In the summer of 2010, I was walking through the gargantuan Miller Park AmFam Field parking lot with my aunt. While navigating the rows of tailgaters leading up to the House That Selig Built, we were approached by a guy in a Chicago White Sox jersey. Why a South Sider was present for a Twins vs Brewers clash: unclear.
Anyway, he was a chatty fella and though I don’t recall the exact verbiage, he said something akin to “you guys beat us at the Metrodome all those years—but we got it done when it mattered”. I was almost physically ill.
For all the hitless nights and Bret Boone-induced trauma of 2005, there is one final—and intensely depressing—reckoning for Twins fans: the one year the Pale Hose slipped by the Twinkies and into the postseason, they hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy.
I don’t want to sell the Sox short—they were a 99-63 AL Central steamroller in ‘05 that could swing with the best of ‘em and were surprisingly deep pitching-wise. They swept fellow footwear Boston—no repeat magic in Beantown—in the ALDS & only dropped a single game to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALCS.
Their World Series opponent: the clearly-inferior (yet sneakily dangerous) 89-73-1 Houston Astros.
Though 11 games behind St. Louis for the NL Central crown in ‘05, the ‘Stros took out the Redbirds in the NLCS. Two Killer B’s—Lance Berkman & Craig Biggio—remained, bolstered by uncommonly strong offensive seasons from Morgan Ensberg & Jason Lane. A rotation fronted by Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, and Roger Clemens—and a bullpen anchored by dominant closer Brad Lidge—was also nothing to sneeze at.
It mattered little against Ozzie Guillen’s gentlemen…
- Game 1: The only normal game of this series—Jermaine Dye & Joe Crede went deep & Jose Contreras was solid on the bump.
- Game 2: Houston tied the game off Sox closer Bobby Jenks (RIP)—but then the unlikeliest guy on the roster to hit a walk-off home run did exactly that.
- Game 3: Tied 5-5 after the requisite nine, this one went to the 14th—5 hours & 41 minutes in all—before a ChiSox homer (Geoff Blum) & bases-loaded walk (Chris Widger) allowed Damaso Marte to slam the door.
- Game 4: Goose-egged through seven innings, Freddy Garcia vs Brandon Backe had Jack Morris vs John Smoltz vibes. But in T8, Dye delivered Willie Harris to the dish with an RBI single off Lidge. It would prove all that was needed:
In an extreme rarity for me, I have no memories of watching any of this World Series. Perhaps I boycotted out of revulsion at the Sox sealing what the Twins could not. Maybe starting my sophomore year at college and having Survey of Calculus & Intercultural Communication Theory on my plate had something to do with it.
Either way, I still cringe a bit at that ‘05 Chicago championship. For as solid and exciting as the ‘02, ‘03, ‘04, ‘06, & ‘09 Twins seasons were, their biggest nemesis only needed a single postseason to nab the ultimate prize.
