Baseball's Most Exciting Games, No. 8: They Called Him Pudge

Game 3, 2003 National League Division Series: San Francisco Giants at Florida Marlins

October 3, 2003, Pro Player Stadium, Miami, Florida

Series tied 1-1

How Game 4 ended. Who looks like
they're in more pain here? The catcher
or the runner?

If you're familiar with this series, it's because you know how it ended: With San Francisco's J.T. Snow plowing into Florida's Ivan Rodriguez at the plate, hoping to knock the ball out of Rodriguez's glove to tie Game 4 in the bottom of the 9th. Rather than drop the ball, Rodriguez held on, giving the Marlins the series win. After being mobbed by teammates, Rodriguez escaped from the pile and held the ball aloft in his bare had, showing the world that it was still there. It was the iconic moment of a Hall-of-Fame career.

It was, of course, a little strange that his iconic moment came as a member of the Marlins. In 2003, after more than a decade with the Texas Rangers, the man called Pudge had done everything you could ask for. He was best fielding catcher of his generation, possibly of all time, and he was a consistent .300 hitter with good power. He had even won a league MVP award. The only thing man called he hadn't done with the Rangers was win in the playoffs. For all his brilliance, the Rangers only went to the postseason three times during Rodriguez's time there, only winning one game on those series. He was a great player who didn't get a chance to shine on the biggest stage.

Rodriguez's time with the Rangers ended unceremoniously, with Texas simply letting him walk without even offering him arbitration. A free agent for the first time, Rodriguez surprised a lot of people around baseball by signing a one-year deal with the young Florida Marlins. Not usually known for spending big bucks on free agents, the Marlins gave Rodriguez a one-year, $10 million deal, paying more than double what they paid anybody else on the roster. The hope was the Marlins could use Rodriguez's veteran experience to help their young future stars develop more, while Rodriguez could use his one-year contract to prove to the rest of baseball that he still had it.

Whether because of the presence of Rodriguez or because their younger players were ready to take the leap, the Marlins surprised everybody by making the playoffs in 2003. Their reward for earning just their second playoff berth ever was a first-round date with the defending National League champion Giants. After a split of the first two games in San Francisco, the Marlins came home to a rare sellout crowd for Game 3.

And that's when Pudge started building his legend. 

It started with a one-out double by Luis Castillo in the bottom of the first. After fouling off a couple of pitches, Rodriguez got an inside fastball and drilled it into the left field seats for his first postseason home run. The ecstatic Marlins leapt out of the dugout to meet Rodriguez, and he had to make it through a gauntlet of teammates just to put his catcher's gear back on. 

A 2-0 lead in the 1st inning isn't normally a big deal, especially with one of the best hitters of all time in the other dugout, but the Marlins made it last until the 6th inning. The Giants loaded the bases with one out against Marlins starter Mark Redman. Redman induced a ground ball from Jose Cruz, but Cruz beat the relay to first to prevent the double play and allow the Giants' first run to score. One batter later, the Giants tied the game, and the Marlins were left to rue the double play that wasn't turned.

From there, it was a contest to see who could leave the most runners on base, and in that regard, the Giants won. San Francisco left nine runners on base between the 6th and 10th innings without scoring a run. The Marlins left "only" seven on in that time, but that included the three left on base in the bottom of the 10th when pinch-hitter Lenny Harris popped out to third.

Finally, in the 11th inning, the Giants broke through, putting runners on the corners with nobody out thanks to a botched double play ground. After a sacrifice fly, they were ahead 3-2. But they weren't done, loading the bases for Cruz with still only one out. But Cruz grounded to the pitcher and Snow grounded to second to end the threat.

So now it was the bottom of the 11th, and it was Florida's last chance to rally. And their last chance started strangely, with Jeff Conine lifting a lazy flyball to right that Cruz just flat-out dropped. Nothing tricky about it - just a Major League outfielder dropping a fly ball. After a walk, Miguel Cabrera - yes, the one who is still playing, the one who will get his 3,000th career hit this season - dropped down a bunt to move the runners over. After an intentional walk, Luis Castillo grounded to reliever Tim Worrell. Worrell fell to the ground while trying to field it, but somehow grabbed it with his bare hand and got the throw home in time for the second out

How Game 3 ended. A much less
painful way to win a game.

