Never mind.

Of course, a couple innings after I finished that post last night, the White Sox won again thanks to Geoff Blum (who?), though not before they kept me up until 1:30, guaranteeing I would feel lousy all day today. Despite the fact that the Series has been somewhat competitive - three games decided by five runs total - that doesn't mean much if the Sox are just going to roll. And I think they will; it's hard to imagine them losing tonight with everything else going on (the Astros demoralized, starting their worst starter). So I'd better get at least one more list out of the way before the season ends. Partially per Jan's request, assuming that request wasn't sarcastic (and if it was, ha ha Jan, you bastard, you get another list)...

The Top Ten Series-Defining Pitching Performances in Postseason History

Honorable Mention: Mike Scott
Because Scott's team - the 1986 Astros - didn't get out of the NLCS, he is confined to honorable mention. But just think: had the Astros been able to clone Scott, they might have been in the World Series 19 years before now. Scott took the hill in Game One and threw a complete-game five-hitter; after the Astros had lost the next two games, Scott came back in Game Four and threw a complete-game three-hitter for a 3-1 win. With a 2-0 record, an ERA of 0.50, and 19 strikeouts to one walk in 18 innings, Scott was named MVP of the series even though the Mets won every game he didn't start to take the NLCS in six games.

Honorable Mention: Whitey Ford and Johnny Podres
Combined, New York's Ford and Brooklyn's Podres won four of the 1955 World Series' seven games, taking two each. Ford won Games One and Six, the latter a complete-game four-hitter; Podres, the Series MVP, threw complete games in Games Three and Seven, the latter a 2-0 shutout that won the Dodgers the Series. Oddly, while this was expected of Ford, Podres was hardly Brooklyn's ace; he had gone just 9-10 during the season. (Dodger ace Don Newcombe had gone 20-5 that season and won the first ever Cy Young Award the next year, but was 0-1 with a 9.53 ERA in the Series.) Points off because the Series' stars never actually had to face each other and because they played on opposing teams.

10. Grover Cleveland Alexander, 1926 World Series
An aging Alexander, 39 years old, wasn't making his last Series appearance, but two years later, he gave up 11 ER in 5 IP in a Cardinals loss. 1926, on the other hand, was his last hurrah. He threw complete games in Games Two and Six, 6-2 and 10-2 wins for St. Louis. Jesse Haines had as good of a Series - as with Ol' Pete, Haines was 2-0 and his 1.08 ERA was even slightly better - but Alexander gained legendary status when he came into Game Seven to replace Haines. With the bases loaded and the Cardinals clinging to a 3-2 lead, Alexander entered with two outs and struck out Tony Lazzeri. Alexander then put the Yankees down in order in the eighth, and the ninth inning, improbably, ended when Babe Ruth walked and was subsequently caught stealing second. Alexander allowed just three earned runs in 20.1 innings while striking out 17, but it was his save - possibly the most famous of the first half of the century - that makes his Series so memorable.

9. The Dean Brothers, 1934 World Series
They combined for 49 wins in the 1934 season, and Dizzy and Paul Dean were just as good in the Series. Dizzy threw a complete game to win Game One 8-3; after Detroit won Game Two, Paul went the distance in a 4-1 Cardinals win in Game Three. The Tigers evened things at two games, then went up 3-2 when they beat Dizzy 3-1 in Game Five. However, that was the lone blemish for the pair. Paul outdueled Schoolboy Rowe 4-3 in Game Six (both threw complete games), and Dizzy blanked Detroit in an 11-0 Game Seven laugher. For the Series, Dizzy and Paul won all four games for the Cardinals, threw four complete games, and had a combined 1.43 ERA (seven ER in 44 IP, including just two ER in 18 IP for Paul).

8. Mickey Lolich, 1968 World Series
Denny McLain won 30 games that year, but the Series was Lolich's show. After McLain lost Game One, Lolich threw a complete game and even hit a home run in an 8-1 Game Two win. The Cardinals won the next two games - roughing up McLain in Game Four - but Lolich returned in Game Five with another complete game in a 5-3 win. The Series returned to St. Louis with the Cardinals up 3-2, but after McLain won Game Six (thanks in large part to ten runs in Detroit's half of the third inning), Lolich came back after just two days off and threw his third complete game of the Series, outdueling Bob Gibson in a 4-1 win that brought the title to the Motor City.

7. Bob Gibson, 1967 World Series
He was beaten in 1968, but '67 was Gibson's show. He threw a complete game in a 2-1 Game One win, then tossed a five-hit shutout in Game Four to put the Cards up three games to one. After Boston rebounded to even things at three apiece, Gibson returned in Game Seven and shut the Red Sox down again. He threw a complete game, allowing two runs on three hits in a 7-2 Cardinals win - he also hit a solo home run in the fifth that put St. Louis up 3-0; in other words, he provided his own winning run.

