|
|
|---|
|
|
SLAM! Sports 2001 in Review A LOOK BACK INTERACTIVE ALSO ON SLAM! 
| Saturday, November 3, 2001 DIAMONDBACKS 15, Yankees 2World Series going to game 7PHOENIX (AP) -- This time, the Arizona Diamondbacks were the team that wouldn't quit -- and they wouldn't quit hitting, either. Randy Johnson and Danny Bautista guaranteed this World Series would take one final turn, as Arizona beat the New York Yankees 15-2 Saturday night in a historic rout and set up every fan's fantasy -- Game 7. "These games, especially in the postseason, are an aberration. It's a freak thing," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said. "This was a lot of fun for our players tonight." After blowing two ninth-inning leads with one out to go at Yankee Stadium in Games 4 and 5, the Diamondbacks made New York pay for their pent-up frustration. Arizona set a Series record with 22 hits and gave the Yankees their most lopsided loss in 293 postseason games. The Diamondbacks came within one run of matching the biggest rout ever in the Series. "As heartbreaking as those games were, all three losses in New York, they had no bearing on this game," Brenly said. "You can stink up the joint one night and come back and win the next." Sunday night should be a classic: Curt Schilling against the pitcher he credits with jump-starting his career, Yankees ace Roger Clemens. "I could not have come up with this -- Game 7 vs. Roger Clemens," Schilling said. "I couldn't have dreamt this. I'm not that big a dreamer." Matt Williams doubled twice during an eight-run eruption in the third, while Bautista added five RBIs and Reggie Sanders had four hits. Luis Gonzalez hit an RBI single that made it 15-0 in the fourth and was pulled by Brenly. Yankees manager Joe Torre yanked Derek Jeter the next inning, and later considered letting a non-pitcher take the mound. "Nobody likes to get beat up as badly as we got beat up," Torre said. "The only saving grace is that it was only one game. We were in the position to be able to take this." By then, it was clear both teams and a sellout crowd of 49,707 at Bank One Ballpark already were looking ahead to the first Game 7 in the Series since 1997, when Florida rallied past Cleveland in 11 innings. "Everybody came out hitting the ball well tonight," Johnson said. "Tip your hat to all of our hitters tonight. It makes your job easier." It will be the Yankees' first Game 7 since the 1964 World Series, when Bob Gibson led St. Louis past New York and its current pitching coach, Mel Stottlemyre. The home team has won all six games in the Series despite a strange statistic -- Arizona has outscored the Yankees 34-12. The fans were in a partying mood all night, from the time Tony Womack led off with a double and scored on Bautista's single, to the moment they sang along to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" after the final out. They were forgiving, too. Reliever Byung-Hyun Kim, who gave up a pair of crushing home runs the previous two games, got a big cheer when his picture was shown on the scoreboard. The fans above the left-field bullpen even chanted, "We want Kim!" in the later innings. Greg Colbrunn's single in the sixth gave Arizona 21 hits, breaking the mark shared by the New York Giants (1921) and St. Louis (1946). Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who skipped last weekend's games at Arizona, showed up but had nothing to cheer about. Neither did their No. 1 fan, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who attended with 25 family members of rescue workers killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. They saw Johnson beat Andy Pettitte and the Yankees for the second time in a week, shutting them out until the sixth inning and leaving after the seventh. He also helped out with his bat. The Big Unit was hitting only .087 this year when he delivered an RBI single in the game-breaking third. He also scored two runs for the first time in his career, making him the first pitcher to do it in a Series game since Gibson in 1968. Pettitte, who won the 1998 clincher that started the Yankees' run of three straight championships, was awful. He lasted only two-plus innings, the shortest of his 24 postseason starts. "Obviously, I was expecting a lot more out of myself," he said. "It was a shock. To see that inning go on, it was almost as amazing as those home runs we hit." After three innings, every Arizona starter had a hit. By the fourth, they all had at least one RBI. Jay Witasick, who relieved Pettitte, was tagged for a Series-record eight earned runs. And even when the Diamondbacks made outs, they got on base. Jay Bell, making the first Series start of his 16-year career, struck out but reached on a wild pitch and wound up scoring in the fourth. Bell was part of a revamped lineup that included Colbrunn and Bautista. Trying to get better swings against Pettitte, Brenly benched lefty hitters Mark Grace, Steve Finley and Craig Counsell. Second-guessed for much of the Series, Brenly likely won't hear any complaints about his moves in this one. There was only one other thing he could have done -- pull Johnson early and keep him ready to relieve Schilling, if necessary. Could Johnson