White Sox-Indians Preview

C.C. Sabathia goes for his third straight complete-game victory when the Cleveland Indians face red-hot Jim Thome and the Chicago White Sox at Jacobs Field on Tuesday.
Sabathia (4-1, 1.52 ERA) tossed a three-hitter with nine strikeouts and only one walk in Cleveland's 4-1 victory over Pittsburgh on May 19, and followed that up five days later by allowing six hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in an 11-0 win over Minnesota.
It was the left-hander's third career shutout and first since Sept. 6, 2004, at Seattle.
''It just seems like he's not even trying out there,'' Indians outfielder Casey Blake said. ''It's like he's playing with the hitters and doing whatever he wants to do.''
Sabathia will make his third start of the season against the White Sox (33-17), looking for their third straight win after a postgame tirade by manager Ozzie Guillen on Saturday. Sabathia left after 2 1-3 innings of Cleveland's 10-4 loss to Chicago on April 2 and missed a month with a strained oblique muscle.
He came off the disabled list on May 2, and earned the win after holding Chicago to a run and five hits over five innings of a 7-1 victory. Sabathia is 9-3 with a 4.28 ERA in 16 starts against the White Sox.
Thome, meanwhile, homered twice and drove in four runs against his former team in Chicago's 11-0 victory in the series opener on Monday. He leads the AL with 20 homers and 49 RBIs.
Thome hit a Cleveland record 334 homers - including 176 at Jacobs Field - before signing with Philadelphia after the 2002 season.
''It adds to the list of the wonderful things that have happened here,'' Thome said after recording his 36th multihomer game. ''It's special because you help your club win. You try to lock in the game and do what you have to do. You try not to let the distractions bother you.''
Mark Buehrle (6-2, 2.62) looks to continue his recent dominance when he takes the mound for Chicago on Tuesday. The left-hander is 3-0 with a 0.41 ERA in his last three starts and has not allowed an earned run in his last 21 innings.
Buehrle allowed six hits in seven innings of the White Sox's 3-2 victory over Oakland on Wednesday. He is 7-8 with a 4.53 ERA in 22 games against Cleveland.
The Indians (24-26) may be without starting third baseman Aaron Boone after he suffered a mild concussion when he tumbled into the photographer's box while trying to catch a foul ball in the third inning Monday.
''He was alert,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ''He's a gamer. He wanted to go back out there. We hope he's okay.''

Sox Scribe Reminisces About '05 Wonders

My favorite storyNo team ever has played better under-the-gun baseball for as long as the 2005 White Sox, who won the World Series with arguably the best postseason run in history. Their 16-1 stretch against Detroit, Cleveland, Boston, the Los Angeles Angels and Houston Astros was mesmerizing as it unfolded and still stunning in reflection. Watching friends and White Sox fans like Chris Devane and Joe Mirabella experience the thrill of their lifetimes was priceless.

Best game I coveredYou can't beat a 14-inning World Series game. Geoff Blum's home run came in his first at-bat in three weeks, and the sight of Mark Buehrle coming in to nail down a save was a goose-bump moment.

But the story of Game 3 was all the big outs delivered by White Sox pitchers when a Houston hit would have won the game. Orlando Hernandez, Luis Vizcaino, Bobby Jenks, Damaso Marte and Buehrle held the Astros hitless in their last eight at-bats with men in scoring position.

Best interviewJay Straight, easy. I got a chance to go outside my niche to write a profile and Straight made it worthwhile with his candor. Born into poverty in the Robert Taylor Homes, the running buddy of Eddy Curry and Luther Head left Chicago to play basketball for the University of Wyoming, where it was so quiet at night that he had trouble sleeping after he arrived. Straight earned a communications degree and now is playing pro basketball in Israel. His frankness was amazing as he described life at the Taylor Homes, saying "it was so fun" because there was always something going on. He admitted it was tough to steer clear of the gang lifestyle. "It was so tempting," he said. "Being in that environment, it made you want to go sell drugs, it made you want to go out gangbanging. . . . It was strong. Man, that temptation was strong." Good guy; a story worth telling.

Most telling off-the-field momentOrlando Hernandez, dressed as stylishly as royalty, enjoying a late-night cigar on the steps of the Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, Fla., in May. There's just something about the way "El Duque" carries himself that suggests success. He's going to be missed.

