Valiant effort from Wash
October 13, 2005
Gregg Patton
Press-Enterprise
CHICAGO - Long before there was the ninth inning and the phantom-dropped-third-strike controversy, the Chicago White Sox scored their first run of a 2-1 victory over the Angels Wednesday in quirky fashion, too.
Angels pitcher Jarrod Washburn was coming out of quarantine (strep throat) to make his first postseason appearance since serving up the infamous home run ball to Boston's David Ortiz in 2004.
That pitch was the final one of the year for the Angels. They went home, Boston moved on to the World Series title.
Wednesday night, Washburn started Game 2 of the American League Championship Series, after coming up ill and missing the five playoff games against New York.
The first batter he faced since Ortiz turned out to be, perhaps, the second most embarrassing postseason moment for him. Washburn fielded leadoff man Scott Podsednik's comebacker, turned for the easy toss to first -- and lobbed the ball so far over the head of first baseman Darin Erstad that it was astonishing.
"Worst pitch I made all day," joked Washburn afterward.
Podsednik took second on the error, and eventually scored on a ground out by Jermaine Dye. It was the only run the Angels veteran left-hander allowed in his 4 2/3 innings.
"I've thrown my share away," said Washburn, who also seemed a little jittery when the next batter, Tad Iguchi, bunted back to him.
Washburn juggled the ball, then fired a low inside strike to Erstad for the out as Podsednik took third. In the fourth inning, two more White Sox topped balls back at him, which he fielded cleanly.
"I think they wanted to keep testing me," he said, smiling.
In the end, Washburn pitched well enough to keep the Angels in the game, but not long enough to win.
His counterpart on Chicago -- also left-handed, and also No. 56 -- Mark Buehrle threw a five-hitter, giving up only a home run to third baseman Robb Quinlan.
"Wash did a great job," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "He got a little wobbly as he got into the fifth inning, but he did what we needed him to do, put us in position to win."
With 21-game winner Bartolo Colon sidelined with a strained shoulder at least for this series, and the Yankees series getting delayed by rain, the Angels would have been forced to use a committee of relievers Wednesday if Washburn hadn't pushed himself off his sick bed.
Tuesday, he looked and sounded wan in a press conference, and might have made himself ill again with his errant throw to first on Podsednik's ball. But he gave up only four hits, one walk and hit one batter.
"I felt pretty good early in the game," he said. "But I was tired at the end, pretty weak."
He left in the fifth inning after loading the bases with two outs. Reliever Brendan Donnelly struck out Dye to bail him out of the inning.
The Angels would end up losing when A. J. Pierzynski reached first on a disputed dropped third strike in the ninth inning. Joe Crede then knocked in pinch runner Pablo Ozuna with a double for the winning run.
"To end like that was unfortunate," Washburn said. "We'll just come back and try to get them next time."
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