So it was up to Pudge. Down by 1, two outs in the 9th. Pudge wanted to be batting in this situation, and the Marlins wanted him to be batting. He was the reason they had gotten this far in the first place. So his single to right seemed preordained. Two runs scored, and Marlins went crazy, and Rodriguez celebrated the greatest moment of his career.

A moment that ranked as number 1 for less than 24 hours.

Rodriguez only played one season for the Marlins, but they made it count, riding his leadership all the way to the World Series championship. It was the only title of Rodriguez's career. While he went into the Hall of Fame as a member of the Rangers, it was that World Series run - specifically his two game-saving moments against the Giants - that will be his biggest legacy.

Game 3, 2003 National League Division Series Overall Rank: 8 Top 10 Swing: 225 Top play: Ivan Rodriguez's game-winning single (WPA of 73% for Florida) Loser's largest WE: 90 T11, 1 out, bases loaded, San Francisco up 3-2, Jose Cruz batting Average LI: 1.99 Highest leverage moment: 10.84 (Rodriguez's at bat in the bottom of the 11th)

1997 World Series: And Always Thus to Cleveland

The Teams
National League: Florida Marlins (92-70) - First World Series
American League: Cleveland Indians (86-75) - Fifth World Series (Won in 1920, 1948)

What Happened
When the Florida Marlins took batting practice before Game 3 of the 1997 World Series, they were wearing stocking hats and parkas, and there were space heaters on top of the dugouts. It wasn't a matter of the warm-weather Floridians not being able to handle autumn in Cleveland, either. It was cold. A bone-chilling, snow-flurries-falling kind of cold, the coldest weather anybody had ever seen for a World Series, a cold that was certainly too cold for baseball. And for those people who might say something like "football players play in the snow, baseball players should be able to too," just look to the middle three games of the '97 series for reason why baseball is a warm-weather sport.

See, when it's cold and wet, pitchers can't get a proper grip on the baseball. When pitchers can't get a proper grip on the baseball, they can't control where the ball is going. And when pitchers can't control where the ball is going, well, the sport becomes one of luck more than one of skill. And so the Marlins won Game 3 14-11, with 11 total runs scored in the ninth inning as temperatures plummeted. Cleveland scored early and often in the snow flurries to win Game 4 10-3, and the Marlins held off a late Cleveland charge -helped by two Florida errors in the ninth - to win Game 5 8-7.

After the chaos of Cleveland, the teams traveled back to Florida for Games 6 and 7, and as the temperatures rose, the scoring dropped. After Cleveland won Game 6 4-1, they settled in for Game 7. And soon after Game 7 started, everybody forgot about the farce that was the middle three games in Cleveland and instead focused on the great theater in front of them.

For the longest time in Game 7, the biggest question was when the other shoe would drop. The Indians took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, and then their fans spent the rest of the game counting down of the number of outs needed until they won their first championship since 1948. Meanwhile, the rest of the country spent the next few innings going "really? It's going to be that easy for them?"

No. It wasn't gonna be that easy. It was Cleveland. Bobby Bonilla led off the seventh with a home run to make it 2-1, and that's where the score stayed until the bottom of the ninth. Then Cleveland brought in closer Jose Mesa to wrap up their first championship since 1948 and the first professional championship of any kind for the city since 1964. But you know, no pressure.

Moises Alou led off the ninth for Florida with a single, just the latest in a series of clutch hits for him during the series. After Bonilla struck out, Charles Johnson singles to right to send Alou to third. Next up was skinny utility infielder Craig Counsell, who hit a line drive to right field that was deep enough to score Alou. And just like that, the coundown ended. The Indians went from being two outs from a title to being 270 feet from elimination.

