4 straight CGs? Remembering a stunning '05 ALCS feat

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Countless accomplishments and ensuing memories tied to those accomplishments live on from the 2005 White Sox World Series title run, being celebrated this season on its 20th anniversary.

Four straight complete games thrown by the South Siders’ starting rotation during the American League Championship Series against the Angels had to be one of the more impressive feats. So impressive, in fact, that it will almost certainly never be done again during the regular season, let alone when your postseason existence is hanging in the balance.

But Jon Garland, who threw the second of those four complete games in Game 3 of the ALCS and during the first game played on the West Coast in that run, is far more optimistic for a recurrence.

“Well, I mean, I hope to see it. It’s fun for me, just as a pitcher, when you see a pitcher go out and be able to go that deep,” Garland told me during a Thursday interview. “If you go that deep, you obviously are doing something right in the game.

“You are getting outs or, in my case, sometimes the guys behind you are making unbelievable plays, and you are running into double plays you maybe shouldn’t. You are doing something right to get that far into a game.”

Mark Buehrle started the White Sox complete-game stretch with their Game 2 walk-off victory, followed by Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras to send them to the World Series in Game 5. Contreras pitched 8 1/3 innings in Game 1, with the two outs recorded by Neal Cotts serving as the team’s lone ALCS bullpen work.

Game 1 also stood as the sole defeat in the 11-1 White Sox run to the championship. There have been only 19 complete games thrown in the playoffs since four straight from the White Sox in ’05, and just 17 if two eight-inning defeats aren’t included, according to Baseball Reference. Justin Verlander’s complete game thrown in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS was the last one from the playoffs, and Nathan Eovaldi (April 1) and Michael King (April 13) are the only pitchers to record one in ’25.

What the White Sox starters did in ’05 is not something they really talk about during occasional current meetings, with a major get-together scheduled for Buehrle’s statue unveiling on July 11 during a reunion weekend. It’s not something they really reveled in at the time.

“I don’t even know if we thought about it, to tell you the truth,” Garland said. “I remember Freddy knowing in [Game 4] … and he was just like, ‘Listen, you guys just went complete games. I’m going now. There’s no stopping me.’

“That was the most I heard anybody really talk about it or say anything about it, at least amongst us. We wanted to win, and things were working out toward our advantage. We were scoring runs offensively. Playing great defense. That takes a lot of pressure off the pitchers.”

Garland pointed to Paul Konerko’s two-run home run highlighting a three-run first off John Lackey as an immediate calming influence during the 5-2 victory with him on the mound in Game 2. Some of those old memories are sure to be discussed this week, with Garland in town for the Beyond the Diamond White Sox charity event on Thursday night, and to attend a game or two in the Milwaukee series.

People will remember Garland’s 18-10 showing and 3.50 ERA in ’05, to go with back-to-back complete-game shutouts on April 25 and May 1 among his three recorded that season. The right-hander, who retired in 2013 after 13 seasons, will never forget the Chicago fan support and how his time in Chicago presented the opportunity to be with his two kids as much as possible.

“I told [White Sox chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf] this when I saw him at Spring Training, I had a nice conversation with him. I thanked him for putting me into this position to spend as much time with my kids as I do,” Garland said. “When I was younger, I didn’t quite get the full extent of how good of a sports town Chicago was.

“The older I get, from the teams, the town, the fans, you realize it’s one of the greatest sports towns out there. To be able to associate with that in general, with any team, those fans -- they are not going to forget you, and they don’t. That’s something that will be special for me for the rest of my life.”