There’s something about Josh Paul and the postseason, and so far it hasn’t been good. Maybe you shouldn’t have your third-string catcher in a tie game.
Anybody ever think of that?
Paul, the Buffalo Grove native who either did or didn’t allow a third strike from A.J. Pierzynski to hit the ground in the ninth inning on Wednesday night, setting the stage for one of the wildest finishes to a playoff game ever, had replaced Charles Johnson as the White Sox catcher in the late innings of the 2000 playoff opener against Seattle.
That didn’t go too well, as Lou Piniella and the Mariners hitters victimized the inexperienced Paul–a last-minute addition to the playoff roster–for three runs in the top of the 10th inning.
While the Los Angeles Angels will scream forever that Paul did not allow strike three to Pierzynski to hit the ground–and they might be right–you just wonder if any of this would have happened if the Angels still were catching one of the Molina brothers, Bengie who started Game 1, or Jose, who started Game 2.
Paul, who has played parts of seven big-league seasons because of his speed and a great attitude, had entered Wednesday’s Game 2 an inning earlier after Mike Scioscia pinch-ran for Jose Molina.
Call it wrong place, wrong time.
You can say Paul did nothing wrong. But the game would have been spinning into extra innings if he had just tagged Pierzynski to make sure about the out. He didn’t, rolling the ball to the mound instead. When Joe Crede ripped a hanging split-finger fastball from Kelvim Escobar, who had been pushed too far by Scioscia, the White Sox had a 2-1 victory in a game that until the last moment it appeared they would lose–deservingly too.
Who knows what happens now? Instead of going to Anaheim down two games to none, the series is tied one game apiece–and I think it’s fair to say the Angels are going to have a little bit of an attitude toward Doug Eddings, the plate umpire, and the rest of this crew when the series resumes Friday.
“We didn’t want to go down 2-0 going to Anaheim,” Crede said. “That’s a tough place to play.”
Until Pierzynski’s unlikely dash, coming as the Angels were jogging off the field, U.S. Cellular had not been a tough place for the Angels. The White Sox had just let them hang around for two nights, doing little off two starters who could have been had.
Jarrod Washburn, like Paul Byrd before him–and Byrd working on short rest, at that–did not have the kind of stuff the White Sox will see from John Lackey in Game 3. He didn’t have close to the stuff that had helped him post a 3.20 ERA this season.
Of course, Washburn had an excuse (not that he needed one). He was “green behind the gills still,” before the game, with his case of strep throat putting his ability to start in doubt up until the time he went out to the bullpen to warm up.
Once the game started, it was the White Sox who made their fans sick.
Knowing that their best shots at big innings were going to come early, the Sox could not put anything together against Washburn or Byrd. They allowed Washburn to get going by giving him two of his first four outs after he started the game with a two-base throwing error, heaving the ball over Darin Erstad’s head after Scott Podsednik’s comebacker.
Anxious to get a lead, which the Sox did not have in Game 1, Ozzie Guillen gave up an out with a sacrifice by the No. 2 hitter, Tadahito Iguchi, to get Podsednik to third. It would contribute to a run, as Podsednik scored on Jermaine Dye groundout. But treating Washburn as if he were Sandy Koufax set a horrible tone.
Then there was third-base coach Joey Cora’s arm spasms, which took the White Sox out of an inning in the second. It was quite simply the worst decision I’ve ever seen a third-base coach make. Heck, if this was the World Series, not a mere semifinal, it would get its own nickname, sort of like Merkle’s Boner.
Call it Cora’s (brain) Cramp.
Leading off the second, Aaron Rowand slashed a pitch from Washburn into the right field. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Vladimir Guerrero juggled it, allowing him to haul around second and into third. As Rowand was launching into a face-first dive, Guerrero’s throw toward second base flew over the head of shortstop Orlando Cabrera. The ball was heading on line with the left-field tarp but had nothing on it.
Cora yelled and waved for Rowand to go home without seeing if the ball got past third baseman Robb Quinlan, which it did not. He hustled after it, gloved it, spun and threw to the plate to easily get Rowand, who by then was lumbering.
If starting an inning with an out at third base is a cardinal sin, what’s starting one with an out at the plate? It’s just about the stupidest thing you can do. That’s what it is.
Compared to this butchery of the basics, Crede being doubled off second base in the seventh inning was a misdemeanor. But it was also inexcusable.
You might think none of this matters, given the way the White Sox pulled this one out. But if they don’t start playing their game, they’re not going to beat the Angels, not unless they can get nightly miracles and the kind of pitching Mark Buehrle gave them.
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progers@tribune.com
