7 the Hard Way

The baseball season was tired, worn out, ready for a long winter’s nap. Old Man Baseball had just about set his head on his pillow when the Angels yanked the pillow aside, shook him out of his slumber and yelled into his ear the most magical words in the sport:

Game 7!

In a glorious game that will be replayed and retold in Southern California for generations to come, and in a comeback unprecedented in World Series history, the Angels scored six runs in their final two at-bats Saturday night in a stunning 6-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

The Angels, eight outs from elimination, forced a decisive seventh game by roaring back from a 5-0 deficit with three runs in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth. Scott Spiezio resuscitated the Angels with a three-run homer in the seventh, Troy Glaus delivered the game-winning double in the eighth, and the Angels lived to play the game of the childhood dreams.

“Hopefully, we’ll have the hero,” Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy said. “That’s what we’ve all been dreaming about forever, the chance to say we were a hero in Game 7.”

The Angels, facing an elimination game for the first time this October, made history in victory. Never before had a team trailed by five runs in a World Series elimination game and come back to win.

Of their 10 postseason victories, the Angels have come from behind in seven. In Game 3 of the division series, they came back from five runs down against the New York Yankees. In Game 2 of the World Series, the previous most amazing game in franchise history, the Angels blew a 5-0 lead and won 11-10.

“Wow,” center fielder Darin Erstad said. “This is borderline getting a little crazy.”

Said Kennedy: “Pick any game in the whole playoffs, and people have said this is the best game they’ve ever seen. Here’s another one. I hope we have one more in us.”

There was a sense that this one was something incredibly special, one players and fans will share with their children and grandchildren.

Barry Bonds hit a home run. The Giants’ Shawon Dunston hit a home run too, circled the bases, crossed the plate and kissed his batboy son, 10-year-old Shawon Jr.

Spiezio, whose father Ed owns two World Series championship rings, hit the home run that revived hope he could win one of his own. Brendan Donnelly, who endured a decade in the minor leagues and recurrent unemployment in the sport he loved, earned a victory in the World Series.

This is not about a monkey on the scoreboard. This is about a game so remarkable that a sellout crowd of 44,506, which stood upon Spiezio’s home run and never again sat down or shut up, produced such a joyful noise that Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said he could compare it only to that most hallowed of Southern California baseball moments, Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series at Dodger Stadium.

“There was about as much electricity in that stadium as there ever was,” Scioscia said. “I think tonight surpassed that.”

The Angel offense, in overdrive throughout October, had suddenly sputtered. San Francisco starter Russ Ortiz, routed for nine hits in 1 2/3 innings in Game 2, pitched a two-hit shutout through six innings.

At that point, the Angels had failed to score in 19 of 21 innings. When Garret Anderson grounded out to start the seventh, the Giants were eight outs away from the World Series championship.

But Glaus singled, and Brad Fullmer singled, and the Giants promptly removed Ortiz, with a 5-0 lead.

The Giants summoned Felix Rodriguez, who has pitched in every game of the Series and 13 of their 16 playoff games. Spiezio worked the count full, and beyond, fouling off four pitches. On the eighth pitch, Spiezio yanked a home run that just made it into the right-field seats.

“I was praying,” he said. “I was just saying, ‘God, please just get over the fence.’ ”

Just like that, Spiezio kept hope alive. But San Francisco still led after seven innings, 5-3, six outs to a championship.

As the Giants batted in the top of the eighth, Tim Salmon said he stood in right field and thought, ever so briefly, about whether his next at-bat “could be my last at-bat of the year.”

But Tim Worrell, working for the fifth time in the Series and the 12th time in 16 playoff games, could not stop the Angels in the bottom of the eighth.

Erstad led off the inning with a home run. Giants 5, Angels 4.

Salmon singled and Chone Figgins ran for him. Anderson dropped a single near the left-field line, Bonds bobbled it for an error, and the Angels had the tying and winning runs on second and third. The Giants turned to closer Robb Nen.

Glaus turned on a 2-1 slider, ripping a double to left-center over Bonds’ head. Angels 6, Giants 5.

Closer Troy Percival retired the side in order in the ninth, leaving Jeff Kent stranded on deck, and punctuated the victory with a fist pump.

“I’m in awe,” coach Mickey Hatcher said. “I just love these guys.”

