Round 1: Pale Hose

The White Sox started the postseason off with a bang by bombarding Red Sox pitching for 14 runs in Game One of the ALDS on the South Side this afternoon. The Sox offense shelled starter Matt Clement for 8 runs in 3 1/3 innings, scoring 5 in the 1st inning alone. Altogether the Sox offense hit 5 home runs on the day, tying a ALDS record set last year by St. Louis. Even Scotty Podsednik got in on the action, belting his first dinger of the season. 4 of the 5 White Sox homers were hit off of pitchers who used to pitch for the Cubs.
What stands out to me more so than the offensive explosion is the continued success of Jose Contreras who held the highest scoring offense in baseball to just 2 runs in 7 2/3 innings. Coming into the game Jose posted a career 11.67 ERA and a record of 2-4 against the Red Sox. If that gave the Red Sox confidence, it was misplaced. This is not the same Jose Contreras they used to beat around all over the field when he was with the Yankee's. Jose showed exactly why he is undefeated in his last 8 starts.

Here is a great piece on the new Sox ace.

Sox fans, this game was HUGE. By winning Game One we put Boston in almost a must-win situation tomorrow. If they were to head home down 0-2, they would have to defeat Garcia, Garland and Jose in order to stay alive. You can go on and on about how they came back from being down 0-3 in the ALCS last year and they're defending World Champions, but this is not the same team as last season. Their rotation this year of Clement, Wells, Schilling and Wakefield, while formidable, is not nearly as potent as the rotation of Pedro, Schilling, Lowe and Wakefield was last year. Schilling, who has been battling back from injuries all season, is not the same pitcher he was a year ago. Clement, as we saw today, has been shaky for the last couple of months. On top of all that, Boston's bullpen is average at best and their closer, former White Sox Keith Foulke, is done for the season. Although it's still very early to get overly excited, with a 1-0 edge I like the Good Guy's chances to at least split the next 4 games. In Game Two tomorrow Buehrle will be going up against former White Sox David Wells.