right. We did play the majority of the season without our biggest star and future hall of famer. Can you imagine if they had The Big Hurt even at 75% for the whole year? They would have won 105 games easy.

[chw42]

Every team that wins a championship has odd things go their way or a bad player have a good year.

 

The entire White Sox pitching staff had a good year. How many of the guys in that bullpen are playing today? Jenks and Marte are the only guys still on ML rosters and neither is good. Jose Contreras had one good half after 05 and was mediocre to bad as a starter afterwards. Freddy Garcia struggled to throw 90 after that season and hasn't had a full season with an ERA under 4.5 since. Jon Garland has struggled to to have an ERA below 4.5 as well. Buehrle is the only guy that has been reliable and fairly consistent since that season.

 

It was a roster of a lot of mediocre pitchers that all turned out great seasons.

[chw42]

Not quite everything went right. We did play the majority of the season without our biggest star and future hall of famer. Can you imagine if they had The Big Hurt even at 75% for the whole year? They would have won 105 games easy.

A healthy Frank would have definitely made that lineup dangerous. But the pitching staff overachieving was the main reason that team won 99 games and won the WS.

[Rowand44]

The entire White Sox pitching staff had a good year. How many of the guys in that bullpen are playing today? Jenks and Marte are the only guys still on ML rosters and neither is good. Jose Contreras had one good half after 05 and was mediocre to bad as a starter afterwards. Freddy Garcia struggled to throw 90 after that season and hasn't had a full season with an ERA under 4.5 since. Jon Garland has struggled to to have an ERA below 4.5 as well. Buehrle is the only guy that has been reliable and fairly consistent since that season.

 

It was a roster of a lot of mediocre pitchers that all turned out great seasons.

Eh, the starting rotation was pretty damn good actually. Garcia was a very good pitcher up until that point and Contreras had clearly turned the proverbial corner. If he had not got injured in 06, he was proving to be just as dominant. The only pitcher that imo pitched in the rotation who was better than he probably should have been was Jon Garland.