John bracket: White Sox (09) defeat Cardinals (09) in six games

Game One: 09 White Sox 5, 09 Cardinals 2
WP: Linebrink (1-0)
LP: Carpenter (1-1)
Save: Jenks (2)
HR: Rasmus (2)

Game Two: 09 White Sox 1, 09 Cardinals 0
WP: Peavy (1-0)
LP: Lohse (0-1)
Save: Jenks (3)

Game Three: 09 Cardinals 8, 09 White Sox 3
WP: Wainwright (2-1)
LP: Danks (0-1)
HR: K Greene (1)

Game Four: 09 White Sox 5, 09 Cardinals 3
WP: Floyd (2-1)
LP: McClellan (0-1)
Save: Jenks (4)
HR: Dye (2), Konerko (3), Schumaker (1)

Game Five: 09 Cardinals 7, 09 White Sox 1
WP; Carpenter (2-1)
LP: Buehrle (1-2)
HR: DeRosa (1), Pujols 2 (4)

Game Six: 09 White Sox 9, 09 Cardinals 0
WP: Peavy (2-0)
LP: Lohse (0-2)
HR: Beckham (2), Podsednik (1)

The 2009 White Sox won all three of the competitive games in the series before blowing out the 2009 Cardinals for the clincher.

Chris Carpenter and Mark Buehrle dueled in the opener, played in the 2009 version of Busch Stadium. Albert Pujols drove in a first inning run with a sac fly, then committed an error that resulted in the tying run scoring in the second. Gordon Beckham tripled and scored in the fourth; Colby Rasmus tied it in the bottom of the inning with a homer. The 2-2 tie held into the ninth, when the Sox strung together five singles off Carpenter, Todd Wellmeyer and Dennys Reyes for three runs.

Jake Peavy, Octavio Dotel and Bobby Jenks combined for a 1-0 shutout in Game Two. Peavy allowed four hits in six innings, Dotel one in two innings and Jenks was perfect in the ninth. The sole run off Kyle Lohse came in the fifth, when Jermaine Dye led off with a double, took third on an Alexi Ramirez single and scored on Chris Getz' grounder to second. Lohse allowed just two hits in his six innings.

The series shifted to the South Side of Chicago, and the Cardinals picked up their first win of the series behind Adam Wainwright's pitching and an unlikely three run homer from Kahil Greene. Wainwright went 7.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. Greene's fourth inning homer came off John Danks. Matt Holliday was 4-for-4 off  Danks and the Sox bullpen with two RBIs and a walk.

Game Four was crucial. The Cardinals' Joel Pinero carried a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh, when he needed help from Trevor Miller to escape a jam. Miller stayed in to face Jim Thome in the eighth; Thome doubled. Right hander Kyle McClellan entered; he walked Paul Konerko, then yielded a three-run homer to Dye, and what had looked like a series-tying St. Louis win turned into a dramatic Chicago victory.

The Cardinals resisted defeat in Game Five. Carpenter allowed just one run on five hits (Reyes did get the final out), while Pujols, who had had just one hit entering the game, hit a pair of homers off Buehrle. Mark DeRosa also hit a three-run homer. The rout sent the series back to St. Louis.

And there, in Game Six, the Sox got a rout of their own. Beckham hit a two-run homer in the third, Scott Podsednik hit a three-run homer int he fourth. Jake Peavy not only threw a four-hit shutout, he drove in a pair of runs with bases-loaded safety squeeze bunts. Peavy walked one and struck out eight; he faced just three batters over the minimum.

Player of the Series: Peavy for his 15 innings of shutout ball in two wins.

Player availability: Peavy will be inactive for the third round. The big three of the Chicago rotation will be fully eligible for any game.

Projected rotation: Buehrle-Danks-Floyd-Freddy Garcia-(Buehrle)-(Danks)-(Floyd)