Celebrating 18-year anniversary of White Sox World Series
Today, Chicago White Sox fans are celebrating the 18-year anniversary of the 2005 World Series win against the Houston Astros. To commemorate the anniversary of the organization’s third World Championship, I will be highlighting some of the best moments throughout the White Sox 2005 playoff run. In no particular order:
Paul Konerko’s grand slam
In Game 2 of the 2005 World Series, the Astros led 4-2 late in the game. It was the bottom of the 7th inning when Astros reliever Dan Wheeler came on the replace starter Andy Pettitte. Wheeler retired Joe Crede to start the inning, then gave up a double to Juan Uribe. The next batter, Scott Podsednik, was retired via strikeout to get Wheeler to two outs. Wheeler would then walk and hit the next two batters to bring up White Sox team captain, Paul Konerko. Konerko would go on to blast a line-drive grand slam into the left-field seats to give them the lead. Fans went nuts while wearing ponchos in the rainy Chicago night.
#OTD in 2005: Paul Konerko hit the 18th grand slam in World Series history as the White Sox won Game 2, 7-6. pic.twitter.com/W3KIBUF4FJ
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) October 23, 2020
Scott Posednik’s walk-off home run
Later in Game 2, White Sox closer Bobby Jenks would cough up two runs in the 9th to tie the game up at 6 runs apiece. Juan Uribe would lead off the bottom of the 9th with the top of the order behind him. Uribe would fly-out to CF to start the inning, bringing up Scott Podsednik.
Podsednik had been a big part of the Sox lineup, hitting .290 in 507 at-bats during the regular season. One thing that stood out from Podsednik’s regular season stat line was that he had not hit a home run all year. Sure enough, when Podsednik came up in the bottom of the 9th in Game 2 of the World Series, he blasted a walk-off home run to right-center for his first big fly of the season.
WALK-OFF SCOTT PODSEDNIK 💥
After a crazy back and forth battle, the @whitesox came out on top! pic.twitter.com/R4nkZ75oHS
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 24, 2020
AJ Pierzynski’s “dropped third strike”
After dropping their first and only game of the postseason in Game 1 of the ALCS to the Angels, the White Sox looked to bounce back and even up the series in Game 2. The game was tied 1-to-1 with two outs in the bottom of the 9th as Angels reliever Kelvim Escobar looked to retire catcher AJ Pierzynski and send the game to extra-innings.
With a full-count, Escobar struck out Pierzynski on a low breaking-ball. As most members of the Angels began jogging towards the dugout, Pierzynski sprinted to first-base, indicating he thought the ball bounced into catchers mitt and was a dropped-third strike.
Home plate umpire Doug Eddings indicated that Angels catcher Josh Paul in fact did not catch the ball cleanly, and Pierzynski was safe at first. The Angels dugout erupted in disagreement with the call. The White Sox would then pinch-run Pablo Ozuna, who would steal second-base and later score the walk-off run on a Joe Crede double.
𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟓
AJ Pierzynski reaches base on a controversial dropped third strike call. Pablo Ozuna pinch runs for him and scores the game winning run, tying the ALCS at one game a piece.
Was that a drop third strike? pic.twitter.com/IYEXculEIl
— This Day in Chicago Sports (@ChiSportsDay) October 12, 2023
Now that we’ve reminisced on the magical ’05 season, all we can do now is hope the organization can turn things around in the next couple years.
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