Baseball: White Sox edge Astros to take World Series

HOUSTON - Jermaine Dye's late runscoring single gave the Chicago White Sox a 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros today and a first Major League Baseball world series title in 88 years.

They won the best-of-seven series 4-0.

The outfielder's eighth-inning hit, a ground ball through the middle off Houston reliever Brad Lidge, drove in Willie Harris from third to break a scoreless tie.

Dye earned the most valuable player honours for the series.

The starting pitchers, considered the fourth-best options from two talented starting rotations, turned in the finest mound duel of the series.

Houston's Brandon Backe and Chicago's Freddy Garcia, who earned the win, each struck out seven batters and yielded no runs in seven innings.

The Astros finished the 44-year-old franchise's first world series by going scoreless in their final 15 innings as they became the 19th team to suffer a championship sweep.

The White Sox had not appeared in a Fall Classic since 1959 and last won the title in 1917.

- REUTERS