A BLUM DEAL, SOX UP 3-0
Former Astro homers in 14th, 1 win away from title

HOUSTON -- Ten, 11, 12, 13 innings. No one could break through.

Not the White Sox, who waited 46 years to get back to the World Series. Not the Astros, who've never been here before.

Finally, in the 14th inning, Geoff Blum won the longest game in World Series history with a tiebreaking, two-out solo homer, and Chicago beat Houston 7-5 Wednesday morning to move within a win of a Series sweep and its first title since 1917.

Long after Chicago overcame a 4-0 deficit with five runs in the fifth inning against Roy Oswalt and Jason Lane hit a tying double for Houston in the eighth off Dustin Hermanson, Blum batted for the first time in a World Series with two outs in the 14th and faced Ezequiel Astacio, Houston's seventh pitcher.

With nearly all the seats still full in Minute Maid Park -- and with the roof still open -- Blum sent a 2-0 pitch from Astacio down the right-field line, and the ball sailed over the wall. As the former Astro circled the bases, Houston manager Phil Garner slammed a stool in the dugout.

The White Sox picked up Blum from San Diego on July 31, right before the trading deadline. A starter with Houston in 2002-03, he's been mostly a backup since then and entered the game in the 13th as part of a double-switch.

Astacio allowed Chicago to load the bases on two singles and a walk, then forced in a run by walking Chris Widger on a 3-2 pitch.

Houston put runners at the corners in the bottom half when Orlando Palmeiro walked with one out and Brad Ausmus reached when shortstop Juan Uribe misplayed his two-out grounder for an error.

Mark Buehrle, who pitched seven innings in Game 2 on Sunday night, came in, Chicago's ninth pitcher and the 17th of the game, both Series records.

Adam Everett then popped to shortstop for the final out at 1:20 a.m. local time. At 5 hours, 41 minutes, it was the longest game by time in Series history. It matched the longest by innings, a Babe Ruth complete game for the Boston Red Sox against Brooklyn in 1914.

Houston, which got only one hit after the fourth inning and stranded 15 runners, left the potential winning run at third base in the ninth and at second base in the 10th and 11th. The Astros escaped a two-on, two-outs jam in the 11th when Chad Qualls retired pinch-hitter Timo Perez on a groundout and eliminated possible trouble in the 13th when Scott Podsednik bunted into a double play with no outs. Paul Konerko grounded into a double play just before Blum's homer.

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