A road trip I won't forgetBecause the White Sox were involved, I occasionally got to sleep in my own bed, but the time from Sept. 29 through Oct. 25 was a blur. I caught 20 season-deciding games in seven ballparks. In addition to the Sox's 12 playoff games, I covered Yankees-Red Sox to end the season and the last two games of both the Yankees-Angels and Cardinals-Astros playoff series, traveling by plane, train (from Boston to New York) and automobile (Chicago to St. Louis and back).

I covered a lot of games this year, but I wish I had seenMore of the Cubs' Ronny Cedeno and Matt Murton. These guys have the potential to grow into the second coming of the Shawon Dunston-Mark Grace tandem, assuming they aren't traded this winter or given up on when they have their first bad months.

Second-guessing myselfIf I was going to make an outrageous pick after spring training, I wish it had been White Sox to win the World Series, not Zach Greinke to win the AL Cy Young Award.

Story line on my beat for 2006With the White Sox positioned for another playoff run and the Cubs coming off a losing season, can the Sox cut into the Cubs' box-office advantage? The heat's on Dusty Baker.

Funniest quote I got"That's a good point. I didn't realize that. . . . Maybe it's the whole city of Chicago that has the monkey."Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, who was reminded about the White Sox's 88-year drought after he had said that the Red Sox's 2004 championship left the Cubs as the only team with a "monkey on their back."

Fans "Touched" By White Sox Trophy

Some Cubs fans think I've carried this White Sox thing too far. But I was compelled to carry it even further by bringing something quite precious--it's my precious--into the Tribune Tower.My precious is crafted with silver and gold, but it's made of hopes and dreams.

I did little to earn it except to sit with my cousin George, eating brats and drinking beer on the South Side. Yet I boldly carried it deep into the heart of Cubs Nation, purifying the newsroom, holding it aloft, chanting in Byzantine fashion:"It has come! It is here! But beware and approach with love and fear!"My precious weighs about 30 pounds. Men and women want to touch it, to hold it, to love it. One woman on Michigan Avenue almost traded her infant for it. The only ones who shied away are dedicated Cubs fans. If they touch it, they will surely burst into flames.

It's the White Sox World Championship Trophy from the 2005 World Series.The Sox brought it to me on Thursday. They said they felt compelled to bring it here, since I'm a crazed fan. But I've been around long enough now to know when I'm being used as a Trojan Horse, to bring the precious into the core of Tribune Co., which owns the Cubs.I didn't care. It's my precious.

"We thought we should bring it to you," said Christopher Short, of Cushman/Amberg Communications Inc., the public relations firm handling the trophy tour. "Could we bring it by? Do you need clearance?"Clearance? What's that old adage, it's better to beg forgiveness than to ask for permission? So I told Short to meet me in the morning with the trophy.

It arrived at about 9:30 a.m. A plucky band of Sox fans on the Cubs Nation payroll gathered outside and began cheering as White Sox official Katie Kirby walked on Michigan Avenue carrying the trophy.Reverently, we removed the cover, a robin's egg blue chamois. Once it was exposed to the light, pedestrians stopped in awe. A woman with an infant in a stroller pushed into the crowd. She brought forth the babe and held it out to us, while making pleading sounds. I figured she wanted to trade it for the Sox trophy. I was about to call the Department of Children and Family Services."Could you take a picture of my baby?" she asked, touching the child's head to the precious. "Please?"

Tribsters and civilians crowded around, passing the trophy amongst us, gently. Drivers slowed down to stare, and those on the sidewalk took snapshots of it with cameras, and with their cell phones, while calling their friends to tell them what they were doing. Other Sox fans heard about it and came out of the Tower. Some had tears in their eyes, their hands were extended, politely.Sadly, there was this one weirdo who couldn't control himself. He had difficulty handing it off, and kept circling around to grab it again, until someone else asked for it. Then he'd grab it again, and growl at anyone who came near. Later, he held it aloft while chanting.

"You were pretty crazed, especially with the chanting, but that's not the weirdest response when the trophy has been out in public," said Kirby.What's the weirdest?"Well, I can't say," she said.You must! In the interests of journalism, what is it?"There seems to be the urge for some people to lick it, or at least, to pretend to lick it," Kirby said. "Based on my observation, the urge for people to pretend to lick it is quite overwhelming."I'm not licking it. I don't mind playing the deranged fan, but I draw the line at licking a trophy just for a column. I'd kiss it and hug it, but never lick it."That's why we knew we could trust it with you," she said.

