Blum's home run unforgettable for former team

HOUSTON -- Geoff Blum still sends messages and e-mails to some of his former Astros teammates. He considers them friends for life and wants to stay in touch.

Now, for sure and forever, Blum will be remembered in Houston. The Astros will probably never get him out of their minds.

In his first World Series at-bat, Blum homered off Ezequiel Astacio in the 14th inning and sparked the Chicago White Sox to a 7-5 victory Tuesday night in the longest World Series game ever played -- 5 hours and 41 minutes.

Blum played two seasons with the Astros in 2002 and 2003 before he was traded to Tampa Bay for pitcher Brandon Backe, who started Game 4 on Wednesday for the Astros.

Facing the Astros is one thing and beating them to knock them in a 3-0 hole in their first World Series is something quite different.

"It's tough. It's interesting," Blum said. "There are a lot of things going through your head when you find out you're playing one of your ex-teams in a city that treated you so well.

"I learned a lot about the game and how to handle myself, how to go about playing every day and things like that. This is one of the first places I really got an opportunity to play every day. ... These guys on down the line still give support. I still support them. We still keep in touch. There's a strong tie here with a good group of friends."

And speaking of ties, the Astros and White Sox were running out of players and pitchers after Houston evened the game in the eighth on Jason Lane's double.

But Blum, acquired by the White Sox at the trading deadline from San Diego because he can play every infield position and is a switch-hitter, finally put the White Sox ahead with his drive to right field.

"We've seen Geoff Blum come up with some big hits when he was with us," Astros catcher Brad Ausmus said.

Blum hit .283 in his first season in Houston and .262 the next with 10 homers each season.

He hadn't played much since joining the White Sox, batting just .200 in 31 games of the regular season with just one homer.

Blum had just one at-bat in the division series and none in the ALCS. He got his chance in Game 3 of the World Series with a double switch in the 13th inning.

"You keep seeing names getting marked off and marked off the lineup card and eventually it gets down to the last guy on the totem pole. I was near the bottom," Blum said. "We were running out of bodies on the bench. It came down to the last man standing. Guys were getting tired and hungry, but it worked out well."

So where does this rank on Blum's list of big hits?

"On my list? Good Lord, have I had any big hits?" he said.

And what was he thinking when the ball cleared the right-field fence?

"Make sure you hit the bases," he said.