Florida didn't score again in the ninth, but they weren't done threatening. While the shell-shocked Indians didn't do much of anything in extra innings, the Marlins threatened in the 10th - with normal starter Charles Nagy relieving Mesa to get out of the threat - and then again in the 11th. Bonilla led off the 11th with a single. After a failed bunt for the first out, Counsell hit a ball that should have been an inning-ending double play, but Cleveland's Tony Fernandez let it go right between his legs to put runners on first and third. Cleveland intentionally walked the next batter to set up a force play at home, which they promptly got in the next at bat.

Up came Edgar Rentaria, the Marlins' 20-year-old shortstop. He didn't hit it hard, but he didn't have to. His grounder was perfectly placed right up the middle, over the second base bag, to bring in Counsell with the World Series-winning run.

The Marlins and their fans celebrated like mad, but it was short-lived. Owner Wayne Huisinga claimed his team lost money, despite their championship, and it took less than a week for the first piece of the Marlins' championship team to be traded away. Soon, virtually all the stars were gone, and the Marlins were on their way to a 108-loss season. It was as if their championship had never happened.

But to Cleveland fans, it happened. It happened, and it was painful.


Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Cleveland	4	6	11	10	7	4	2
Florida	7	1	14	3	8	1	3 (11)

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

17. 1997 - Florida (N) def. Cleveland (A) 4-3
18. 1993 - Toronto (A) def. Philadelphia (N) 4-2
19. 1956 - New York (A) def. Brooklyn (N) 4-3
Numbers 20-29
Numbers 30-39
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

Game 7s
Simultaneously, I'll rank all the Game 7s. The ones that have appeared in my countdown so far:

5. 1997: Florida 3, Cleveland 2
7. 1946: St. Louis (N) 4, Boston (A) 3
9. 1925: Pittsburgh 9, Washington 7
12. 1979: Pittsburgh 4, Baltimore 1
13. 1955: Brooklyn 2, New York (A) 0
15. 1971: Pittsburgh 2, Baltimore 1
16. 1940: Cincinnati 2, Detroit 1
18. 1987: Minnesota 4, St. Louis 2
19. 1958: New York 6, Milwaukee 2
21. 1968: Detroit 4, St. Louis 1
22. 1931: St. Louis (N) 4, Philadelphia (A) 2
23. 1973: Oakland 5, New York (N) 2
24. 2002: Anaheim 4, San Francisco 1
26. 1982: St. Louis 6, Milwaukee 3
28. 1965: Los Angeles (A) 2, Minnesota 0
29. 1964: St. Louis 7, New York (A) 5
30. 1957: Milwaukee 5, New York (A) 0
31. 1967: St. Louis 7, Boston 2
32. 1945: Detroit 9, Chicago (N) 3
33. 1909: Pittsburgh 8, Detroit 0
34. 1934: St. Louis (N) 11, Detroit 0 
35. 1985: Kansas City 11, St. Louis 0
36. 1956: New York (A) 9, Brooklyn 0

2003 World Series: The One No One Wanted

The Teams
National League: Florida Marlins (91-71) - Second World Series (Won in 1997)
American League: New York Yankees (101-61) - 39th World Series (Won 26 previous times)

What Happened
It was the matchup that nobody wanted. As both the Red Sox and Cubs took the lead in the two league championship series, American baseball fans salivated over a World Series matchup between the two most cursed franchises in the sports. But then Steve Bartman happened to the Cubs and Game 7 happened to the Red Sox, and suddenly the dream matchup between the Cubs and Red Sox turned into a much-less-exciting one between the Marlins and the Yankees.

The Marlins weren't given much of a chance, partially because they simply didn't have as much talent as the Yankees, and partially because of their pedigree. I mean, the Marlins had only existed since 1993, while the Yankees had almost four times as many league championship seasons as the Marlins had total seasons.

Florida made it obvious almost immediately, though, that they weren't scared. Florida had speed to spare, and they planned to use it to their full advantage. Juan Pierre lead off the series with a bunt single, moved to third on an infield single, then scored on a sacrifice fly. Later in the game, Pierre's two-run single made it 3-1, and the Marlins held on to open the series with a win.

The Yankees did what was expected of them with big wins in Games 2 and 3, and they came back to tie Game 4 with two two-out runs in the ninth. And while giving up a lead like that would devastate many inexperienced teams, the Marlins didn't blink, stopping the bleeding and winning the game in the bottom of the 12th.

