ALCS WRAP

By Dean Swanton

White Sox pitching dominates series When stellar pitching faces weak hitting you are not going to have much of a series. That's exactly what the American League Championship Series turned out to be-not much of a series. After losing game 1 of the ALCS to the Anaheim Angels, the Chicago White Sox swept the next four contests, backed by complete game outings from starters Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras.

The White Sox captured their first AL pennant since 1959. They will attempt to win their first World Series title since 1917 when they begin the Fall Classic Saturday evening (October 22 7:30 PM EST) at U.S. Cellular Field.

The White Sox will have five full days of rest before taking on the winner of the NLCS. To say that the White Sox bullpen will be well rested would be an understatement. Other than the two thirds of an inning of relief that Neal Cotts pitched in game 1 of the series, the Sox pen was full of pitchers relegated to being spectators. Closer Bobby Jenks should be pretty fresh if called upon for a save in game 1 of the World Series.

As much as the tremendous White Sox pitching was a story in this series, the Angels offense was a story in itself. The Angels hit a collective .175 in the series and slugger Vladimir Guerrero hit .050. Guerrero managed a single base hit in his 20 at bats. The Angels other big bat Garret Anderson wasn't much better. He went 3 for 17 (.176) in the series and drove in 2 runs. The Angels scored a paltry 11 runs in the series. This simply was not good enough against a White Sox team that has seemed to be on a mission since they swept the Cleveland Indians the final weekend of the regular season, and then dismantled the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox in 3 straight games in the opening round of post season play. Whether it's the Houston Astros or the St. Louis Cardinals that have to face the Pale Hose in the World Series, they will be up against one mighty and determined foe.

The domination that the White Sox had over the Angels in the last 4 games of the series took the focus off the incident that transpired at the end of game 2. We all know what happened so there is no need to recount the details but home plate umpire Greg Eddings call (or non-call) would have ended up being more significant if the series would have went 6 or 7 games. There were other umpire calls that seemed to go against the Angels, but manager Mike Scioscia and his team only have to look at their anemic offense for a place to blame. The winter begins for the Angels with questions as to why they failed to make it to the World Series for the second straight season even though owner Arte Moreno has provided the financial backing to field a powerhouse.

For the White Sox, they will begin preparations to erase 88 years of frustration. The White Sox last won the World Series in 1917 when they defeated the New York Giants in 6 games. That White Sox team included all 8 of the players that would be accused of throwing the World Series two years later.

The 2005 Chicago White Sox team includes the likes of Paul Konerko who was named the ALCS MVP after driving in 7 runs in the series. Names like Crede, Dye, Iguchi , Pierzynski, Podsednik, Rowand and Uribe don the back of the White Sox uniforms these days. These 8 players are fixin' something themselves and that is plans for a World Series parade on the South Side of Chicago two weeks from now.

This isn't the other team from Chicago anymore.