77

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was as long as a Dickens novel. Of course I'm talking about the six hour and ninteen minute game that the White Sox won in the nineteenth inning Sunday over the Red Sox. Faced with the possibility of a Red Sox sweep, I invoked my personal mojo to come to the aid of my team. This time, I was collecting on a Father's Day present from son Jeffrey who treated me to the game. Jeff and I started out in the upper deck, one section over from Update reader Mike Sehr and his wife Lisa, but after six innings moved down to join Update reader Judy Deutsch, husband Tom, brother Howard Silverman (of Howard's Wine Cellar, 1244 W. Belmont, the Official Wine Store of the White Sox Magic Number Update), and his son Bradley -- five rows behind the Boston dugout. (See ticket at left.) Who knew we'd be in the good seats more than twice as long as we were in our original seats?

The White Sox clawed their way back from a three-run deficit on the strength of a Tadahito Iguchi homer in the third, a Jim Thome RBI single in the sixth, and a dramatic two-out in the bottom of the ninth, game-tying home run by Jermaine Dye. In the eleventh, Boston pushed across two more to take a 5-3 lead, but in the bottom half of the frame, Dye doubled home Thome, and after a disastrous failure to tag up by Ross Gload, Alex Cintron plated Gload by barely beating the throw to first on Boston's double play attempt. Eight innings later, after Dye made a spectacular catch in right field, Alex Cintron, Rob Mackowiak, and Scottie Pods were on base when Iguchi slapped a single to left for the game winner. Cliff Politte, the last of seven Sox pitchers (including Javier Vazquez) to come on in relief of Jose Contreras whose streak of 17 games without a loss continued, got the win. Boston also used eight pitchers as the two teams pounded out 29 hits (the Sox getting 18 of them) but left 52 men on base.

The game took its toll on the fans as well as the players, with yours truly being decked by son Jeff as they went after a ball that Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis threw into the stands. As Jeff jumped up, he inadvertently clipped me in the jaw, resulting in a standing eight count by the referee. But your Update editor never threw in the towel and Jeff wound up with the ball. (See picture at right of Jeff holding his trophy.) I, on the other hand, in addition to being pummelled, kept intact my 50 year streak of never catching a ball at a major league game baseball game. Coincidentally, it was 44 years ago this month (July 1, 1962) that I last touched a ball hit into the stands. I relinquished that ball when the guy next to me spilled his beer all over me, but at least I didn't get clobbered back in 1962.

Anyway, despite having lost the first two games of the series, Sunday's win allowed the Sox to head into the All-Star break trailing the Tigers by only two games and to trim the Magic Number to 77. Tuesday, Ozzie and the seven Sox on the A.L. team secure home field advantage for the Series by winning the All-Star Game, and then the Sox head off to New York to face the Evil Empire, aka, the New York Yankees. Go Sox!