From there, it was the Marlins who seized the momentum and closed out the series with confidence. After Yankee starter David Wells left Game 5 with an injury after only one inning, the Marlins scored quickly, building a 6-1 lead before winning 6-4. Then Josh Beckett, the hero of the NLCS, ruined the 100th World Series game in Yankee Stadium history. The 23-year-old Beckett, pitching on three days rest, pitched the game of his life, shutting out the Yankees on just two hits to clinch a most improbable title for the Marlins.  

Defining Game
Game 4 started fast, as the Marlins scored three first-inning runs off Roger Clemens, but slowed down after that. After the Yankees got one run back in the second, the teams did next to nothing offensively for most of the rest of the game; at one point, Clemens and Marlins starter Carl Pavano combined to retire 19 straight batters. The Marlins went with closer Ugueth Urbina, and the Yankees started to try to rally. With two outs and two on base, pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra fought Urbina in an 8-pitch at bat, then hit one of the most improbable triples in Major League history, tying the game and sending the Miami crowd into shock. The Yankees weren't done, either, loading the bases with one out before Braden Looper came in for Florida and shut the door. One inning later, Florida's Alex Gonzalez led off the 12th with the 13th walkoff home run in World Series history, and the Marlins never looked back.


 
Gonzalez's home run

MVP
Beckett won the award, almost entirely because of his performance in Game 6. He also pitched well in Game 3, but lost. Brad Penny - who went 2-0 for the Marlins - was almost as good, and might have been the man had the series gone to Game 7. Alas, it was Beckett's date with destiny, so he won the award.

Scores
(Home team shaded; winners in Bold)

Florida	3	1	1	4 (12)	6	2
New York	2	6	6	3	4	0

The List
I'm ranking all the World Series, from worst to best. Here are the ones I've done so far:

36. 2003 - Florida (N) def. New York (A) 4-2
37. 1977 - New York (A) def. Los Angeles (N) 4-2
38. 1996 - New York (A) def. Atlanta (N) 4-2
39. 1921 - New York (N) def. New York (A) 5-3
Numbers 40-49
Numbers 50-59
Numbers 60-69
Numbers 70-79
Numbers 80-89
Numbers 90-99
Numbers 100-107

2003 NLCS: Bartman and the Billy Goat

Pregame
Derek Jeter said something recently about the Major League playoffs in the Wild Card era. I don't know if it was this year or last year or what, but the Yankees capttain said that while the best teams get into the playoffs, the hottest teams win in the playoffs.

Jeter had nothing to do with the 2003 National League playoffs, but they epitomized exactly what he was talking about. The best two teams in the NL in 2003 were the Braves and the Giants, each of whom won more than 100 games and cruised to their division titles. That the Marlins and Cubs joined them in the playoffs was supposed to be trivial, just a stepping stone for the two best teams to get past on their way to an NLCS showdown.

But while the Braves and Giants were the best teams, the Cubs and Marlins were the hottest. The Cubs went 19-8 in September, and they needed every one of those wins as they held off Houston by one game to win the NL Central. The Marlins also finished the season on a roll, going 18-8 in September to win the Wild Card by four games.

As the two hottest teams, the Cubs and Marlins both pulled off shockers in the NLDS. Florida upset defending league champ San Francisco in four, with the series ending as Ivan Rodriguez held on to the ball on a home-plate collision with J.T. Snow. The series win gave the Marlins their fourth postseason series victory in as many tries.

The Cubs had a slightly more difficult time dispatching the Braves, needing Kerry Wood's Game 5 gem to beat Atlanta. While Florida continued its unbeaten postseason run, the Cubs round one victory in 2003 was their first postseason series win since the 1908 World Series.

Aside from the postseason pedigree, the Cubs and Marlins were essentially the same team. They were led by dynamic young pitchers; the Cubs had Wood, Mark Prior, and Carlos Zambrano, all of whom were 26 or younger, while Florida countered with 20-somethings Dontrelle Willis, Josh Beckett, and Carl Pavano. They both had a good balance of power and speed, and were overall fairly strong teams. A close seriers wouldn't have been much of a surprise.

