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White Sox ready for Houston Astros

Friday, October 21, 2005

Team Coverage

October 20, 2005 (WLS) -- The Chicago White Sox are warming up for the World Series. The Houston Astros beat St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night, clinching the National League pennant. Game 1 is Saturday at U.S. Cellular Field.

It'll be a historic night for both the Sox, who haven't made it to the series since 1959, and the Astros, who will appear at the fall classic for the first time in the history of their franchise.

Sox players have been getting ready for the World Series match up since they clinched the American League title over the weekend. Because of the five-day hiatus before Game 1 this weekend, manager Ozzie Guillen has been holding practice to keep the players loose and focused. Paul Konerko, MVP from the American League Championship Series, is missing the workout. His wife is expected to give birth Wednesday or Thursday.

"I think I'm more happy for all the fans I see through your media coverage and for Jerry. And, for me, personally, I can't get beyond, well, this is what I was hired to do and my job. So we're supposed to be here. Anything short of that, I wouldn't have been doing my job," said Kenny Williams, White Sox General manager.

Dream come true for fans

Sox fans are fired up to welcome the series to Chicago. The White Sox returning to the World Series in is truly a fan's dream come true.

Inside the field, crews are preparing for the ballpark's fist World Series. The World Series logo on the field says it all: The World Series is in Chicago. Now that they know who the White Sox will play, they will be adding the Astros logo.

The team, the fans, the city, all are preparing for the pinnacle of post-season play.

"When you get to the World Series, you have ESPN and you have Baseball Tonight and you have Fox and all the truck and trailers, and so you almost end up with this little compound around the ballpark, and that is going to be in place the next few days," said Scott Reifert, White Sox spokesman.

Outside of the field, fans lucky enough to have purchased tickets are stopping by the box office to collect their prize.

"First time in 46 years that might be another 50," said Jimmy Shopoff, White Sox Fan.

"It hasn't quite hit me yet. I don't think it will until Saturday. Seems like tickets for any other game, although anyone I tell, you know, they're absolutely jealous," said Nick Driscoll, White Sox Fan.

One young girl used her head to win two World Series tickets. Lauren Hawkson, 10, came in first in a national library contest. She'll be taking her father, a lifelong Sox fan to the game.

"Can't describe all of this, first to the World Series, and then tell me she won the contest and I couldn't believe it for a while," said Adrian Hochstadt, White Sox Fan.

"I think both teams match up pretty evenly and play similar baseball. Good starting pitching, clutch hitting, fundamental baseball," said Joe Ditore, Yankees fan.

"I love it. I'm a Cubs fan, too. I like to see them in there. First, I'm a Chicago fan," said Dick Dazzo, converted Sox fan.

"I think it's the greatest thing in the world for this city. Absolutely marvelous for Sox and Cubs both," said Sidney Sheridan, Sox fan. "Winners are winners, and we are winners."

Game 1 of the World Series is Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at U.S. Cellular Field. The pitching match-up will probably be Roger Clemens for Houston versus Jose Contreras for the White Sox.

Team owner Jerry Reinsdorf said thank you to 150 White Sox staffers by giving them tickets and airfare to fly to Anaheim. They will get the same deal to attend every World Series game. It means Sox employees suddenly have a lot of people being very, very nice to them.

"There were probably a little over 10,000 tickets that were available for the four games and 130,000 people online trying to buy those. You understand the odds. And it's too bad that not everybody can be here, but at least there's going to be a lot of memories and people watching at home on TV," said Reifert.

Many fans who only had partial season ticket packages for the last year or so were given the option to buy World Series tickets if they agreed to buy an entire package for next year.

The White Sox say it is the season after a World Series appearance when most teams typically see the biggest impact on the fanbase. The White Sox say they have already sold thousands more season ticket packages for next year than they had in previous years, so next year is going to be a good year for this team as well.

If you want to head south to Houston for games 3, 4 and possibly 5, it will cost you. We did some unscientific research to find out how much it may cost.

If you're planning on driving down to Houston, you'll want to allow plenty of time to get there. It's about 1,100 miles from U.S. Cellular Field to Minute Maid Park. It will take about 17 hours, and depending upon your vehicle, gas will cost about $125 to $150, and that's just one way.

If you want to fly, you'll get there faster, but spend more money. We searched this morning for the cheapest flights on the internet. The lowest round-trip we could find was on Southwest - $409. Airtran will run nearly $500. United and American roundtrips start at $620. Of course, you still have to buy World Series tickets.

White Sox and Astros put futility behind

Windy City vs. Bayou City. Deep dish pizza vs. Texas barbecue. They have one historic theme in common: decades of futility. And one current trait that got them to where they are: deep starting pitching.

"All the frustration, it's been worth the wait," White Sox vice chairman Eddie Einhorn said. "It's a generation-long wait. I mean, that's a long wait."

Starting Saturday night, Chicago hosts the World Series for the first time since 1959, back when there were just 16 teams, no divisions, no wild cards, no designated hitters -- and no Astros.

"St. Louis has a better offense, but Houston has a better pitching staff. Either way you look at it, it's not going to be easy," White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle said before the Astros beat the Cardinals 5-1 Wednesday night to win the NL pennant.

Houston wasn't even awarded a franchise until Oct. 17, 1960. At that owners' meeting, which happened to take place in Chicago, it would have been hard to envision that the club's first NL pennant wouldn't come for 45 years -- but then again, the team's first name was the Houston Colt .45s. The club wouldn't become the Astros until 1965, when it moved into the Astrodome, the so-called eighth wonder of the world.

Both teams' current ballparks have had more names than pennant winners.

Houston moved in 2000 to Enron Field, which became Astros Field in February 2002 after the trading company got into financial trouble. Then a juicy deal was signed in June 2002, and the stadium was renamed Minute Maid Park.

Chicago moved in 1991 from the old Comiskey Park, its home since 1910, to the adjacent new Comiskey Park, which in 2003 became U.S. Cellular Field.

And the two ballparks hosted the All-Star game in consecutive years: Chicago in 2003, followed by Houston.

For four straight seasons, from 1997-2000, the teams met in interleague play, with the White Sox winning seven of 12. But they haven't met since.

Now they'll share baseball's October spotlight.

Chicago, which hasn't won the title since 1917, is coming off the best postseason performance by starting pitchers in nearly half a century, with Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras throwing consecutive complete games against the Los Angeles Angels. Not since the 1956 New York Yankees strung together five straight had a team pitched four in a row in a postseason series.

Houston became the first team since the 1914 Boston Braves to win a pennant after falling 15 games under .500 during the regular season. The Astros have seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Roy Oswalt and Brandon Backe, who haven't gotten the complete games but have been just as effective.

"Yeah, they obviously have a tremendous pitching staff," Houston closer Brad Lidge said of the White Sox. "Just watching their games on TV, it's amazing that their starters have been able to do what they have done and they seem it get stronger at the end of games. Even if they give up a couple of runs at the beginning or middle, they seem to finish up stronger."

Chicago is likely to use its bullpen more in the Series. And Houston's bullpen is among baseball's best.

"Lidge is probably one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball," Buehrle said.

A friend of A.J. Pierzynski's was ready Monday for a White Sox-Astros Series -- before Albert Pujols hit the three-run, ninth-inning homer off Lidge that forced Game 6.

"Right before he hit that I got a text message from a buddy asking me for tickets in Houston," Pierzynski said. "And seconds later, I was like, `Don't get ahead of yourself.' "

The Astros got there Wednesday night, and next week they'll bring the World Series to Texas for the first time.

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