Unsung but not undecorated.
Not now. Not after shortstop Juan Uribe and reserve infielder Willie Harris helped ensure the first World Series title for the White Sox in 88 years.
Uribe made two sparkling plays in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s Game 4 clincher, first sacrificing his body to reach into the third-base stands to snag a foul ball off the bat of Houston pinch-hitter Chris Burke.
Then, with a runner still perched on second with two outs, Uribe deftly fielded a slowly hit ball that bounced over the head of reliever Bobby Jenks, cocked his right arm and fired a strike to first baseman Paul Konerko to nip pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro to end the game.
“If we don’t have Uribe out there playing great defense, we would still be out there playing,” Konerko said after the 1-0 victory that gave the White Sox a 4-0 sweep. “We played our best games of the year in the playoffs, and most teams don’t do that.”
Harris entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and led off with a single. He was sacrificed to second by Scott Podsednik and moved to third on a groundout to second by Carl Everett. World Series most valuable player Jermaine Dye then delivered the key two-out single up the middle to score Harris with the game’s lone run.
“Our pitching was great and so was our defense,” Everett said. “Uribe came up so clutch. He’s the best shortstop in the league, to me.
“We stuck together. We’re a team. Everybody was against us; we didn’t care. We felt we could do it.”
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen watched his team breeze through the playoffs with a steady diet of dominating pitching and flawless defense.
“I had no doubt about it that we would play good defense in this series,” Guillen said.
Added Uribe: “I helped win the game today and now I want to go home and be with my family. I tried to help win the game for the fans of Chicago.”
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fmitchell@tribune.com
