SOX WIN!!!

[Sixxgunn]

Lowest ratings in AC NIelsen history...how sad. These people missed some excellent baseball teams playing some excellent baseball, with no Sosa-esque egos. Congrats White Sox, and thank you for bringing both a title AND some class to our humble city!

This has been a weird playoff year. The umps after being praised last year were horrible. Absolutely horrible. I just had no desire whatsoever to watch anymore after the Angels series.
Bad calls don't make for good ratings. And excellent baseball is 7 game series not a sweep. This was a mismatch.

But when the Angels won it in 02 and had the worst ratings ever I could care less because it felt so good just to win. So congrats Sox fans.

It's not the quantity but the quality, and to give credit where it is due, all the teams the Sox played were quality teams and made some great plays. There were some spectacular pitching efforts, some bad calls, some lucky breaks. But any one of those games could have gone the other way, so to say just because they won in four the other team was outmatched is simply wrong. The Angels are a great team, obviously the Red Sox are, and the Astros played very tough ball for those four games, so I applaud them as well.

[black_hawk8888]

White Sox would have won even without the botched calls that cost the Angels a game and the Astros a game. They were that much better. But there were some horrible calls in crucial situations that merit instant replay in baseball. It was kind of funny how the White Sox kept getting the benefit of the calls but I don't think it would have mattered.

[logan]

well the stros got calls as well. lane's phantom homer in the 14 inning game 3. the double play in the nlds. the officiating on a whole was bad for everyone.

[Cowboys 4 life]

White Sox would have won even without the botched calls that cost the Angels a game and the Astros a game. They were that much better. But there were some horrible calls in crucial situations that merit instant replay in baseball. It was kind of funny how the White Sox kept getting the benefit of the calls but I don't think it would have mattered.

Really?


I beg to differ. I say the Angels would have won game 2 and took the life out of the Sox, leave to win it at home in 4 or 5 and eventually become WS champs.

The bottom line is we will never know now. One cannot assume because you can't ever go back and see what would have happened. Its not like it was only 1 call, in game 4 there were another 3 and they benefitted from several more against the Stros. The outcome of several games was possibly changed.

The Sox won but the reason they are not getting the credit for it is becuase they had a lot of help. All the 4 complete games, Credes key hits, and great fielding is overshadowed by the calls and always will be. Sad but its just the way it is. It was second page news in my paper. But today they got some pub with the front page mentioning the lowest ratings ever.

The Armbristor call and Deckinger call didn't make a difference either. The fact is every one of these calls had an effect on the series and we will never know who the real champ would have been had the calls been right.

[Goatwhacker]

I beg to differ. I say the Angels would have won game 2 and took the life out of the Sox, leave to win it at home in 4 or 5 and eventually become WS champs.

What a cop-out. It reminds me of when that kid interfered with that foul ball in the Cubs/Marlins series a year or two ago and everybody blamed the Cubs loss on him. Well, the Cubs didn't lose because of him, they lost because they fell apart, just like the Angels did. If the Angels can't suck it up and overcome a bad call they didn't deserve to win.

[SwiperNoSwiping]

I beg to differ. I say the Angels would have won game 2 and took the life out of the Sox, leave to win it at home in 4 or 5 and eventually become WS champs.

What a cop-out. It reminds me of when that kid interfered with that foul ball in the Cubs/Marlins series a year or two ago and everybody blamed the Cubs loss on him. Well, the Cubs didn't lose because of him, they lost because they fell apart, just like the Angels did. If the Angels can't suck it up and overcome a bad call they didn't deserve to win.

Ah, yes...The Bartman. The ultimate scapegoat.

[Cowboys 4 life]

I beg to differ. I say the Angels would have won game 2 and took the life out of the Sox, leave to win it at home in 4 or 5 and eventually become WS champs.

What a cop-out. It reminds me of when that kid interfered with that foul ball in the Cubs/Marlins series a year or two ago and everybody blamed the Cubs loss on him. Well, the Cubs didn't lose because of him, they lost because they fell apart, just like the Angels did. If the Angels can't suck it up and overcome a bad call they didn't deserve to win.

I wrote that as an example of what possibly could have happened not what I think whould have. We will never know.

Just like the 85 Cards who actually got the final out of the series which was instead called as safe and allowed the Royals to win and win again in game 7 to take the series.

Ask Fisk about Ed Armbrister, utility man for the Reds, who collided with Fisk in Game Three of the 1975 World Series after a bunt. Fisk was charged with catcher's interference in a controversial play costing his team the series.

Or the Phantom homer in 98 by the Yanks when the fan pulled the ball over for a home run.

All cop-outs. Call em what you want the fact is we will never know what would have happened in each of the cases had the call been made correctly. I'm not arguing that the Sox didn't win just saying I feel the whole playoffs could be completly different had the correct calls been made.

I can tell you one thing which is I'm very happy 02 was not shadowed by bad calls. I feel bad because Chicago played some great baseball as they did all year and it was swept under the rug in my paper and across the nation.

I barely remember who won those series listed above (had to look up the team that got the call) I remember the bad calls as I always will. This series is no different for me. In case you are curious the play is now refered to as "THE CALL" around So Cal.

50 years from now ask me what I remember about the 05 baseball playoffs and I'll say Eddings and THE CALL.