One Down, Three to Go!!

White Sox 5, Astros 3

October 22, 2005

BY RONALD BLUM ASSOCIATED PRESS

Yes, the Chicago White Sox do indeed have a bullpen, and they have the lead in the World Series, too.

Neal Cotts and Bobby Jenks got out of an eighth-inning jam, Joe Crede hit a go-ahead homer and saved two runs with a pair of diving stops and the White Sox beat the Houston Astros 5-3 on Saturday night in Chicago's first World Series game since 1959.

On a night when 43-year-old Roger Clemens hoped to become the oldest pitcher to win a World Series game, the Rocket hobbled off after just two innings, done in by the hamstring injury that has hampered him since early September.

Jose Contreras of the White Sox allowed three runs in seven-plus innings and tied a Series record by hitting three batters.

Chicago had pitched four straight complete games in finishing off the Angels in the AL championship series, a feat not achieved in a postseason series since 1956. The White Sox used their bullpen for just two outs and seven pitches against Los Angeles. But Willy Taveras hit a leadoff double off Contreras in the eighth with Houston trailing 4-3, and manager Ozzie Guillen took him out after 81 pitches.

Left-hander Neal Cotts, the only reliever used by Chicago against the Angels, came in and allowed a sharp single to left by Lance Berkman, a ball hit so hard that Taveras had to hold at third.

Cotts then struck out Morgan Ensberg and Mike Lamb, and the right-handed rookie Jenks came in to face Jeff Bagwell, with Guillen making his usual signal of raising both arms high and wide to signal for the burly reliever.

Throwing fastballs that reached 100 mph, Jenks struck out Bagwell on a 2-2 pitch, raising his right hand and pumping a fist as he came off the mound.

Scott Podsednik added an RBI triple in the ninth against Russ Springer to boost the margin.

Crede had broken a 3-3 tie in the fourth inning with a solo homer off Clemens' replacement, 26-year-old rookie Wandy Rodriguez. As the ball went just over the glove of a leaping Taveras in left-center, Crede strolled around the bases, and Chicago was truly a toddlin' town.

Crede then sprawled to make a backhand grab on Ensberg's hard grounder with a runner at third and one out in the sixth. With runners at the corners and two outs in the seventh, he made another backhand play on Craig Biggio, in his 18th season with Houston and appearing in his first World Series game.