Even before White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko stepped on first base for the final out of Sunday night’s 6-3 pennant-clinching victory, catcher A.J. Pierzynski raised his hands as he stood at home plate triumphantly.
Then Pierzynski grabbed his helmet, as if to get a grip on a moment he and a generation of South Siders will never forget.
An instant later, Pierzynski’s Sox teammates started jumping and hugging and forming a human circle of joy. And there was Pierzynski, whom Chicago has embraced like he grew up in Bridgeport, in a fitting spot given his role in this series.
In the middle of it all.
“We did it, we did it, this is a great team effort and we did it,” Pierzynski said once he made his way into the champagne shower in the clubhouse. “I knew we’d have a chance to compete [this year], but going to the World Series . . . You always think it can happen, but you never know, you never can count on it. Now we have a chance to get a ring.”
Pierzynski might not have been the most valuable player of the ALCS, but he was the most visible.
When Sox fans relive this memorable series for years to come in video highlights, it will be Pierzynski who shows up like a baseball Forrest Gump in nearly every significant play.
There may never have been a more important .167 hitter in the ALCS.
There was the infamous dropped third strike in Game 2 that changed momentum, a non-call on a catcher’s interference play during a key Steve Finley double play in Game 4, and Sunday night’s phantom tag in Game 5 that set up another Joe Crede game-winner.
On what amounted to a swinging bunt in the eighth inning, Angels reliever Kelvim Escobar tagged a hustling Pierzynski on the first-base line with his glove while holding the ball in his right hand.
Escobar, giving away the fact that he had not touched Pierzynski with the ball, threw late to unsuspecting first baseman Darin Erstad.
Who knows? Had Escobar thought quickly, he might have reacted nonchalantly as if the out were a foregone conclusion in an attempt to sell the umpires.
“I knew he had an empty glove,” Pierzynski said. “That’s why I was screaming right away. He made a mistake when he threw the ball. Otherwise they wouldn’t have known.”
First-base umpire Randy Marsh initially raised his fist to call Pierzynski out. When he did, Ozzie Guillen shot out of the dugout like somebody had fired a starter’s pistol. Guillen pleaded his case to Marsh and, as significantly, controlled Pierzynski from getting carried away.
Marsh huddled with plate umpire Ed Rapuano and crew chief Jerry Crawford at second base before changing the call and waving Pierzynski back to first. That brought Angels manager Mike Scioscia out of the dugout.
“The only thing I saw was Jerry Crawford, from his angle, I didn’t think he could see it,” Scioscia said. “[But] they got the call right.”
The decision impacted the game more than any other play because it allowed the next batter, Crede, to drive in the game-winning run with an infield single that scored Aaron Rowand.
“Joe getting the hit, that was the biggest thing,” Pierzynski said.
When Sox general manager Ken Williams signed the free-agent catcher last winter, he was warned that Pierzynski might be an irritant. And he irritated postseason opponents all the way to the World Series, as evidenced by the boos in Angel Stadium every time he was introduced.
Pierzynski would complain daily about the amount of attention he received. He was as convincing as a kid whining about being cornered in a candy store. He relished the role, and his quirky personality impassioned the Sox.
“I could care less about that stuff now,” Pierzynski said. “All that matters is we won.”
