#9 Black day in Houston -- the White Sox win.

Sorry about the delay in posting. With the Series on, I haven't made much time for anything else.
Now, we all know the White Sox swept the Astros in four games. But that doesn't mean they were dominant. They just had most of the breaks go their way; all the games were close; the Astros didn't lose by more than two runs in any game. The Sox just got the hits when they needed them, the defensive plays when they needed them, and the right pitching when they needed it. The ONLY thing I would have done differently for Game 4 was switch Lance Berkman and Morgan Ensberg in the order: Lance to 4th, Mo to 3rd, so that the Sox couldn't pitch around Lance like they did tonight to get to Mo. Now, I like Morgan. I even had him on my fantasy team, but he went STONE COLD after the NLDS. Save for the home run in Game 2, he's been a dud, and I think Garner missed the boat on that one.
Now for some more ranting:

--Why does Willy Taveras turn into Roy Hobbs when the bases are empty? With men on, he can't lay down a decent bunt (popping up his last two bunts), but he goes nuts with the bat when RBI's aren't on base.
--Couldn't we start Ensberg with a 0-2 count so we wouldn't be subjected to him looking at taters and taking ridiculous-looking swings at bad pitches?
--Until further notice, Lance Berkman doesn't need to be in left field. Put him at first and leave Bagwell on the bench for next year. Lance's knee is too tender to be patrolling more than 2 sq. ft. of land.
--What was up with that fan (with the blue and brown suede jacket) on Burke's pop foul that Uribe caught in the stands? Couldn't he have pulled a Bartman and gotten in Uribe's way? Instead he wusses out and pulls back like a wimp. I almost threw my beer at the TV. Home field advantage, my butt. Heck, even the fans around him parted like the Red Sea for Uribe. It's like they WANTED him to catch the ball, and wanted to just be polite and help him out a bit with some good ol' Texas hospitality. Even our fans couldn't make a play.
--Reverse scenario on Tuesday night: a fan got in the way of Konerko. He looked like a foreman on the Ship Channel, with a glove, and just wouldn't budge out of Konerko's way. Way to go, fat guy!
--Can we please, Phil Garner, STOP swinging at first pitches that are crap? I think we got in more 0-2 holes by swinging at bad pitches in this postseason than I did in Little League. That forces the batters to be defensive and protecting the plate, rather than getting good looks at good pitches and getting good wood on them. Come on! My high school team did better than these guys did!
--Brad Ausmus is the unsung hero of Game 4. Did you notice how many time Backe shook off a call? How about the number of times Ausmus flashed a sign just once and got set, not even waiting for Backe to shrug it off? I'd say about 90% of the pitches were Ausmus' calls, not Backe's. He did a hell of a job nursing Brandon through a tough lineup in tough situations, and he deserves to get credit for Brandon's SUPERB performance.
--Speaking of Backe, how about him!? Last year, he throws a no-hitter through 8 innings in the NLCS against the Cardinals, and this year, he shuts out the Sox through 7. Unbelievable performance for a kid that is exactly the same age as me. Totally nails.
--McLane should've pretended to obey the League about the roof, then closed it 90 seconds before first pitch and paid the fine. Hell, I would've even DONATED to a fund to him pay it. The fact that the league didn't have a problem with the roof throughout the NLDS and the NLCS and decide to come in here like Jean Lafitte with his bad hairpiece and tell the Astros to take away their home field advantage is absolute crap. I don't think the noise is what I mean. I wanted the roof closed because I'm superstitious, and the Astros have NEVER won a postseason game in open air in Houston.
--If you didn't stay up until 1:21 am on Tuesday night, you're not a die-hard. I stayed up and paid for it, but I won't ever regret that I watched every pitch of every game in the first World Series in Astros (or Texas) history.
--I like Garner. I even think he should've won Manager of the Year. I like his emotion, his gut, his fire, his smarts. I don't like his stubbornness, though. I can't say this enough, and I was saying it Monday: FLIP BERKMAN AND ENSBERG. If you don't, Berkman will NOT get any opportunities because Ensberg was pulling up lame.
--Class act by the fans that stayed after the Sox celebrated on our field and waited for the Astros to emerge from the dugout. Way to go, Stros, for coming out and being acknowledged by your true fans.
--Last but not least: Congratulations to Chicago for winning. You deserved it. As a Red Sox fan second and Astros fan first, I never believed in the Curse on the Red Sox. I did, however, believe that you (ChiSox) were cursed. I mean, you deserved to be cursed! Who else would have pissed off the baseball gods more than the Black Sox? Almost everything else in your history has been cruel fate, even the Veeck years (Go Go Sox? Come on!). So, my hat goes off to you. I still hate you, though. At least it wasn't the Cubs. I hate them more.

I feel better now.

Thank you Astros for giving me the best baseball year I could have imagined. I thought it was last year, and until last week, I thought last year still was. I'm glad I was wrong. I stuck with you from the beginning, sometimes not happy about it, and went through the highs and lows with you. When you started 15-30, I still went to Minute Maid Park on my birthday. I still scrimped and saved for tickets when I should have been paying my electricity bill. I cheered when you were behind in games, because I knew you were going to break out someday. I cheered for Andy Pettitte early on, because I knew he would get better. I cursed Ensberg in May, even accused him of juicing in 2003 because of his slump, but ate crow when he got hot. I made up for it by voting online for Roy for the All-Star Game over 100 times. I cheered when Mo got the call to go to Detroit. I showed up on Opening Day, my birthday, July 4th, and any other chance I got, because well, I love baseball. But I also love the Astros. Nothing will ever change that, unless we sign Jeter, A-Rod, Barry Bonds and Rafael Furcal. Good luck this offseason, and let's do what we need to get better. I want to win.

OK, from now on this space will be for other sports (Spurs, Texans, Cowboys, etc.) and even other stuff, like it says on the title. If you like what you see, or have seen, let me know. I'm dying for some feedback. Until next time, peace out.