12 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Despite shaky ending,
Cardinals win easily
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Reggie Sanders, Chris Carpenter
and the St. Louis Cardinals looked every bit like the best
team in baseball - even with a shaky ending.
Sanders hit a grand slam and set an NL division series
record with six RBIs, Carpenter pitched six scoreless
innings before being pulled as a precaution and the Cardi-
nals built a big lead and held off the San Diego Padres 8-5
yesterday in Game 1.
But even without Peavy, who left the game with an inju-
ry, the pesky Padres weren't done. They scored once in the
seventh, added another run in the eighth and then got right
back into it in the ninth. San Diego scored three times and
loaded the bases with two outs before closer Jason Isring-
hausen struck out Ramon Hernandez.
Jim Edmonds helped out St. Louis with a home run,
double and single. Eric Young had a pinch-hit homer in the
eighth for San Diego and an RBI groundout in the ninth.
Manager Tony La Russa's team won for the fifth time in
the six NLDS openers.
Against Peavy, Sanders had both of the key hits. His
two-run single off the glove of diving first baseman Mark
Sweeney put the Cardinals ahead 4-0 in the third, and his
grand slam into the left-field seats on a 3-0 fastball knocked
out Peavy in the fifth.
Carpenter was 21-5 with a 2.83 ERA, the ace the Cardi-
nals lacked in the playoffs last fall when they were swept
in the World Series by the Red Sox. But he struggled in the
final month, with a 9.14 ERA in his final four outings and
saying he lost motivation after the Cardinals clinched the
Central two weeks before the end of the season.
The Padres saw the dominant Carpenter again. He
allowed only three singles while benefiting from three
double plays from the team that led the majors.
Peavy appeared to be the Padres' best shot at postsea-
son success after going 13-7 with a 2.88 ERA - just five
points behind Carpenter - and leading the NL with 216
strikeouts. But he lasted only 4 1-3 innings, his second-
shortest outing of the season and gave up eight runs on
eight hits.
The Cardinals got to Peavy immediately. With one
out in the first, Edmonds hit his 11th career postseason
homer to the opposite field to give St. Louis the lead.
Five straight batters reached safely with one out in the
third as the Cardinals scored three more times. A bases-
loaded wild pitch by Peavy that didn't even reach the dirt
allowed one run to score and Sanders' infield hit drove in
two more.
In the fifth, four straight Cardinals reached with one out.
Edmonds began the rally with a sharp grounder off Peavy's
glove, Albert Pujols singled and Larry Walker walked to
set up Sanders' grand slam.
Khalil Greene had a sacrifice fly off Cardinals reliever
Brad Thompson in the seventh and Young homered off
Randy Flores to start the eighth.
Mark Loretta and Brian Giles had RBI singles in the
ninth.
*I
Senior forward Ryan Alexander will try to beat Indiana this weekend - something that Alexander has never done.
K*ickers prepare to butt
heads with powerhouse
Chicago cruises against
Boston in battle of the Sox
By Anne Ulble
Daily Sports Writer
In the six years of the team's exis-
tence, no Michigan men's soccer
player has left the program with a win
against Indiana. The Big Ten soccer
juggernaut has been the team every
squad dreams about beating.
The Hoosiers will travel to the U-M
soccer field this Sunday in the much-
anticipated match-up.
"Indiana has been the domi-
nant team in the.Big Ten for the last
decade," Burns said. "We use them as
a measuring stick to see how far we've
come over the past five years. We have
to ask ourselves, 'If they're at the top,
how close are we?' "
Indiana coach Mike Freitag appreci-
ated the compliment, but responded:
"I know Coach Burns is trying
to break that measuring stick," Fre-
itag said. "Everyone talks about us
having a target on our back, and it
seems to get bigger every year. We
are usually most teams' top compe-
tition each season, and a win against
us would make each of their seasons.
It's hard because we can't have any
let downs and we always have to
have our guard up."
After earning two consecutive
national titles - Indiana ousted Mich-
igan 1-0 last year in the second round
of the NCAA Tournament - the Hoo-
siers are making a run for a third this
season. With three of the 25 Hermann
Trophy candidates on its team, Indi-
ana already has a leg up on most of its
competition.
"Indiana has really evolved in the
way they play," Burns said. "They are
a team that has great movement in the
middle of the midfield. The players
know how to read each other, and they
have very few touches."
Burns pointed to potential attack-
ing threats from the freshman forward
Lee Nguyen and senior Mike Amber-
sley, whom the Indiana coach has
moved from forward to the outside
midfield position.