The Angels had planned and prayed, not necessarily in that order, that Kevin Appier could deliver five innings, with Francisco Rodriguez and Percival sharing the final four.

Appier pitched into the fifth inning, with a shutout intact. Rodriguez, Donnelly and Percival took care of the final 4 2/3 innings.

And so today will be the final day of a spectacular season. The World Series extended to seven games last year, with a Game 7 duel that started with Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens and ended with Randy Johnson.

Today, someone will become a hero forever.

“I am so pumped up,” Salmon said. “I want to play right now. Somehow, we’ve got to go to sleep.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

The Facts

Some pertinent numbers related to Series that have reached Game 7:

Number of times World Series has reached Game 7: 34

Number of times home team has won: 17

Number of times AL has won: 14

Note: Best-of-seven format only.

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Comebacks

ALDS vs. Yankees

Game 2 -- Trailing, 5-4, the Angels got home runs from Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus to lead off the top of the eighth and scored another run on Adam Kennedy’s sacrifice fly. They tacked on a run in the ninth and won, 8-6.

Game 3 -- Trailing, 6-1 after 2 1/2 innings and 6-5 after six, the Angels scored a run on Scott Spiezio’s single in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the eighth, one on Darin Erstad’s double and two on Tim Salmon’s homer in a 9-6 victory.

ALCS vs. Minnesota

Game 5 -- The Twins had just scored three in the top of the seventh for a 5-3 lead when the Angels erupted for 10 runs in the bottom of the seventh for their first pennant, the big blow being Kennedy’s three-run homer, his third homer of the game.

WORLD SERIES vs. San Francisco

Game 6 -- Trailing, 5-0, and down to their last nine outs of the season, the Angels scored three in the bottom of the seventh on Spiezio’s homer to right, and three in the bottom of the eighth on Erstad’s homer and Glaus’ two-run double for a 6-5 victory.

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World Series Game 7s

A list of World Series seventh games (best-of-seven only):

*--* Date Result Nov. 4, 2001 Arizona 3, New York 2-x Oct. 26, 1997 Florida 3, Cleveland 2, 11 innings-x Oct. 28, 1991 Minnesota 1, Atlanta 0, 10 innings-x Oct. 25, 1987 Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2 Oct. 27, 1986 New York Mets 8, Boston 5 Oct. 27, 1985 Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0 Oct. 20, 1982 St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3 Oct. 17, 1979 Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1 Oct. 22, 1975 Cincinnati 4, Boston 3-y Oct. 21, 1973 Oakland 5, New York Mets 2 Oct. 22, 1972 Oakland 3, Cincinnati 2 Oct. 17, 1971 Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1 Oct. 10, 1968 Detroit 4, St. Louis 1 Oct. 12, 1967 St. Louis 7, Boston 2 Oct. 14, 1965 Dodgers 2, Minnesota 0 Oct. 15, 1964 St. Louis 7, New York Yankees 5 Oct. 16, 1962 New York Yankees 1, San Francisco 0 Oct. 13, 1960 Pittsburgh 10, New York 9-x Oct. 9, 1958 New York Yankees 6, Milwaukee 2 Oct. 10, 1957 Milwaukee 5, New York Yankees 0 Oct. 10, 1956 New York Yankees 9, Brooklyn 0 Oct. 4, 1955 Brooklyn 2, New York Yankees 0 Oct. 7, 1952 New York Yankees 4, Brooklyn 2 Oct. 6, 1947 New York Yankees 5, Brooklyn 2 Oct. 15, 1946 St. Louis Cardinals 4, Boston Red Sox 3 Oct. 10 1945 Detroit 9, Chicago Cubs 3 Oct. 8, 1940 Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1, 10 innings-y Oct. 9, 1934 St. Louis Cardinals 11, Detroit 0 Oct. 10, 1931 St. Louis Cardinals 4, Phila. Athletics 2-y Oct. 10, 1926 St. Louis Cardinals 3, New York Yankees 2 Oct. 15, 1925 Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7 Oct. 10, 1924 Washington 4, N.Y. Giants 3, 12 inn.-x Oct. 16, 1912 Boston Red Sox 3, N.Y. Giants 2, 10 inn.-x Oct. 16, 1909 Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0 x-decided on last swing of game. y-decided in top of last inning

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