CHICAGO – Jose Contreras won his team-record 16th straight decision, Scott Podsednik hit his first career grand slam and the Chicago White Sox won a World Series rematch by beating the Houston Astros 7-4 for their eighth straight win.

Eight months after helping the White Sox sweep Houston for their first World Series championship since 1917, Podsednik and Contreras again found themselves in the middle of the action.

Podsednik, who ended Game 2 of the World Series at U.S. Cellular Field with a home run, went deep against Andy Pettitte with two out in the fourth to make it 6-0. The four RBIs tied a career high for Podsednik, who also tripled.

Contreras (8-0), who won Game 1 of the Series, left to a standing ovation after allowing an RBI double off the left-field wall by Chris Burke that cut the lead to 6-4 with one out in the seventh. Reliever Neal Cotts retired Lance Berkman on a grounder and struck out Mike Lamb.

Contreras, 16-0 in his last 21 regular-season starts since losing to Minnesota last Aug. 15, took sole possession of the club record for consecutive wins, surpassing LaMarr Hoyt and Wilson Alvarez. It is the majors’ longest streak since the Twins’ Johan Santana won 17 consecutive decisions from July 2004 to April 2005.

Bobby Jenks got three outs for his 22nd save in 23 chances.

Burke and Berkman each had two hits and smacked back-to-back homers in the fifth.

Pettitte (6-8) lasted just four innings, allowing six hits and six runs.

The White Sox, who had outscored NL Central leader St. Louis 34-11 while sweeping three games, struck for two runs in the second and added four in the fourth, thanks to Podsednik.

Chicago loaded the bases with none out, but Rob Mackowiak forced the runner at home and Juan Uribe struck out. Podsednik, whose homer off Brad Lidge gave the White Sox a 7-6 victory in Game 2, struck again. This time, he hit a 2-2 pitch an estimated 412 feet to right.

Podsednik took a curtain call and was greeted with a loud ovation when he stepped to the plate in the sixth.

The Astros had cut the lead to 6-3 by then on Burke’s two-run homer and Berkman’s solo drive. It was the second time this season the Astros hit back-to-back homers.

With the White Sox playing high-profile series against the Cubs, Texas, Detroit and Cleveland and controversy swirling around manager Ozzie Guillen, plus Roger Clemens’ season debut for Houston on Thursday, this matchup between World Series participants seemed obscured.

Guillen was back in the dugout after serving a one-game suspension, a punishment for reliever David Riske hitting St. Louis’ Chris Duncan with a pitch Tuesday night after two White Sox were plunked. Riske is appealing a three-game suspension. Guillen was also fined Thursday and ordered to attend sensitivity training by commissioner Bud Selig for a profanity-laden tirade against Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti in which the manager used a derogatory term that describes someone’s sexual orientation.

Notes: Clemens said he felt fine on Friday, after allowing two runs and six hits in five innings and taking the loss against Minnesota. … This is the first regular-season series between these teams since the White Sox took two of three at Minute Maid Park June 2-4, 2000.

AP-ES-06-23-06 2328EDT