6. Jack Morris, 1991 World Series
Morris has 254 career wins but is not in the Hall of Fame, largely due to his style of inning-eating pitching that generates a fairly high ERA. In the 1991 Series, however, Morris was as strong as he'd ever been. Though he walked nine with just 15 strikeouts, he only let in three earned runs in three games. He went 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA, winning Game One and, of course, throwing a ten-inning complete game shutout in the seventh game as the Twins won.

5. Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson, 2001 World Series
The Yankees wish this tag team didn't exist, because they had little trouble with the rest of the Arizona staff. In Game One, Schilling went seven innings, allowing just one run and three hits in a 9-1 D-Backs win. The next night, Johnson threw a three-hit shutout. The Yankees squeaked past Brian Anderson in Game Three and beat Byung-Hyun Kim after Schilling left another seven-inning, one-run, three-hit performance in Game Four. Game Five saw the Yankees win again as neither Schilling nor Johnson threw in the game, but when the Series returned to Arizona, Johnson allowed two runs in seven innings as the Diamondbacks rolled 15-2, and the seventh game featured both of them. Schilling went six dominating innings, but then, clinging to a 1-0 lead, allowed the tying run in the seventh and the go-ahead Yankee run in the eighth. Two outs later, Johnson - the day after starting - came back and mowed down four straight Yankees, allowing the bottom of the ninth to happen. (Incidentally, the winning run was scored by Jay Bell, who entered the game pinch-hitting for Johnson in that ninth.) The duo were named co-MVPs of the Series - they won all four games while losing none (Johnson was 3-0), combined for 45 strikeouts in 38.2 innings, and allowed just six total earned runs for a combined ERA of 1.40.

4. Orval Overall and Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, 1908 World Series
In the second of back-to-back World Series victories and - sigh - the last one the Cubs would win to date, Overall and Brown absolutely dominated the Tigers. They combined to win all four games, recording three complete games. Their combined ERA was 0.61 - two earned runs allowed, both by Overall. Overall recorded one out in the seventh inning of Game One; Brown came in and got the last six outs - meanwhile, the Cubs scored five runs in the top of the ninth to take Game One 10-6 and give Brown his first win. The next day, Overall threw a complete-game four-hitter to put the Cubs up 2-0. After Detroit took Game Three, Brown threw a four-hit shutout in Game Four, and Overall finished things the next day with a three-hit shutout in Game Five. For the Series, the Tigers hit just .209, and if you remove Ty Cobb's seven hits, the rest of the team hit a mere .187.

3. Sandy Koufax, 1965 World Series
Koufax actually lost Game Two 5-1, putting the Twins up 2-0 on the Dodgers, but only two of the runs were his and only one was earned. It would be his last. The Dodgers won the next two games, and Koufax won Game Five with a four-hit shutout. The Twins won Game Six, but Koufax returned after just two days off and threw a three-hit shutout in Game Seven to give Los Angeles the Series. Named MVP, Koufax allowed just one earned run in three games for a 0.38 ERA, and he struck out 29 in 24.0 total innings.

2. Lew Burdette, 1957 World Series
One of the greatest performances by a guy few today have ever heard of, Burdette almost singlehandedly won the Braves their last Series before 1995. After Warren Spahn lost Game One, Burdette went the distance in a 4-2 Game Two win. The Yankees rolled in Game Three, but after Spahn's ten-inning complete game (capped by Eddie Mathews' walkoff home run) won Game Four, Burdette came back with a seven-hit shutout in Game Five. The Yankees squeaked out Game Six, but Burdette threw a second shutout in Game Seven at Yankee Stadium. For the Series, the MVP was 3-0, with three complete games and a 0.67 ERA - just two earned runs in 27 innings.

1. Orel Hershiser, 1988 playoffs
1988 was Hershiser's year. He was named MVP of both the NLCS and World Series, and with good cause. In the NLCS, he went just 1-0, but that wasn't his fault so much - in Game One, he left with one out in the ninth and a 2-1 lead, only to see Jay Howell give up the losing two-run double to Gary Carter. Hershiser started again after just three days off in Game Three and was the pitcher of record when the Dodgers took a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth, but it took four Los Angeles relievers to record the next three outs, and in the same span the Mets scored five times. Hershiser earned a save the very next night when he got the last out in a 5-4, twelve-inning win that evened the series at two games apiece. Returning for the seventh game, Orel decided not to leave anything to chance and threw a complete-game, five-hit shutout. The Dodgers won 6-0 and rolled into the Series, where Hershiser threw a three-hit shutout in the second game and another complete game, this one with four hits, in the 5-2 clinching victory in Game Five. For the 1988 playoffs, Hershiser was 3-0 with a save, three complete games, two shutouts, 32 strikeouts to just 25 hits, and an ERA of 1.05.