However, I did do something ridiculous, but it was the precious that made me do it. I barged into a meeting packed with Tribune executives, daring senior bosses to touch the Sox trophy. As competitive Cubs fans, they politely declined.I must accept this. Remember that at Wrigley a couple of years ago, I was the one talking to Steve Bartman. Then, I was not filled with sadness, but with glee. So if the Cubs had won the Series, I couldn't touch the trophy either, since naturally, I'd burst into flames. But the Sox won, didn't they?Still, I don't want to carry this too far. It's only a game. But I can't seem to let it go.

White Sox First Title Since '17 Bigger Than Hurricane Katrina

NEW YORK -- When the White Sox won the World Series for the first time in nearly nine decades, it took awhile for Jerry Reinsdorf to realize what the title meant to many in Chicago."It started with a friend of mine sending an e-mail saying he had gone to the cemetery to tell his parents the White Sox had won the World Series," the White Sox owner said, "and when he got there, two-thirds of the graves were decorated with White Sox memorabilia. And then I found out that this was not just at that cemetery, this was going on all around the area."

Chicago's remarkable run to its first World Series title since 1917 was voted sports story of the year in balloting by newspaper and broadcast members of The Associated Press."There's hardly anybody still alive from 1917, and those few who are really don't much remember that," Reinsdorf said. "So this is the first time this has happened in almost everybody's lifetime. And the impact has just been incredible.

Baseball makes people think about their ancestors, their parents and their grandparents."Chicago's victory received 552 points in the voting. Hurricane Katrina displacing the NFL's New Orleans Saints, the NBA's Hornets and college teams was second with 465 points, followed by Lance Armstrong's record seventh straight Tour de France title (455), the furor over steroids in baseball (448), the New England Patriots' Super Bowl victory (259), Southern California's attempt to win its third straight college football title (243) and Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro getting his 3,000th hit and then getting suspended for steroids.

Chicago went an AL-best 99-63 during the regular season, holding on to win the AL Central after a September slump nearly dropped the White Sox into second place behind Cleveland. Chicago then went 11-1 during the postseason, matching the 1999 New York Yankees for the best mark since the postseason expanded to three rounds in 1995.

"This was truly a team triumph," Reinsdorf said. "We didn't have a single .300 hitter. We only had one man who drove in 100 runs and it was just 100 runs. We didn't have a 20-game winner. Everybody contributed to it. It certainly was a tribute to our scouts, too.

Think about how they jumped on Bobby Jenks."Jenks was claimed on waivers from the Angels in December 2004, and the portly 270-pounder with the 100-mph fastball became Chicago's closer in the second half of the season.Paul Konerko led the White Sox with 100 RBIs. While he became a free agent after the World Series, he re-signed with Chicago, which appeared to get even stronger this offseason by adding pitcher Javier Vazquez and designated hitter Jim Thome."Konerko didn't come up through our organization, it was a trade with Cincinnati after the Dodgers and the Reds had given up on him," Reinsdorf said. "But our scouts saw something in him. You can go around the whole lineup, if you will, and the scouts had so much to do with it."

Reinsdorf's Chicago Bulls won six NBA titles from 1991-98. This championship meant far more, he said last week from the Phoenix area, where he spends much of the offseason."Basketball is a great sport. Baseball is a religion, and I truly believe that," Reinsdorf said. "Ask 10 people what was the first basketball game they went to and whom did they go with, then ask them what was the first baseball game and whom they went with, and there's a good chance that all 10 will remember the baseball and none of them will remember the basketball -- or the football or the hockey."

Despite the sweep, the White Sox outscored Houston by just six runs in the World Series, matching the smallest run differential in a sweep, a mark set by the 1950 Yankees against the Philadelphia Phillies.Had it not been for a few controversial calls in the AL championship series that went Chicago's way, the Angels could have been in the World Series seeking their second title in four seasons."In order for a team, an ordinary team, to win the World Series -- by ordinary team, that's everybody other than the Yankees -- all sorts of things have to happen, the stars really have to line up in the right order," Reinsdorf said. "You have to have a lot of breaks, and we got them. I can think of a zillion breaks that we got in the postseason."

Reinsdorf's group bought the White Sox in 1981 and endured a quarter-century wait just to make it to the World Series. The joy he saw from the people of Chicago awed him."This could only happen in a city that has a long history in baseball that hadn't won for a long time," he said. "New York had parades when the Yankees won, it was not the same thing. When the Diamondbacks won the World Series here a few years ago -- what was it, their third or fourth year? -- it wasn't the same thing. When a whole generation or several generations have failed to see a winner and then finally saw that winner, the joy is beyond belief. If we were to win again next year, I can't imagine it would be the same thing."