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Sunday, November 4
Updated: November 5, 4:24 AM ET
Game 7 mania and much, much more
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
This was only the third Game 7 in World Series history to be scoreless after five innings. The other two were legendary games:
Jack Morris-John Smoltz, Game 7, 1991. (Braves bullpen gave up winning run in 10th.)
Bob Gibson-Mickey Lolich, Game 7, 1968. (Gibson gave up three in seventh.)
If we don't count the old best-of-nine World Series in those olden days, Curt Schilling versus Roger Clemens was only the sixth matchup of 20-game winners in Game 7 of a World Series. The others:
1985: Bret Saberhagen (Royals, 20-6) vs. John Tudor (Cardinals, 21-8). Win: Saberhagen, 11-0.
1962: Ralph Terry (Yankees, 23-12) vs. Jack Sanford (Giants, 24-7). Win: Terry, 1-0.
1945: Hank Borowy (Cubs, 21-7) vs. Hal Newhouser (Tigers, 25-9). Win: Newhauser, 9-3.
1940: Paul Derringer (Reds, 20-12) vs. Bobo Newsom (Tigers, 21-5). Win: Derringer, 2-1.
1912: Hugh. Bedient (Red Sox, 20-9)) vs. Christy Mathewson (Giants, 23-12)**. Win: Red Sox beat Mathewson in 10 innings, 2-1(Bedient ND).
** Game 8 in best-of-seven (series was tied 3-3, with one tie.
Curt Schilling was the first pitcher to start three games in one World Series since Jack Morris in 1991. Others who have done this since division play:
1987: Frank Viola, Twins (won Games 1 and 7, lost Game 4).
1986: Ron Darling, Mets (lost Game 1, won Game 4, ND Game 7).
1986: Bruce Hurst, Red Sox (won Games 1 and 5, ND Game 7).
1985: John Tudor, Cardinals (won Games 1 and 4, lost Game 7).
1975: Luis Tiant, Red Sox (won Games 1 and 4, ND in Game 6).
1973: Ken Holtzman, A's (won Games 1 and 7, lost Game 4).
1973: Jon Matlack, Mets (lost Games 1 and 7, won Game 4).
If you add in his 48 1/3 postseason innings, Schilling went over the 300-inning mark on Sunday night. And you don't see that number much these days, huh? Last pitcher to work 300 innings in one year, counting the postseason: Dave Stewart, for the '88 A's, and Orel Hershiser, for the '88 Dodgers.
Maybe the Yankees need to declare themselves seventh-day adventists and not work on Saturdays. Over the last three Saturdays in the postseason, the Yankees have been outscored, 38-6. In their other 13 postseason games going into Sunday, they had outscored their opponents, 49-30.
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| Johnson |
Randy Johnson has more in common with Bob Gibson than he probably ever realized. By scoring two runs on Saturday, the Unit became the first pitcher to score two runs in a World Series game since Game 4, 1968. Gibson actually homered in that game off Denny McLain. No National League pitcher has hit a home run since.
Speaking of Johnson, in his seven-game postseason losing streak, his three teams at the time -- Seattle, Houston and Arizona -- scored a total of 11 runs in the seven games. That, of course, was four fewer than the Diamondbacks scored for him just in the first four innings of Game 6.
Last time one of Johnson's teams scored 15 runs in a regular-season game Johnson won: May 20, 1994, when Seattle piled up 19 for him against Texas.
One of our favorite contributors, Doug Greenwald, observes that even though there have been just three Game 7's in the last 10 years, David Justice has been in uniform for every one of them -- for the '91 Braves, the '97 Indians and the 2001 Yankees.
In fact, even though there have been so few Game 7's and the Yankees hadn't played in one in 37 years, seven of the 50 active players in Sunday's game have been on teams that took part in a Game 7:
Matt Williams (Cleveland 1997)
Brian Anderson (Cleveland 1997)
Justice (Atlanta 1991, Cleveland 1997)
Craig Counsell (Florida 1997)
Chuck Knoblauch (Minnesota, 1991)
Mike Stanton (Atlanta, 1991)
Roger Clemens (Boston , 1986)
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| Counsell |
Craig Counsell homered in his first at-bat of this World Series. He then went 0 for his next 20 before singling up the middle in the third inning. At the time, he was within two at-bats of the longest World Series 0-fer -- an 0-for-22 funk by Dal Maxvill, for the '68 Cardinals. In between, Eddie Murray went 0 for 21 for the '79 Orioles.
We reported on Saturday that Jay Witasick was the first pitcher to give up nine runs in a World Series game since 1910. Oops. Forgot Walter Johnson, who gave up nine in Game 7 against the Pirates in 1925. Since the other pitchers to give up nine runs got their box score lines in print Saturday, here's Johnson's memorable line:
8 IP, 15 H, 9 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com
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