Pushing Lidge Out On the Ledge

So, Lidge blew another game by giving up a game winning home run. This time to Scott Podsednik. The guy hasn't hit a homer all year, and does so on a meatball to win the game, right after the Astros tied the game up in the 9th off the Sox closer.

Oh, and for all those who thought that Qualls should be the closer, he gave up a grand slam to Konerko earlier in the game to blow the lead for Pettite who pitched a heck of a game.

One minute, the Astros held a 4-2 lead with two outs in the seventh inning. The next, a pitch that clearly hit the bat of White Sox 3-hole hitter Jermaine Dye was mysteriously ruled a hit-by-pitch.

That loaded the bases and extended the inning. So of course, just four pitches later, that had to lead to a Paul Konerko grand slam. Off an Astros reliever (Chad Qualls) who, naturally, was working on a string of 7 1/3 consecutive hitless postseason innings before that.

And that meant none of Scott Podsednik's heroics were even going to be necessary. Except that, with two outs in the ninth, the Astros had to tie this game. On a two-run single by Jose Vizcaino, a guy who hadn't even gotten a hit in one day shy of a whole month.

And of course, Vizcaino got this hit off the heretofore-untouchable Bobby Jenks -- a pitcher who had given up one hit to the 16 hitters he'd faced this postseason before Sunday.

Disastro baseball. Be a fan at your own risk.

Or check to see who is the least valuable player (at your own risk of course). I'd go with Qualls, without whom none of the ninth inning heroics or failures thereafter would have been necessary.

Technorati: houston, astros, baseball, chicago, white sox, world series.