White Sox 2005 Rewind: Jermaine Dye's grand sign of things to come

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Jermaine Dye ended 2005 as the World Series MVP, but the championship campaign was not his finest in a White Sox uniform.

It was still quite good, it just didn’t compare to the one that followed, a monster 2006 season that saw Dye finish fifth in the AL MVP vote.

Obviously, as with any middle-of-the-order hitter en route to a World Series championship, Dye’s 2005 season was full of memorable moments. One of his biggest came July 4 against the Devil Rays and showed that Dye was capable of the kind of eye-popping offensive performances that he routinely turned in a year later.

In 2006, Dye hit 44 home runs and racked up 120 RBIs, numbers that rank second and 12th, respectively, on the all-time single-season franchise leaderboards. He slashed .315/.385/.622 for a jaw-dropping 1.006 OPS. That slugging percentage is the fifth highest mark a White Sox hitter has ever turned in in a single season, and the OPS ranks 11th on the all-time list.

On Independence Day 2005, Dye launched a first-inning grand slam and added two more RBIs in the fifth inning on a two-run single, driving in 60 percent of the 10 runs the White Sox scored that night. The salami was his first in three years and the first of four he’d hit over five seasons in a White Sox uniform.

It was the first of two six-RBI games during Dye’s 2005 season and one of four games in which he drove in at least four runs. Those achievements were matched, not surpassed, in 2006. But in that exceptional season at the dish, Dye had a whopping 30 multi-RBI games, compared to the 19 he had in 2005.

Again, Dye had a very nice 2005 season. He hit .274/.333/.512 with 31 homers and 86 RBIs. But he eclipsed those numbers multiple times over the final four seasons of his major league career. While he was critical to the success the White Sox had in 2005, offensive displays like these were just a sign of things to come.

What else?

— Hands up for this Juan Uribe homer.

— Another solid effort by the White Sox bullpen. Brandon McCarthy didn’t make it out of the fourth inning, surrendering four runs after the White Sox offense staked him a 5-0 advantage in the first. But Luis Vizcaino, Shingo Takatsu and Dustin Hermanson picked up the slack. While Kevin Walker gave up two runs in relief to keep things close, the other three bullpen arms combined to allow just one run and three hits in 5.1 innings of work.

Since you been gone

While #SoxRewind is extensive, it doesn’t include all 162 regular-season contests, meaning we’re going to be skipping over some games. So what’d we miss since last time?

July 1, 2005: Visiting the A’s, the White Sox managed a pair of unearned runs off Rich Harden in the first inning. But Nick Swisher drew a bases-loaded walk to break a 2-all tie in the fifth, and the A’s didn’t look back. White Sox lose, 6-2, fall to 53-25.

July 2, 2005: A Joe Crede solo homer broke a 3-all tie in the seventh inning, sending Jon Garland to his 13th win of the season. White Sox win, 5-3, improve to 54-25.

July 3, 2005: Dye and Frank Thomas homered off Barry Zito, but the A’s tagged Mark Buehrle for seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings, cruising to a series win in Oakland. White Sox lose, 7-2, fall to 54-26.

Next up

#SoxRewind rolls on Saturday, when you can catch the July 6, 2005, game against the Devil Rays, starting at 4 p.m. on NBC Sports Chicago. The Big Hurt goes deep … again.

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