"(Indiana) has always been known
as a great defensive team," Burns said.
"But now they have a great offense
that has the trademark intensity and
fight that Indiana is known for."
The important thing for Michigan
to do in order to shut down the Hoo-
siers' game is to take possession of the
ball early and exploit the space that is
available in the Hoosier's formation.
"Indiana likes to pass the ball
around a lot," senior captain Ryan
Sterba said. "They have the ability to
keep the ball for long periods of time
because-they are able to get all their
players behind the attack. We've sat
back in the past and allowed them to
(do that), but we're going to try and
get that part of the game from them."
Even as the Wolverines try to break
down the Hoosiers on the field, their
toughest job will be overcoming the
competitive spirit that Indiana is so
well known for.
"There really isn't a word to describe
why Indiana is one of the best teams,"
Sterba said. "It's their ability to win
close games. Every time they've need-
ed to step up, they find a way to get
that one goal to win. They have confi-
dence, and they have some of the best
technical players in the country. Win-
ning is what happens at Indiana."
Although Burns commented that
having home field advantage will help,
he knows Indiana is used to a large
crowd.
"Being in the confines of our home
is always nice," Freitag said. "But
we've traveled well in the past. I think
our guys like coming into hostile envi-
ronments. Wherever we go, we seem
to draw the largest crowds on anyone's
field and I think our guys are fueled
by that. We like to rain on people's
parades."
The Hoosiers, however, should note
that sun is in the forecast for Sunday
in Ann Arbor.
CHICAGO (AP) - The winning socks came from the
White Sox. Now, maybe it's their turn to end a long cham-
pionship drought.
A.J. Pierzynski homered twice, Paul Konerko, Juan
Uribe and even Scott Podsednik also connected, and Chi-
cago scored five times in the first inning yesterday en route
to a 14-2 rout of the World Series champion Red Sox in
their playoff opener.
Jose Contreras pitched effectively into the eighth inning,
ending Boston's eight-game postseason winning streak that
carried the team to its first title in 86 years last season.
The White Sox hope to end a drought that's even longer,
dating way back to the days of Shoeless Joe Jackson and
their most recent World Series crown in 1917, the last time
they won any playoff series at all.
One sign in the stands summed up hopes on the South
Side: "2004: Their Sox. 2005: Our Sox."
The White Sox got their first playoff victory since 1993
with a stunning display of power. Pierzynski's three-run
homer off Matt Clement capped Chicago's first-inning
outburst and sent a raucous, towel-waving crowd of 40,717
into delirium.
Konerko added a solo shot in the third and Uribe a
two-run drive to finish Clement in the fourth. Podsednik,
Chicago's speedy leadoff hitter who didn't have a homer
all season, hit a three-run shot off Jeremi Gonzalez in the
sixth. Pierzynski connected again in the eighth.
Contreras, who was 2-4 with an 11.67 ERA in his career
against the Red Sox, allowed eight hits and two runs in 7
2-3 innings in his first playoff start.
Clement, who lost three of his final five regular-sea-
son starts, struggled with his control at the outset, hitting
Podsednik and Jermaine Dye with pitches.
Podsednik stole third and after Konerko sent a long
drive to left that was foul, he put the White Sox ahead with
an RBI grounder to third.
Carl Everett followed with a single before Aaron Row-
and sent an RBI single over shortstop for a 2-0 lead. The
din increased moments later when Pierzynski, a veteran of
playoff games with Minnesota, lined his three-run homer
to left-center.
Trot Nixon singled in the fourth and, after Jason Varitek
dropped down a bunt for another hit, Chicago third base-
man Joe Crede kicked the ball as he was trying to pick it
up and both runners advanced on the error.
Contreras, who tied teammate Freddy Garcia with an
AL-leading 20 wild pitches this season, unleashed another
as Nixon scored. Kevin Millar followed with a double to
right and the Red Sox were seemingly back in the game at
6-2. But Chicago second baseman Tadahito Ighuchi made
a heads-up play on Bill Mueller's grounder, making a rare
throw from second to third to cut down Millar and douse
the rally.
And after Pierzynski doubled to start the fourth, Uribe
drove a pitch over the fence in left, giving the White Sox
a six-run cushion and finishing Clement's miserable day
after just 3 1-3 innings.
Uribe had an RBI single in thesixth before Podsednik
connected. Pierzynski hit his second homer off Bronson
Arroyo. He is the second White Sox player to homer twice
in a postseason game, joining Ted Kluszewski, who hit two
against the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 1959 World Series.
Pinch-hitter Willie Harris added an RBI single in the
eighth.
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