But the Cubs took three of the first four games, putting themselves on the cusp of their first World Series berth since 1945. Beckett threw a two-hit shutout in Game 5 to send the series back to Chicago, but with Prior and Wood lined up to pitch games 6 and 7, the series looked to be Chicago's to lose.

And then....

Well, revisionist history makes it seem like the NLCS ended in the eighth inning of Game 6, when Steve Bartman got in Moises Alou's way on Luis Castillo's foul pop. The way some people tell it, you'd think that the Cubs were about to win the series until that fateful popup, after which they immediately lost. In truth, while Bartman may well have prevented Alou from catching that ball, the Cubs were still up 3-0 with five outs to go; two outs later, they were down 8-3, with another game left to play in the series.

So taking the ball for Chicago for Game 7 was Kerry Wood, hoping to realize the awesome potential he showed as a 20-year-old in 1998 while simultaneously reversing the Curse of the Billy Goat and getting his long-tormented franchise back to the World Series. In other words, no pressure.

The Game
So how painful was that first inning home run by Miguel Cabrera? There are the Cubs, in a Game 7, their phenom on the mound, and he gives up a three-run yard sale in the first inning of the biggest game of his life. Devastating, that. The Curse of the Billy Goat, renamed the Curse of Bartman, is striking again.

But then the Cubs showed some fight. In the second inning, after a run was in, Wood hit a two-run home run to tie the game. Alou hit a two-run home run in the third to make it 5-3. Imagine, then, the possibilities. Wood had the lead, thanks largely to his own bat. If he had finished up that game, sending the Cubs to that World Series, the Cubs might have had him in bronze outside the stadium later that night. Hell, they might have named the stadium after him.

But it wasn't to be. The Marlins scratched together three runs off of Wood in the fifth, reclaiming the lead. To make matters worse, they brought in their trump card, Beckett, out of the bullpen. Sure, he was on short rest. But they didn't need him for many innings. Really, they needed him more for the mental boost.

It worked. The Cubs were done. Wood gave up another run, the bullpen gave up two more, and the Marlins won to advance to their second World Series in seven years. For the Cubs, the dream was dead for the 95th straight year. The Billy Goat lived.

Aftermath
After getting past the Cubs, the Marlins were up against the powerful Yankees in the World Series. The Yankees had the advantage in every area. But the Marlins had Beckett. Beckett started twice in the World Series and only gave up one run, including a five-hit masterpiece to clinch the series in Game 6. While the Cubs were at home as losers for the 95th straight year, the Marlins were celebrating their second championship in seven years. Go Billy Goat.

What I'm doing.

The list so far:

12. 2003 NLCS: Florida 9, Chicago 6
13. 2004 NLCS: St. Louis 5, Houston 2
14. 1972 ALCS: Oakland 2, Detroit 1
15. 1973 ALCS: Oakland 3, Baltimore 0
16. 1985 ALCS: Kansas City 6, Toronto 2
17. 2007 ALCS: Boston 11, Cleveland 2
18. 1991 NLCS: Atlanta 4, Pittsburgh 0
19. 1973 NLCS: New York 7, Cincinnati 2
20. 1987 NLCS: St. Louis 6, San Francisco 0
21. 1988 NLCS: Los Angeles 6, New York 0
22. 2004 ALCS: Boston 10, New York 3
23. 1986 ALCS: Boston 8, California 1
24: 1996 NLCS: Atlanta 15, St. Louis 0

Still to come:
1972 NLCS: Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh
1976 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1977 ALCS: Kansas City vs. New York
1980 NLCS: Houston vs. Philadelphia
1981 NLCS: Los Angeles vs. Montreal
1982 ALCS: California vs. Milwaukee
1984 NLCS: Chicago vs. San Diego
1992 NLCS: Atlanta vs. Pittsburgh
2003 ALCS: Boston vs. New York
2006 NLCS: New York vs. St. Louis
2008 ALCS: Boston vs. Tampa Bay