Exiles On 35th Street

Nothing bonds a baseball team like winning, unless you count the sweet stickiness of spilled champagne and the pungent fog of cigar smoke that enveloped the Chicago White Sox on Oct. 7 in the tiny visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park. The 2005 White Sox came together like no team the franchise has fielded since 1917, the last time the club won a postseason series before these White Sox swept the Boston Red Sox out of the American League Division Series.

Two of the characters most responsible for such a team party arrived at this nexus with stories beyond the imagination of Runyan, just as they were for the general managers of the other 29 major league teams. Brothers in arms and in adversity were Jose Contreras, by way of a defection from Cuba and exile from New York City, and Bobby Jenks, by way of the waiver wire.

Unwanted a year ago, the two righthanded power pitchers--one now an ace, the other a feared closer--are perfectly cast for second acts for the second team in the Second City. Contreras and Jenks combined for 10 2/3 innings against the Red Sox, allowing only two runs; Contreras won the first game, and Jenks saved the next two. Contreras pounded the strike zone with Wiffle-like splitters and searing 95-mph fastballs; Jenks fired 85-mph curves with roller-coaster dips and 100-mph fastballs with such violence that it's no wonder he was once on the brink of blowing his elbow apart.

Of such swing-and-miss stuff are titles made. The White Sox haven't been to the World Series since 1959 and haven't won it since that '17 team did so. With Jenks's former team, the Los Angeles Angels, standing in their way in the AL Championship Series, the White Sox were at least as ideally fortified to change history as the similarly long-waiting Red Sox did in 2004. Chicago entered the ALCS well rested, with the home field advantage, a hot starting pitcher reminiscent of Josh Beckett of the '03 Marlins ( Contreras was 12-2 since the All-Star break) and a nearly unhittable rookie reliever, as Frankie Rodriguez was for the '02 Angels.

"Sometimes people just need to be in a new environment," White Sox general manager Kenny Williams says of Contreras and Jenks. "We did our homework on them and thought they would be fits personalitywise. Talent has never been a question. Now they're in the right fit, with the right manager, the right coaching staff, the right city."

Contreras, 33, pitched in 36 games for the Yankees (15-7, 4.64 ERA) before they decided that in New York, he would never conquer his control problems and lack of confidence.

"Every five days felt like Game 7 of the World Series," Yankees G.M. Brian Cashman said of the stress of having Contreras on the mound. "I thought if he was ever going to have success, it would have to be in a different environment. I'm happy for Kenny. He was the only G.M. who had interest in [ Contreras]."

At first Contreras didn't fare much better after the trade to Chicago, on July 31, 2004, going 9-9 with a 4.70 ERA from that point through the All-Star break this year. However, he grew comfortable around Venezuelan-born manager Ozzie Guillen and a clubhouse populated with many other Latin Americans, including fellow countryman Orlando Hernandez, his former Yankees teammate.

Hernandez persuaded Contreras to return to throwing with a low, three-quarters release point as he had in Cuba, rather than the higher, over-the-top release he used in the majors. Comfort translated into confidence, which translated into his attacking the strike zone as he never had in New York.

"He had a problem tipping his pitches when he got here," Guillen said. "We told him, 'You know what you do? One time when they're leaning over for that splitter, you throw that fastball up and in.' But I also told him, 'When you tip your splitter, they take it because you don't throw it for strikes. I don't care if they know it's coming. If you throw it for strikes, they can't hit it.'"