The White Sox didn’t need help from umpire Doug Eddings or anybody else at Angel Stadium on Friday night.
Not with Jon Garland and Paul Konerko in the house.
Garland pitched a four-hitter in his first postseason start and Konerko slugged his third home run of the playoffs as the Sox rolled up a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels and took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.
Unlike the Eddings-influenced verdict of Game 2, there was nothing sketchy about the outcome this time. The Sox simply did what they have been doing all season: They blended timely hitting with Garland’s skillful pitching and backed it with airtight defense.
Konerko’s two-run homer capped a three-run first inning that helped Garland relax. With a career-best 18 wins, he led the Sox’s staff in the regular season, but it speaks to how well they have been pitching that he wasn’t needed before Friday. And he pitched as if he’d never been away–Orlando Cabrera’s two-run homer in the sixth was the only damaging hit of the four he allowed.
Eddings, meanwhile, spent the night out of harm’s way umpiring the right-field foul line, which he could have done from an easy chair. He was booed when introduced, as was Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, his co-protagonist from the nutty, much-discussed ninth inning of Game 2.
But the boos were more mischievous than malicious. Angels fans, with their ubiquitous red garb and their infatuation with a “rally monkey,” come out for the entertainment. They don’t sweat baseball; it’s sort of a pleasant diversion, like softball at the company picnic.
But a 2-1 deficit in what’s now a four-game series ought to be cause for some concern, with the way the Sox are playing.
They’re two wins away from the World Series.
