The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees in Game Seven, 3-2, to win what was arguably the best World Series ever played. The Series that year had all the elements to create an absolute classic. There was the Yankees, seeking their fourth consecutive World Title, and they had extra incentive behind them because of what happened to New York in the 9/11 tragedy. They wanted to help the city heal. There was also the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team that was not even in existence the last time the Yankees failed to win the World Series. They were loaded with aging, yet experienced veterans that knew their window of opportunity of getting a championship was rapidly closing. That was the incentive that was driving them. Combine those two elements, and you are ready for an absolute thriller.
The Diamondbacks took Games One and Two of the World Series at home in rather convincing fashion, winning the first game 9-1 and shutting out the Yankees in Game Two, 4-0. When the Series scene shifted to New York for Game Three, that's when all of the fun began.
Roger Clemens out-dueled Diamondbacks starter Brian Anderson in Game Three 2-1, to notch the Yankees' first victory. However, the Series was just heating up. In Game Four, the Yankees entered the bottom of the ninth inning trailing by a 3-1 score. This was thanks in large part to the efforts of Arizona starter Curt Schilling, who over-matched the Yankees' hitters over the course of seven innings pitched. Byung-Hyun Kim came on in relief of Curt Schilling after that, struck out the side in the eighth, and by the bottom of the ninth, was looking to put Arizona up 3-1 in the World Series.
Kim induced a ground-out from Derek Jeter to lead off the inning before surrendering a single to Paul O'Neill. Unfazed, he struck out Bernie Williams swinging for the second out. Arizona seemed to have the game in the bag until Tino Martinez stepped up to the plate. On the very first pitch Martinez saw, he walloped a two-run homer to tie the game, and saved the team from certain doom. Yankee Stadium was in a frenzy.
Kim would get out of the inning without any more damage, but his night was not over. He came back into the game in the bottom of the tenth, got the first two outs in easy fashion, before surrendering a game-winning home run to Derek Jeter. The clock was just past midnight on November 1, and the moniker of "Mr. November" was quickly placed on Derek Jeter.
The next night, the Diamondbacks were in the same position as the night before. One man on with two out, and Byung-Hyun Kim was back in the game to try to close it out. One more out, and Arizona would go back home up 3-2. The score was 2-0 and Scott Brosius was the hitter. On the second pitch he saw, he drilled it into the left field stands to tie the game. Two consecutive nights and two consecutive times the Yankees were down to their final out, and they managed to tie the game both times.
However, the Yankees were not finished. In the bottom of the twelfth inning, and with Albie Lopez on the mound for Arizona, the Yankees would pull out another extra-inning victory. Alfonso Soriano's game-winning single put the Yankees up 3-2 in the Series. The momentum seemed to be in their favor.
To quote Lee Corso from "College Gameday" on ESPN, "not so fast, my friend." The Diamondbacks exacted their revenge on the Yankees for the debacle in New York by slamming them 15-2 in Game Six, which is, to date, the worst loss ever suffered by the Yankees in a World Series game. That would set the stage for Game Seven, slated to be an epic showdown between Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling.
The two were coming through clutch for their respective teams. The Yankees and the Diamondbacks were only able to muster one run each against each other until the top of the eighth. Alfonso Soriano lit up Schilling for a home run to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. It was shortly afterwards that Diamondbacks' manager Bob Brenly would bring in Randy Johnson in relief. Johnson won Game Two of the Series, and the night before in Game Six. He ended up slamming the door on the Yankees' bats in 1.1 innings of relief. However, the Diamondbacks still trailed the Yankees 2-1 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, and they would have to face baseball's best closer in Mariano Rivera. He had only blown one postseason save up until that point, when he surrendered a game-tying home run to Sandy Alomar of the Indians in the 1997 ALDS. He was as close to being invincible as any closer could get at that time.
Arizona, was not impressed though, as Mark Grace led off the inning with a single to center. Damian Miller came up next for Arizona, and he would reach base by a rare throwing error by Rivera. Two on, nobody out. Jay Bell would come up next, and he laid down a sacrifice bunt, to which Rivera would get the force out at third. Men on first and second, one out. A simple double play could clinch the Yankees' fourth consecutive World Title at this point.
Tony Womack stepped up to the plate for Arizona, and worked the count to 2-2. Many left-handed batters against Rivera (such as Womack) will usually end up striking out against him by this point, because of his vicious cutter. The pitch starts off appearing to go right over the middle of the plate before breaking in violently on the inner-half of the plate. This time though, the cutter went flat; Womack slashed a double down the right field line, and Midre Cummings (who pinch-ran for Damian Miller) scored. Jay Bell advanced to third. Tie game.
The ice that usually runs through Rivera's veins had to be melting by this point, as he drilled the next batter, Craig Counsell with a pitch. That brought up Luis Gonzalez, Arizona's best hitter. He hit 57 home runs during the regular season, which was good enough for third in the National League (trailing Sammy Sosa's 64 and Barry Bonds' record-setting 73). However, it was not a home run, but a bloop single that Gonzalez hit over the head of Derek Jeter that won the World Series for the Diamondbacks. In just their fourth season of existence, the Arizona Diamondbacks took down the three-time-defending-World-Champion New York Yankees.
Flash-forward to this year's World Series. We are witnessing a Game Six for the first time in six years (when the Marlins defeated the Yankees to clinch the World Title), and we have the potential, should the Phillies win, to witness another Game Seven. This year's Series, which was bordering on anticlimactic, is now bordering on becoming a true classic. Could we be in line for another fantastic finish, like 2001? We will just have to wait and see. Besides, the excitement of a great World Series lies within the suspense that unfolds during the course of one.
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