White Sox Sweep Red Sox, Then Wait
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Oct 10, 2005 12:30PM
While our Bean Town siblings warned us about counting our eggs before they hatched, we spent the weekend grilling up some nice chicken dinners in the Chicagoist HQ as the White Sox beat the Red Sox 5-3 Friday afternoon, sweeping the American League Divisional Series. The Red Sox reign is over, only a season after snapping their 86-year curse. A new champion will be crowned. Could it be the White Sox, ending our own 88-year curse?While the White Sox added an insurance run on a perfectly executed squeeze play in the top of the 9th, Chicagoist still let out a huge sign of relief as rookie Bobby Jenks got Edgar Renteria to ground out to second to end the game. The White Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to see Boston tie it up at 2-2. A Konerko home run made it 4-2, but a second Manny Ramirez homer made it 4-3 and then Boston loaded the bases with no outs against Damaso Marte. Orlando Hernandez -- almost left off the playoff roster in favor of rookie Brandon McCarthy -- relieved him and got out of the jam unscathed. So until that last out was in the books, anything was possible.
With the Sox having moved on to the ALCS, they had a whole weekend off to prepare for either the New York Yankees or the L.A. Angels. That series is supposed to begin Tuesday night, but with those teams having been rained out on Saturday in New York and having to play Game 5 in L.A. tomorrow there's talk of pushing the game back until Wednesday.
As the city gears up for Soxtober, Chicagoist kindly reminds the Cubs fans to stay off the bandwagon. You had your chance in 2003 and would have had your World Series appearance we it not for some poor fielding on the field and in the stands. We stayed off the Cubs bandwagon, letting you fantasize like the working stiff who's just purchased his ticket for a $250 million Powerball Drawing. We instead withstood the glares as we cheered on the Marlins in a North Side bar.
Now it's time for the Sox fans to have our chance to come face to face with the highs and lows of emotion that only Chicago sports teams can provide. If the Sox will come up short, Chicago baseball fans will continue to commiserate in our shared misfortune. On the other hand, when the Sox win it all we'll gloat that the Cubs are alone in their cursedness. And we want any Cubs fans thinking they can switch sides to avoid that!
Photo via Yahoo!News