Fear the monkey, indeed.
Trailing by five runs in the seventh inning of Game 6 Saturday night, Anaheim bounced off the mat for a stunning 6-5 victory over San Francisco, evening the World Series at three games apiece.
The Angels scored three runs apiece in the seventh and eighth innings, catapulting to victory on Troy Glaus’ two-run double over Barry Bonds’ head in the eighth.
Game 7 takes place Sunday night in Edison Field, with Angels rookie John Lackey facing San Francisco veteran Livan Hernandez.
It’s the 35th time the Series has gone to a seventh game, which the home team has won 17 times, including the last seven in a row.
“When you go to spring training, you want to be able play in that game to get a chance to win the World Series,” Glaus said. “Now we’re there.”
A little spark from the bat of Scott Spiezio turned into a raging bonfire, after Spiezio’s three-run homer off Felix Rodriguez ignited the comeback from a 5-0 deficit in the seventh. The comeback marked the biggest deficit a team had overcome when facing elimination in the World Series.
“We knew we could do it,” Spiezio said. “This team is amazing.”
The Angels have never won a World Series title in their 42-year existence, while the Giants haven’t won one since 1948, when they played in the Polo Grounds in New York.
Someone’s heart will be broken Sunday, while the winners will have taken one of the more memorable World Series in years.
Cincinnati lost Game 6 of the 1975 World Series on Carlton Fisk’s dramatic home run but bounced back to capture Game 7.
But the emotional letdown after having the Rally Monkey by the throat gave the Angels all the momentum.
Was watching Game 6 slip through their hands a devastating blow to the Giants?
“One thing about this team, we’ve always come back after devastating losses,” manager Dusty Baker said.
“We’ve done it over and over and over.”
The game was scoreless going into the fifth when ex-Cub Shawon Dunston belted a two-run homer off Kevin Appier and kissed his son, Shawon Jr., at home plate.
After Kenny Lofton’s double, Appier was replaced by Francisco Rodriguez, who eventually sent Lofton home on a wild pitch.
Bonds’ towering solo shot off Rodriguez made it 4-0 in the sixth, setting a postseason record with his eighth home run of the playoffs. With a slugging percentage of 1.500, an on-base percentage of .731 and four World Series homers, Bonds was the obvious favorite to cop MVP honors. And when Jeff Kent drove in Lofton with an RBI single in the seventh, the game appeared all but over.
Enter the Rally Monkey. Exit the Giants.
“If it takes the Rally Monkey to get [the crowd] going a little more, we’ll take it,” Spiezio said.
The Giants’ downfall began with one out and no one on in the bottom of the seventh. San Francisco was seven outs from ending the Series in six, and the Angels appeared lifeless despite their 43 comeback victories.
Giants starter Russ Ortiz was cruising along with a two-hit shutout, and the party had already started back on Nob Hill. The engraver was ready to etch B-O-N-D-S on the trophy.
Over in the Angels’ dugout, no one panicked.
“I thought if we could get some hits, we could get back in this game,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “I didn’t think it’d happen as quickly as it did.”
Back-to-back singles by Glaus and Brad Fullmer led to Ortiz’s removal, but Felix Rodriguez promptly served up the three-run homer to Spiezio, awaking the crowd and starting the Giants’ slide.
Spiezio’s shot gave him 19 postseason RBIs, tying the all-time record set by Sandy Alomar Jr. in 1997.
One inning later, the monkey mojo struck again.
Ex-Cub Tim Worrell served up a leadoff home run to Darin Erstad, making it 5-4. Tim Salmon and Garret Anderson singled off Worrell, with Salmon advancing on Bonds’ error. Glaus then doubled off closer Robb Nen, bringing home the tying and go-ahead runs.
Troy Percival pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out Rich Aurilia for the final out to turn Edison Field upside down.
What more can possibly happen in the all-California Series?
“When you have two teams like that, there’s always special things that can happen,” Scioscia said. “Tonight was one of them.”
