White is the new Red.

That's the phrase that's going around in Chicago. It refers, of course, to the hope of White Sox fans that their team is taking up the mantle of the 2004 Red Sox. The long "cursed" team finally breaks a nearly-nine decade World Series championship drought. The White Sox curse, of course, revolves around the Black Sox team that threw the 1919 World Series, so it seems a bit more legitimate to me than the Bambino or the Billy Goat curses.

Last night was yet another example of the unbelievable run of good luck the White Sox have enjoyed. The longest World Series game ever (in terms of time) and tied for the longest (in terms of innings) at 14 innings last night was won by Chicago, beating the Astros 7-5. Unless Houston pulls off a 2004 ALCS style miracle, it looks like the city of Chicago will enjoy it's first baseball World Championship in 88 years.

The White Sox drought has been much different than the Red Sox, though. For the most part, Chicago has just been a pretty bad team for most of the time since their last World Series win. This is only their second appearance since 1919. Anyone under the age of around 54 or so probably doesn't remember the White Sox last visit to the Fall Classic. The White Sox really haven't been close very often, and haven't had to suffer through the excruciating losses the Red Sox tortured us with before last year.

I guess I'd rather be close and not make it than never be close, though...

Just as a point of interest, the last 14 inning World Series game was between the Red Sox and the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1916. The Sox beat Da Bums 2-1, with both starting pitchers going the distance. In contrast, the Astros and White Sox used 17 pitchers between them last night.

And the winning pitcher for Boston? None other than George Herman Ruth.