return? "I came out after seven, we'll leave it at that," he said. "Possibly." Schilling will start on three days' rest for the second time in the series. He won the opener, then was in position to win Game 4 before Kim blew it. Clemens won Game 3, and will be pitching the biggest game of his Hall of Fame career. A decade ago, in a weight room at the Astrodome during an offseason workout, Clemens chewed out Schilling, telling the young pitcher he was wasting his talent. Chastised, Schilling started changing his ways, on and off the field. Earlier this week, Schilling said Clemens' sharp words pointed him in the right direction to becoming a top pitcher. Notes: Williams became the first player to hit two doubles in an inning in a Series. He was the 18th player to have two hits in an inning, and the first since Minnesota's Gary Gaetti in 1987. ... Kim looked loose in pregame warmups, taking groundballs at shortstop. ... Johnson struck out Jeter in the first inning for his 412th strikeout of the year, combining the regular season and postseason. Sandy Koufax set the old record of 411 in 1965. ... Paul O'Neill, who will retire after the Series, did not start against the left-handed Johnson. ... The Yankees lost by 12 runs to Boston in the 1999 AL championship series. Boxscore
NY YANKEES (2) VS ARIZONA (15) WORLD SERIES - FINAL
NY YANKEES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
Knoblauch lf 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 .059
Stanton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Jeter ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 .150
Wilson ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
B Williams cf 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 .250
Posada c 2 0 0 0 0 1 3 .211
Greene c 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 .500
Spencer rf 4 0 1 1 0 2 0 .235
Martinez 1b 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .176
Sojo 1b 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 .333
Soriano 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .227
Brosius 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .190
Pettitte p 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .333
Witasick p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Choate p 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
a-Bellinger ph-lf 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 .000
Totals 33 2 7 2 3 9 13
a-struck out for Choate in the 7th.
BATTING: 2B - Greene (1, Johnson). RBI - Spencer (2), Sojo (1).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - Posada 2, Brosius 1.
GIDP - Greene. Team LOB - 7.
FIELDING: E - Soriano (2, ground ball). Outfield assists - Knoblauch
(Bautista at home). DP: 1 (Soriano-Martinez-Jeter).
ARIZONA ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
Womack ss 6 2 3 2 0 1 3 .222
Bautista cf 4 0 3 5 0 0 2 .667
a-Finley ph-cf 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .333
Gonzalez lf 4 1 2 2 0 1 3 .273
Dellucci pr-lf 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 .500
Colbrunn 1b 5 2 2 1 1 1 3 .400
M Williams 3b 5 1 3 1 0 0 4 .273
Sanders rf 5 2 4 1 0 1 1 .304
Bell 2b 5 2 1 1 0 1 4 .167
Miller c 4 3 2 1 1 2 2 .154
Barajas c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .400
Johnson p 4 2 1 1 0 1 5 .143
b-Durazo ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 .364
Witt p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Brohawn p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 46 15 22 15 3 9 29
a-flied to center for Bautista in the 6th; b-struck out for Johnson
in the 7th.
BATTING: 2B - Womack (2, Pettitte); Sanders (1, Pettitte); M Williams 2
(2, Pettitte, Witasick); Gonzalez (2, Witasick); Miller (1, Witasick).
RBI - Bautista 5 (6), Womack 2 (2), Sanders (1), Bell (1), Johnson (1),
Gonzalez 2 (4), Colbrunn (1), M Williams (7), Miller (1). 2-out RBI -
Womack 2, Bautista, Colbrunn, M Williams. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - Gonzalez 1, Sanders 1, M Williams 2. GIDP - Gonzalez.
Team LOB - 10.
FIELDING: DP: 1 (M Williams-Bell-Colbrunn).
--------------------------------------------------
Ny Yankees - 000 002 000 -- 2
Arizona - 138 300 00X -- 15
--------------------------------------------------
NY YANKEES ip h r er bb so hr era
Pettitte (L, 0-2) 2 7 6 6 2 1 0 10.00
Witasick 1 1/3 10 9 8 0 4 0 54.00
Choate 2 2/3 4 0 0 0 1 0 2.45
Stanton 2 1 0 0 1 3 0 3.60
ARIZONA ip h r er bb so hr era
Johnson (W, 2-0) 7 6 2 2 2 7 0 1.13
Witt 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.00
Brohawn 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
Pettitte pitched to 2 batters in the 3rd.
WP - Witasick. IBB - Miller (by Pettitte). Pitches-strikes:
Johnson 104-66; Witt 16-10; Brohawn 14-11; Pettitte 62-39; Witasick
49-36; Choate 37-30; Stanton 33-19. Ground balls-fly balls: Johnson
2-12; Witt 2-0; Brohawn 1-1; Pettitte 5-0; Witasick 0-0; Choate 3-4;
Stanton 1-2. Batters faced: Johnson 29; Witt 3; Brohawn 4; Pettitte 14;
Witasick 14; Choate 13; Stanton 8.
UMPIRES: HP--Dana Demuth. 1B--Steve Rippley. 2B--Mark Hirschbeck.
3B--Dale Scott. LF--Ed Rapuano. RF--Jim Joyce.
T--3:33. Att--49,707. Weather: 91 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 5 mph, left to right.
|