It was the biggest game in franchise history, and 44,506 fans were packed inside Anaheim Stadium to see if the Angels could pull off another miracle. These never-say-die Angels had rallied before, but they hadn’t yet faced an elimination game. History hadn’t been kind to the Halos in similar situations. Would their magic finally run out?
On the heels of a 16-4 blowout loss in Game 5, the Angels had their backs to the wall. Like David facing Goliath (or rather Eckstein vs. Bonds), it appeared that the Angels had finally met their match. They had reached the end of their rope, and still had a mountain to climb. The San Francisco Giants, led by their record shattering outfielder Barry Bonds, held a 5-0 advantage at stretch time, and were nine outs away from bringing San Francisco its first ever baseball championship. The Angels were nine outs away from adding yet another crushing defeat to their ignominious postseason history.
Giants’ pitcher Russ Ortiz had breezed through six innings – giving up only two hits. Staked to a 5-0 lead, he retired Garret Anderson while clubhouse attendants prepared the Giants’ locker room for the anticipated celebration. When Troy Glaus and Brad Fullmer hit back-to-back singles, manager Dusty Baker came out to get his pitcher. As Ortiz stepped toward the dugout, Dusty handed him the game ball – a souvenir in honor of a job well done. Felix Rodriguez was summoned in to put out the fire – and somehow quiet the raucous crowd that had been whipped into a fury by the appearance of the Rally Monkey.
Next up, Scott Spiezio – the RBI machine who was batting .714 with runners in scoring position. Scott already had 16 postseason RBI to his credit, only three short of the ML record. Felix was throwing bullets, but Spiezio fouled them off one by one, battling the count to full. Finally, on pitch number 8, Felix made a mistake, and Spiezio sent the ball deep to right. Reggie Sanders drifted back to the track, to the wall…then it was gone! 44,000 fans went bananas as Spiezio triumphantly circled the bases.
It was now 5-3 in favor of the Giants. Scott had tied the postseason record with 19 RBI, but the Angels still had work to do. Felix retired two of the next three batters to close out the seventh. Then Brendan Donnelly set down the Giants in the eighth.
Todd Worrell came in from the bullpen to face the Angels in the bottom of the eighth. Darin Erstad greeted him by lining his third pitch into the right field pavilion – cutting the deficit to one and reenergizing the crowd. Tim Salmon followed with a single, and Scioscia sent rookie speedster Chone Figgins in to pinch run. When Garret Anderson lefted a single to left, Figgins motored into third, causing a surprised Bonds to bobble the ball and allowing G.A. to advance to second base.
That was it for Worrell. With slugger Troy Glaus due up, nobody out, the tying run ninety feet away, and the go ahead run sitting in scoring position, Baker summoned his closer – Robb Nen. On Nen’s fourth pitch, Glaus drilled the ball to leftfield. A roar ripped the night as the ball sailed over Bonds’ head allowing both Figgins and Anderson to score – 6-5, Angels.
Nen retired the side without allowing any more runs to score, but the Angels had done it. They’d mounted the greatest World Series comeback ever by a team facing elimination; and their erstwhile closer, Troy Percival, was called in to save it. A strikeout, a shallow fly ball, and another strikeout ended it – the most exciting game in franchise history.
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