Say it’s so, Joe–you’re one of the true clutch players on this season’s White Sox.
And in Game 1 of Chicago’s first World Series in 46 years, Joe Crede’s glove was every bit as important to the Sox as his bat as they seized a 1-0 lead over the Houston Astros with a 5-3 victory Saturday night at riotous U.S. Cellular Field.
Crede broke a 3-3 tie with a home run in the fourth inning, then preserved the lead with acrobatic fielding plays after Houston got the potential tying run to third base in the sixth and seventh innings.
And remember that White Sox bullpen? After pretty much sitting out the American League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Angels, Neal Cotts and Bobby Jenks took over for Jose Contreras and blew away the Astros over 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
Jenks’ powder-river punch-out of slugger Jeff Bagwell to end the eighth with runners at first and third was pure theater.
Crede’s homer pinned the loss on Wandy Rodriguez, who took over from a puzzlingly ineffective Roger Clemens.
Clemens has alternately muscled, finessed and willed himself to 342 career wins, or 59 more than the White Sox’s entire playoff rotation. But the Sox treated the Hall of Fame-bound 43-year-old like some shopworn relic from an old-timers’ game. They worked counts, fouled off pitches and made him throw 54 times over two innings before he left with a strained hamstring and a 3-1 deficit.
Jermaine Dye’s line-drive homer to right field in the first inning was the loudest of the four hits he allowed. You might have heard the reaction from 41,206 juiced-up fans.
The Astros eventually tied the score, sparing Clemens a loss in what might have been his final game.
The Sox? They’ll keep playing for a while.
