Houston ? Morgan Ensberg and Brad Lidge were two of the most reliable players for the Houston Astros – until they got to the World Series.

Given chance after chance with runners in scoring position, Ensberg failed to come through when Houston needed him the most.

The No. 4 hitter was 0-for-3 in those situations Wednesday night in Game 4 in the Chicago White Sox’s 1-0, series-ending victory.

“I did really poor in this series, and that really eats at me,” said Ensberg, who was 2-for-18 with two RBIs overall in the series. “That’s what I’m supposed to do. It’s difficult to handle.”

Still, Ensberg wasn’t the only one who wasn’t hitting.

The Astros didn’t score in the final 15 innings of the World Series and left 18 men on base in that span.

Their last run came on Jason Lane’s tying, two-out RBI double in the eighth inning in the White Sox’s 7-5, 14-inning win in Game 3.

Chicago got its lone run Wednesday night off the hard-throwing Lidge, who took over in the eighth inning. Pinch-hitter Willie Harris led off against the usual closer with a single, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout, and scored on Jermaine Dye’s third hit, an RBI single.

“He hit a slider where we like for Brad to throw it, and he got it up the middle,” manager Phil Garner said. “All along in this series, we talked about they were doing a nice job of hitting, and that was a classic case of it.”

It was the second loss in the World Series for Lidge, who was 4-4 with 42 saves during the regular season. He also saved three straight NL championship series games before giving up two ninth-inning home runs.

“Brad is a great closer, and we wouldn’t have been here without him,” Lance Berkman said.

“I don’t really feel I ended on a bad note,” Lidge said. “They got a run and that was the game. Put it this way: I’m real happy with the year I had.”

After waiting 44 seasons to get into their first World Series, the Astros will have to wait at least another year before a chance at winning a game in the Fall Classic – they are still the team that has been in one city the longest without doing so.