Four Horsemen? Wrong sport and a tad pretentious. Fab Four? Also taken. Four Aces? Better, but not quite punchy enough.
Sports Illustrated called them the “Smother Brothers” this week. That isn’t bad, though a little dated.
“Any good, positive adjective would fit,” White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper said.
Jose Contreras. Mark Buehrle. Jon Garland. Freddy Garcia. Their given names are suddenly quite enough for the four hottest starting pitchers in baseball.
“They tease us about not pitching,” Sox reliever Cliff Politte said. Indeed, Politte and his mates in the bullpen may have to take to wearing name tags if the fearsome foursome–sorry–continue their act in the World Series. Against the Angels in the American League Championship Series they threw four consecutive complete-game victories and worked 44 1/3 of 45 innings.
“We don’t say anything back to them,” Politte said. “We can’t. We just tip our hats to them.”
They are kindred spirits, bound by history after their collective performance. They share fierce ambition and manageable egos. But they’re four men from vastly different backgrounds with their own stories of survival.
Contreras is the one-time Cuban great who was christened “El Titan de Bronze” by none other than Fidel Castro for his performance in the Pan Am Games. Within three years he had defected and touched off a bidding war between the Yankees and the Red Sox.
He signed with the Yankees but was miserable until his wife and children joined him 21 months later. The Yankees, though, never had faith in him as a big-game pitcher and traded him to the White Sox for Esteban Loaiza in July 2004.
Now he finds himself on baseball’s biggest stage, about to start Game 1 of the World Series against Houston and former Yankees teammate Roger Clemens.
“It’s an honor pitching against him,” Contreras said through interpreter Ozney Guillen, youngest of manager Ozzie Guillen’s three sons. “I’ve always admired him, even back when I was in Cuba.”
But Contreras also is honored to be pitching with a group that includes fellow Cuban Orlando Hernandez.
“I have to thank all the pitchers because everyone has taught me something different, from Garland to Freddy to Buehrle to El Duque,” Contreras said. “Even the relievers. I’ve learned something new from each one of them.”
Buehrle, the lone lefty, is the country boy who proposed to his wife in a deer stand, a kid who got cut from the baseball team his freshman and sophomore years of high school and still persevered, a junior college pitcher selected in the 38th round after his second year.
Buehrle finished 16-8 this season, and his Game 2 ALCS victory gave the Sox the jump they needed.
“It’s starting to sink in a little bit, watching the TV shows, the news, watching fans go crazy,” Buehrle said. “High school and college friends, pretty much anybody who has my number has called congratulating me.”
Like the others, Buehrle would prefer everyone just forget the ALCS, when the four pitchers put together their historic string. It means nothing once the World Series starts.
“Once the season is over, you can sit here and talk about it all you want,” Buehrle said. “But if we go out there and we all get rocked and lose four games in a row, nobody is even going to think about it.
“We have to perform in the World Series and hopefully do a good job, so down the road they can look back on it and still look at the positive of it.”
Garland is superstitious, which can happen when you’re drafted at 17, traded by the Cubs a year after they make you their No. 1 pick, make the big leagues at 20 and feel like a disappointment when you’re a little slow to live up to immense expectations.
But this year, after 18 regular-season wins and a dominant five-hitter against the Angels, Garland has arrived.
“I don’t think anybody is going out and trying to make a name for himself [in the postseason],” Garland said. “We’re guys who like to compete. If people say we’ve made a name for ourselves, great. If not, hopefully we get respect from our fans and our teammates.”
Garland says the Sox’s staff has made him a better pitcher.
“I definitely think having as many guys as we have on this team who go out and do it every night, including the bullpen, you don’t want to be that guy who goes out and gives up more hits, more runs,” he said. “Your teammates push you.”
Garcia was disappointed in his 14-8 regular season but got the win in the division series clincher at Boston and pitched a six-hitter in Game 4 of the ALCS. Like Garland, he believes he has learned something from each of his fellow starters.
“Buehrle is the kind of guy who just pitches,” he said. “Some guys look for a lot of things to do. Some guys really worry or talk about `What’s going to happen when I pitch?’ Not Buehrle. And Garland is the same way. He’s quiet, does his business. Everyone on our staff is like that.”
Contreras speaks only Spanish. Garcia prefers Spanish, and Buehrle and Garland speak only English, but the four manage to understand each other.
“I communicate with El Duque and Freddy pretty well,” Buehrle said. “With Jose I need a translator. But a lot of time I just joke around with all of them, keep everyone loose, have fun. They kind of giggle and laugh and act like they get it, but I don’t know.”
Sox general manager Ken Williams has a theory on why it all works.
“Let me tell you what helps the whole language barrier and culturalization thing: going out there on a day-to-day basis and winning ballgames. Performing,” Williams said. “That goes a long way toward establishing good communication.”
Cooper believes the pitchers’ differences are a good thing. “We have a melting pot in here,” he said. “But they pull for each other, they talk to each other, they learn things from each other. It couldn’t be better.”
Cooper said the competition within the staff has served each pitcher well since spring training.
“Nobody wanted to be trail dog,” he said. “Each guy wanted to be the leader, wanted to keep up with the bunch. So there was good, healthy competition going on, and that’s a wonderful thing. Then you’re getting guys every five days who can’t wait for their day because it’s their turn and they don’t want to miss that opportunity.”
But catcher A.J. Pierzynski warns against expectations that the pitchers will match their ALCS performance.
“I don’t know if you’ll ever see that again,” he said. “Managers just don’t do that anymore. They don’t have confidence to let guys go 120 pitches and throw nine innings.
“We were lucky we had leads in three games and those guys were throwing so well that Ozzie didn’t want to take them out. He believes in these guys. But the way setup guys and closers are now so specialized, I don’t think you’ll ever see it again.”
What we will see, however, is a Houston staff–Clemens, Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte and Brandon Backe–that elicits just as much awe among NL hitters.
“When you get this far, you get this far by pitching,” Guillen said. “I think the fans are going to see one of the best pitching performances in a long time, eight guys on the mound who will be fun to watch.
“Having the opportunity to see Roger Clemens in this ballpark in the World Series is something people should pay the ticket for. You’re going to see Jose Contreras. You’re going to see Buehrle, Oswalt. It’s going to be fun.”
Said Cooper: “I’m excited. They’re the best of the best in the NL, we’re the best of the best in the AL. Let the games begin.”
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misaacson@tribune.com
