The lowly bunt. And the lowly benchwarmer.
In the final analysis, these two often-overlooked but vital factors ended a storybook season Friday for the White Sox.
The bunt and the benchwarmer also sent the Seattle Mariners into the American League Championship Series.
Carlos Guillen, a 25-year-old infielder obtained by the Mariners from Houston in the Randy Johnson trade and the only position player on his team who had not been used in this division series, pulled the curtain on the Sox’s season.
Pinch hitter Guillen executed the Mariners’ fourth successful bunt of the day to score pinch runner Ricky Henderson from third in the ninth inning, giving Seattle a 2-1 victory that completed the three-game sweep.
In a spray of champagne, Guillen explained manager Lou Piniella had not called specifically for him to put down a squeeze, either a suicide or safety bunt,
“Lou just told me to hit it on the ground to Frank Thomas on the right side,” Guillen said. “Frank doesn’t play first base too much and he has slow feet.”
A Gold Glove first baseman wouldn’t have been able to prevent Henderson from scoring.
The 41-year-old career base-stealing champion got that good a jump. And Guillen’s drag bunt to the right side was perfectly placed.
The Sox did not make a play on the bunt. It was ruled a hit. The joyous Mariners swarmed onto the field as the record Safeco Field crowd of 48,010 fans celebrated.
Another bunt, this one an Alex Rodriguez sacrifice, moved Raul Ibanez into scoring position before Stan Javier singled Ibanez home with the Mariners’ other run in the fourth inning.
Joe Oliver successfully sacrificed in the seventh and Javier’s ninth-inning bunt moved Henderson to third.
“We execute,” Mariners designated hitter Edgar Martinez said. “Everybody. Even a player as great as Alex is called on to bunt and he executes. That’s a strength of this team.”
“Guillen’s bunt was a perfect, perfect drag,” Piniella said. “We execute bunts because we work on them. Back in spring training we worked on bunting maybe more than any team I’ve been with. Early in the season we didn’t bunt well, but then we got in a groove. That’s one of the things that got us where we are.”
Another factor was Piniella’s use of his entire roster.
In Game 1 he used every position player except Guillen. His bullpen, including Friday’s 1 2/3 innings, shut out the White Sox on three hits in 11 2/3 innings.
Pitching, depth and fundamentals such as the bunt. What else is there? Defense. The Mariners also excelled in the field Friday.
First baseman John Olerud robbed Chris Singleton of a hit with a diving stop to end the Sox’s fifth inning. Third baseman David Bell took a double away from Ray Durham with his sprawling snag of a liner down the line to open the sixth. Seattle also turned three double plays.
“Those were situations in the field where we needed to execute plays and we did it,” Olerud said. “Same thing with the bunts we put down.”
Olerud singled off Kelly Wunsch’s midsection to open the ninth and took second when Wunch threw the ball away. Henderson then ran for Olerud.
Olerud battled Sox starter James Baldwin through a 12-pitch at-bat before walking in the sixth inning. The 29-pitch inning ran Baldwin’s pitch count to 92 and got him out of the game.
“I got some good swings and Baldwin threw some very good strikes in that at-bat,” Olerud said. “You’d never guess from the way he pitched that he had a bad arm.”
