CHICAGO -- Two of the best left-handers in the game will take center stage for Game 2 of the 2005 World Series. But there will be a lot more pressure, in more ways than one, on the visiting lefty.
The Chicago White Sox won the Series opener and will now send Mark Buehrle against Andy Pettitte of the Houston Astros on Sunday night.
Pettitte has been down this postseason road so often, it must seem like his driveway at home. Buehrle will be starting his first World Series game. But the experience factor hasn't worked against Buehrle in two starts in this postseason. He had never started a postseason game before this October, but he beat Boston in the American League Division Series. And then, after a White Sox loss in the AL Championship Series opener, Buehrle helped to turn the whole thing around, beating the Angels and starting a White Sox streak of four consecutive complete-game victories.
Buerhle might be the ideal pitcher for the forecasted cold and damp conditions Sunday night. He works fast and he's a strike machine. His colleagues on defense will be grateful to him, because he'll get them back to the relative warmth of the dugout as quickly as possible.
"The faster you work, the better off you're going to be," Buehrle said Saturday. "I just don't see any reason to go out there and waste time. Just go out there and get the ball."