jpg: I agree 'it was fun while it lasted'...
The Angels played very well -- especially during game # 7...Bonds was a good sport though...here's a New York Times article on The World Series...
ON BASEBALL
Angels Pitch to Bonds, and It's Kryptonite
By MURRAY CHASS
The New York Times
October 28, 2002
ANAHEIM, Calif. - In the end, Barry Bonds was not the superman, big S or little s, the Anaheim Angels believed him to be. As awesome as they thought he was, and as he was at times, Bonds was merely mortal last night, and the San Francisco Giants were unable to overcome the pestiferous band of Angels hitters.
The Angels did not erupt with the 10-hit inning that had become their trademark earlier in the postseason, but in one small stretch they showed a flash of what they have been about this year. A flurry of three hits, combined with a hit batter and capped by Garret Anderson's line-drive double to the right-field corner, carried the Angels to a 4-1 victory and brought the proprietors of the Magic Kingdom a magical World Series title.
"They just battle," Bonds said of the team that vanquished his team. "They come back. And they battle. They take advantage of mistakes and they're a good contact-hitting team. One through nine. They play to the end."
He was disappointed, Bonds added, but the experience of playing in the Series, his first after 17 years in the majors, he said, was great.
"I enjoyed it; I did," he said. "I'm not going to lie. It was a good time. I was more ready for it than ever. Unfortunately I'm on the short end of the stick. But I tip my hat to them. Those guys played very well. Luck on their side and good baseball."
Bonds, who had dominated both the talk and the play of this World Series, was suddenly not a factor in Game 7. In the first six games, the Angels walked him a record 12 times, but they pitched to Bonds the first three times he went to the plate last night.
He didn't get the ball out of the infield, hitting it each time between first and second, where three Angels fielders were positioned. He lined out, beat out a grounder for a single and popped out.
It wasn't until the eighth inning, with Francisco Rodriguez pitching, that Bonds walked, though not intentionally. Rodriguez, the fireballing rookie, followed the two-out walk by striking out Benito Santiago, leaving Santiago with 3 hits in 13 times at bat (.231) and four runs batted in after walks to Bonds in the Series.
Bonds took exception to the suggestion that he had not had a good night.
"I went 1 for 3 with a walk; that's a good day," he said softly. "Am I supposed to go 3 for 3 with three homers? What do you want from me?"
Bonds had 8 hits, including 4 home runs, in 17 at-bats for a .471 average, highest in a seven-game Series in 23 years. With 13 walks added, he reached base 21 of his 30 plate appearances for a .700 on-base percentage, and he had a 1.294 slugging percentage, both records for a Series of more than four games.
"It shows," Bonds said, "that it takes a team to win it."
Nobody in the Giants' lineup stepped forward and took Bonds's place last night, and Liván Hernández was unable to shake the problems the Giants' starting pitchers encountered the entire Series.
Hernández, whose perfect postseason history was punctured the past week, left the game without having registered an out in the third inning, the one that Anderson dominated with his bases-loaded double.
This latest performance by a starter gave the Giants' rotation an 8.10 earned run average, sixth worst in World Series history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. One of the five higher E.R.A.'s belonged to the 1989 Giants, who were overwhelmed by the Oakland Athletics and the 7.1 earthquake.
Despite poor pitching performances, the Giants had the championship trophy in their grasp Saturday night and dropped it with a clunk. They squandered a 5-0 lead and paid for their indiscretion last night.
Peter Magowan, the Giants' managing partner, said Game 6 would be the one he remembers. "As close as we were last night, it's hard," he said, seemingly close to tears.
But Bonds disagreed. "We don't think about anything after today is over with," he said when asked about Game 6. "They beat us. They're world champions. We'll get ready for spring training, start again."
Before Game 7, Magowan was still lamenting the loss of Game 6 and talked about the dreaded possibility that the Giants could lose the Series.
"It would be pretty hard to take," he said, adding that losing wouldn't be something that the Giants could live with very easily, "especially when they'll have to think about Game 6, how close we were, eight outs away. I was counting the outs; eight outs to go and nobody on base."
After the Series ended, the Giants were devastated. Those players who sat at their lockers didn't want to talk. "Not now," one after another said.
"It's a game that can break your heart," Magowan said.
He spoke a minute after he had spoken quietly with his manager, at least for 10 more days, Dusty Baker.
"Thank you," Magowan said to Baker, not quite embracing him. "Thank you for a good job."
•
Bonds, at the other end of the clubhouse, was finished speaking to reporters.
"You want the results to be different," he had said, "but what can you do about it? They outplayed us." Could he appreciate the way the Angels played? "Oh, definitely," Bonds said. "You can't be mad for doing your best. You can be disappointed, but somebody has to win."
It wasn't the Giants. Instead they landed on the list of teams that in the past 20 years went on the road with a 3-2 lead in games and returned home with nothing to show for it. They are team No. 7 on that list, after last year's Yankees.
nytimes.com |
