Red Sox-White Sox And A Few Playoff Predictions

As the 2004 Red Sox will gladly tell anyone who will listen, history means nothing. A history of losing to the New York Yankees meant nothing to the '04 Red Sox as they knocked off the Evil Empire in the ALCS. Going 86-years without winning a World Series did not mean much to the Idiots either as they beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the Fall Classic. So the history of the Chicago White Sox -- the team from Chicago's South Side hasn't won the World Series (or any playoff series) since 1917 and have not won a home playoff game since 1959 -- will not make the Red Sox take their opponent in the 2005 A.L. Division Series lightly. The Red Sox know the truth, last year (or the last 80-plus years) mean nothing. The better team will win. Mistakes and curses will not determine the outcome of this series. And the better team happens to be the defending World Series champions. The White Sox are a very good team, good enough to win 99 games and the A.L. Central division. But they did not finish extremly strong (19-12 in September and October) and some serious flaws -- namely the bullpen -- have developed over the course of the summer. Head-to-head, the White Sox have slightly better starting pitching than their counterparts from Boston but a group of Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia and Jon Garland does not overwhelm a group of Matt Clement, David Wells, Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling. As for the bullpens, both teams are weak in relief. The ChiSox will add starters Orlando Hernandez and Brandon McCarthy to a corps of Dustin Hermanson, Bobby Jenks, Damaso Marte, Luis Vizcaino and Cliff Politte but other than the experience of Hernandez, the fastball of Jenks and the lefty-on-lefty success of Marte, nothing about Chicago's bullpen stands out. The Red Sox bullpen isn't a solid strength either but Mike Timlin, Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Myers, Chad Bradford, Bronson Arroyo and either Craig Hansen, Manny DelCarmen, Chad Harville or Lenny DiNardo will give manager Terry Francona some solid options in relief of his starters. Timlin and Papelbon have also formed a nice 1-2 punch in the late innings during September. With the pitching staffs of both teams being a virtual wash of each other, this series will come down to who can score more runs. And the favorite to do so are the Red Sox. Sure, Paul Konerko, (old friend) Carl Everett, Tadahito Iguchi, Scott Podsednik and Aaron Rowand form a solid lineup but they can't compete with the likes of David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Johnny Damon, Bill Mueller, Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon. The Boston coaching staff, led by Tito Francona, also has more playoff experience than Ozzie Guillen's -- whatever that is worth. Expect the BoSox to outscore the ChiSox on their way to the American League Championship Series. The Red Sox will take Game 1 in Chicago before dropping Game 2 and then will come home to close out the White Sox at Fenway Park on Friday and Saturday. As for the other three Divisional Series', I believe the power pitching of Bartolo Colon, Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar and Jarrod Washburn will combine with the big bat of Vladimir Guerrero to beat the Yankees in five games. In the National League the Cardinals will sweep the Padres and the young Braves will do the same to the Astros. Looking beyond to the ALCS and NLCS, the Red Sox will squeak out a win over the Angels in six soul-wrenching games while the Braves upset the Cardinals in five. The Red Sox will then beat the Braves in the World Series to defend their 2004 World Series. The Boston bats will just simply slug their way to another championship.