2002 World Series

It was no surprise that an American League team had once again dominated the 2002 race with powerful hitting, great defense and outstanding pitching on the mound. It was a surprise however, that the team left standing at the end of the marathon was not the New York Yankees. The Anaheim Angels had shocked the world by knocking off the defending champions 3-1 in the Divisional Playoffs and rolling over the Minnesota Twins four-games-to-one in the Championship Series. Their opponents, the San Francisco Giants had battled to the top of the National League (with a 95-66 record) after defeating the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals in a close post-season race. Both line-ups featured top of the line sluggers, but the Nationals boasted the newest all-time single season homerun champion in Barry Bonds, who reset the total at a now staggering seventy-three.

Game 1 featured the Giants' Jason Schmidt going up against the "Halos" Jarrod Washburn. Neither pitcher (or their bullpens) stood out as San Fran belted three home runs (Bonds, Reggie Sanders, and J.T. Snow) and Anaheim's Troy Glaus launched two in the Giants' 4-3 win. Game 2 continued to favor the hitter as nine combined pitchers were taken for an astounding twenty-eight hits. Four separate Giants dented the seats again (Bonds, Sanders, David Bell and Jeff Kent) while Tim Salmon matched teammate Glaus's opener with two blasts of his own. In the end, the Angels Troy Percival (who was closing in on the Yankees Mariano Rivera as the games favorite closer) hung on for the 11-10 decision in what looked more like the All-Star Game's home-run derby and less like the World Series. The third outing once again found the American's "taking batting practice" but the Nationals were unable to match them against Ramon Ortiz and company. Despite hitting no homers (to the Giants' two), Anaheim managed to cross the plate ten times to San Fran's four. Bonds added a third home run to continue his consecutive three-for-three performance and wasn't done swinging for the bleachers yet.

Game 4 evened the contest as the Giants' Kirk Rueter topped John Lackey in a 4-3 triumph that continued to go to the bat. Once again, both rotations had combined to give up double-digits in the hit column (twenty-two) and many felt that the "new dynamic" of "pitching winning championships" was no longer accurate. Little did they know that pitching (closing that is) would become the major contributing factor as the Series continued. The fifth contest turned the tables as it was San Francisco embarrassing the Angels with a 16-4 debacle in which every Giants hit resulted in a run. Kent followed Bonds' lead and added two more blasts to his scorecard (for three) and Rich Aurilia hammered his second. The Angels were down once again (3-2) in the pivotal Game 6 and set the stage for the now world famous "Rally Monkey" to turn the tide. The postseason mascot had become the signature of Anaheim fans everywhere and the "10th man" (as it was referred to) was waved throughout the crowd and splashed on the JumboTron screens. The monkey had gone 27-11 during the season in games when the Angels trailed and its lifetime record was 57-41. The simian idol wouldn't disappoint as the American League champs rallied themselves for three runs in the eighth for the 6-5 comeback.

As both teams took the field for the decisive Game 7, Angels rookie John Lackey kept San Francisco "at bay", allowing one run and four hits in five innings while pitching on just three days' rest. Only Reggie Sanders' sac-fly in the second kept Lackey (1-0) from blanking the Giants in the biggest game in San Francisco's history. In the ninth, the Giants rallied themselves off of Percival to once again bring the tying run to the plate, but the Angels' closer earned the save by striking out Tsuyoshi Shinjo and getting Kenny Lofton to hit a fly ball to Darin Erstad in center field. After taking a 3-2 lead in the Series at home and a 5-0 lead into the seventh inning of Game 6, the Giants were outscored 10-1 in the final twelve innings of the contest. As the Cinderella Angels captured their first World Championship, it was the eighth consecutive time that a seventh game had been won by the home team dating back to 1982.