Long night for Astros

If the 101st World Series has taught us anything, it’s that anyone who leaves his seat or turns off the television prematurely most assuredly will be in for a rude awakening the following morning.

A series that was supposed to be all about great pitching instead has become a forum for late offensive heroics on both sides. You may wake up bleary-eyed from sleep deprivation, but you will be glad you stayed up for the hottest late-night show around.

And again, it was the Chicago White Sox providing the final bit of excitement and congregating in the middle of the diamond to celebrate another thrilling victory. Geoff Blum’s solo homer in the 14th inning spurred the White Sox to a 7-5 win over the Houston Astros and left a sellout throng of 42,848 at Minute Maid Park in stunned silence.

Blum, a former Astro who had entered the game the inning before, lined a 2-0 pitch from rookie Ezequiel Astacio over the fence down the right-field line to snap five tense innings of scoreless baseball. Astacio then surrendered two infield singles and two walks, the last of which pushed an insurance run across for Chicago.

White Sox left-hander Damaso Marte earned the victory with 12/3 scoreless inning of relief, with Game 2 starter Mark Buehrle of all people coming on to earn the save by retiring Adam Everett with the potential tying run on first.

There was no joy deep in the heart of Texas last night, only the harsh realization that the home team was beaten yet again by a tenacious White Sox club that has put itself on the precipice of history.

With last night’s victory, Chicago has taken a commanding 3-0 lead in this series and tonight will attempt to close out the franchise’s first championship in 88 years.

And there doesn’t appear to be anything the Astros can do about it.

Back home on the South Side, they will be holding their breaths all day in anticipation of tonight’s possible Game 4 clincher. The moment fans of this cursed ballclub have waited three generations to experience is all but guaranteed to happen now, barring a Boston Red Sox-like resurrection from the wounded Astros.

Here in Houston, they will be muttering to themselves about missed opportunities and a World Series that has slipped from their grasp.

They will be kicking themselves for last night’s game, one in which they blew an early 4-0 lead, then rallied to tie it in the eighth before ultimately losing it in extra innings.

Chicago’s bullpen gave the Astros a chance. Relievers Cliff Politte and Neil Cotts each issued two-out walks in the eighth, and Jason Lane raked a run-scoring double off Cotts just inside the third-base line to tie the game at 5-5 and reinvigorate what had become a downtrodden ballpark.

Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen handed the ball to veteran Orlando Hernandez for the ninth inning, and “El Duque” nearly became unglued. He walked Chris Burke to open the inning, then misfired a pickoff throw to allow him to reach second. On Hernandez’s next pitch, Burke took off and wound up swiping third without even drawing a throw.

Walks to both Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman (the latter one intentional after Willy Taveras had struck out) brought Morgan Ensberg to the plate with the bases loaded and a chance to win the game. But Hernandez rallied and struck out the Houston cleanup hitter on a wicked breaking ball to send the game into extra innings.

Both teams had chances to win it in the extra frames. The Astros put two men on in both the 10th and 11th but stranded them each time. The White Sox had two on in the 11th themselves only to fail to complete the rally.

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