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Look back at: Divisional Playoffs |
League Championship
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Thursday, October 26
Useless facts from the World Series
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- And now, it's time for the Game 4 edition of the World Series Useless
Information Department:
How long had it been since the Yankes lost a World Series game before Tuesday? Five of the Yanks' 10 starters from their previous loss (Game 2, 1996) are now retired: pitcher Jimmy Key, leftfielder Tim Raines, third baseman Wade Boggs, DH Cecil Fielder and second baseman Mariano Duncan.
Just to give you an idea how amazing it is to win 14 World Series games in a row, consider that the Yankees haven't won 14 in a row in the regular season in 40 years. Only four teams have had a regular-season streak that long in the last 10 regular seasons. And the Yankees did it in the World Series. Amazing.
In Game 4, the Yankees were only the second team in the past 22 years to score in the first three innings of any World Series game. Last time it happened: Game 2 of the '98 Series, when the Yankees did it on the way to a 9-3 win over Andy Ashby. Previous occurence: Game 2 of the '78 Series, when the Dodgers did it against Catfish Hunter.
No team has ever scored in the first four innings of a World Series
game. The Yankees left two on in the fourth Wednesday.
Derek Jeter and Paul O'Neill combined for two triples in the entire regular season (both by Jeter). They've combined for three just in the last two nights.
Last time O'Neill had triples in back-to-back games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: Sept. 3 and 4, 1988. He played in Cincinnati then ... and he was 25 years old.
The Yankees may not prefer to have Jeter lead off, but he's sure great at it. In 82 at-bats hitting leadoff during the regular season, Jeter hit .402, with a .514 on-base percentage.
Jeter has done some leading off in his day -- but he hadn't led off a
game with a home run since Aug. 20, 1997 (off Mark Langston), according to
SABR's David Vincent. The others: Aug. 7, 1997 (vs. Bobby Witt); May 6, 1997
(vs. Scott Aldred); Aug. 21, 1996 (vs. Jason Dickson).
More from Vincent: No player in history had ever owned a World Series home run in his career at both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium until Game 4. The only man who now can make that claim: Mike Piazza.
So who picked Luis Sojo to attempt the first stolen base of the Series (and make it)? Sojo has stolen 22 bases since 1992. Jeter stole 22 this year.
Before his sorry, no-swing pinch at-bat in the sixth inning of Game
4, Jose Canseco hadn't appeared in any game in any role in 24 days. He started the final game of the regular season, Oct. 1, and had been missing in action ever since.
No member of the Mets' starting lineup in Game 4 had ever homered
off Denny Neagle. Neagle then served up a homer to the 12th hitter he faced
-- Piazza.
The Mets started seven right-handed hitters against Orlando Hernandez
in Game 3 -- something only one team did during the entire regular season.
And that one team was ... the Mets, who started seven right-handed hitters
against El Duque on July 7 and lost a 2-1 game, with Al Leiter being
outdueled by Hernandez.
SABR's Lee Sinins reports that El Duque's 12-strikeout game made him
only the sixth pitcher to have more than one double-figure strikeout game in World Series play. The others: Bob Gibson (four times), Sandy Koufax (three
times), Walter Johnson (twice), John Smoltz (twice) and the only other Yankee on this list, Bob Turley (twice).
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