In World Series history, there has been only one walk-off homer run in a Game 7. That belongs to Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski, who took Ralph Terry of the New York Yankees deep in the bottom of the ninth in 1960. Pittsburgh won the game 10-9 thanks to Maz’s magic and a five-run rally in the eighth inning.
This isn’t the first time the Indians have played a World Series Game 7. Unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of a 3-2 loss in 1997 when Edgar Renteria of the Florida Marlins slew them in the 11th. Florida scored single runs in the seventh and ninth to force extra innings, before loading the bases against Charles Nagy. That’s when Renteria came through, making the Marlins baseball’s first wild-card team to win the series.
It’s the final inning of the final game of the World Series and your best hitter is at the plate against the best closer in the game. It’s the situation kids dream about. In 2001 the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied against legendary New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth. That brought outfielder Luis Gonzalez to the plate. On the second pitch, Gonzalez hit a bloop over Derek Jeter’s head to give Arizona the win.
If you think what Indians Game 7 starter Corey Kluber is about to do is impressive — pitching Games 1, 4 and 7 — take a look at Sandy Koufax’s numbers from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins. Koufax started Game 2, returned for Game 5 and then pitched on two days’ rest in Game 7. His line from that final game: nine innings: three hits, 10 strikeouts, zero earned runs. He threw a complete-game shutout in Game 7 of the World Series on two days’ rest.
Given the pitching talent on display tonight, Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between the Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves might provide the perfect blueprint. Twins ace Jack Morris battled Braves starter John Smoltz to a scoreless duel throughout. Smoltz was taken out after 7 1/3 innings. Morris remained on the mound into extra innings. He pitched a scoreless 10th, which set up Gene Larkin’s walk-off single in the bottom of the frame. Morris gave up seven hits and notched eight K's.
What I like most about the above list is that the Yankees were on the short end twice. Maybe tonight's game will push one of the aforementioned out of the top five.
Last night my alma mater, Western Michigan U., drubbed Ball St. on the road, 52-20. The Broncos are now 9-0, ranked 17th in the AP poll, 18th in the USA coaches poll.
This morning, talk radio host Mark Simone said that liberal icon Chris Matthews had endorsed Trump. I googled the matter and see as many links that say it isn't an endorsement as there are those that say it is. It's similar to interpretations of Michael Moore's recent comments. I tried to watch the clip at youtube, but it wouldn't play.
It seemed like it would be a day of average returns at the floating book shop until the last half hour when country swing front-man Thirsty Dave dropped off a large donation that included several art pictorials. They attracted two buyers, a gentleman who purchased a book on a female artist with whom I'm unfamiliar, and a beautiful blond who couldn't have been older than 18. She immediately won my heart by pouncing on Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, and went on to select a pictorial on snowflakes, another on art, a bio of Washington insider Katherine Graham, and several other books. My thanks, and also to the Latino gentleman who overpaid for a Life magazine tribute to Pope John Paul, Tom Santopietro's The Godfather Effect, and Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet; and to the woman who purchased two more Sidney Sheldon hardcovers, raising her total to six in the past three weeks; and to the caretaker of a group of handicapped adults, who took Tom Clancy's massive Debt of Honor off my hands; and to the young man who bought two self-help books as I was packing up. I rolled a seven today.
Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc
Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j
Vic's Short Story Collection: http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tiny.cc/0iHLb Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kx3d3uf
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tinyurl.com/l84h63j
Read Vic's Stories, free: http://fictionaut.com/users/vic-fortezza
No comments:
Post a Comment