This is the next in a series of stories from Cronkite News looking back at the Diamondbacks’ 2001 World Series win.
PHOENIX – To a man, and all the way from the front office down to the clubhouse, the 2001 Diamondbacks will tell you that something felt different about this team in spring training.
“From the beginning, there was just a sense,” then-general manager Joe Garagiola Jr. said. “The players looked around and said, ‘This is a pretty special group we have put together here.’”
That belief was solidified when the Diamondbacks reached the World Series in just their fourth year of existence, but the drama that unfolded in that epic, seven-game series left historians calling this one of the greatest World Series in MLB history.
The nation was already in a heightened state of emotion in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York. What followed was a series in which four of the seven games were decided by one run, three of the seven games were decided in the ninth inning or in extra innings and multiple Hall of Famers dotted both rosters.
The series reached its crescendo on Luis Gonzalez’s iconic, game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7. Here’s a look back at each of the games that eventually produced the state’s only major men’s pro sports title to date.
Game 1, Oct. 27: Diamondbacks 9, Yankees 1
Curt Schilling, who posted 22 wins to go along with 316 strikeouts, got the start in Game 1. Schilling had only allowed two runs in the playoffs entering the World Series.
The Yankees countered with veteran Mike Mussina, who had also allowed just two runs in the playoffs.
The Yankees opened the scoring in the top of the first when Schilling hit Derek Jeter on the hand. It was just the second batter he had hit all year. The Yankees capitalized when Bernie Williams smacked a double to the opposite field, scoring the first run of the World Series, but that was all the Yankees mustered in Game 1.
Schilling allowed only two hits after the first inning, settling in to throw seven innings of one-run ball while striking out eight Yankees batters.
NLCS MVP Craig Counsell tied the game in the bottom of the inning, blasting a home run into right field. In the next inning, Diamondbacks outfielder Luis Gonzalez deposited a 1-2 pitch into right field, giving the Diamondbacks a 3-1 lead. Arizona didn’t look back after that and scored four runs off Mussina, handing him his first loss of the postseason.
“You’ve got professional hitters up and down that batting order,” Gonzalez said. “There was really no weakness in our order.”
The Diamondbacks bullpen allowed no hits in the eighth and ninth innings, with Mike Morgan and Greg Swindell putting the finishing touches on a lopsided Game 1 win.
The Diamondbacks carried that momentum into Game 2, with ace Randy Johnson set to pitch.
Game 2, Oct. 28: Diamondbacks 4, Yankees 0
In Game 2, the Yankees were looking to bounce back and knot the series at one apiece, sending Andy Pettitte to the mound. He had pitched in each of the Yankees’ last three World Series victories and is widely regarded as one of the most clutch and prolific postseason pitchers in MLB history, holding the all-time records for postseason wins (19), starts (44), and innings pitched (276.2).
But the Diamondbacks had a superb counter with Johnson, the eventual Cy Young Award winner that year, as they pushed for a 2-0 series lead heading to New York.
“It feels like it gives you a one-run lead before you even start the game,” Gonzalez said of having Johnson on the mound. “All you’ve got to do is try to scratch out a run or two.”
Danny Bautista started that scoring in the second inning, lifting a double to the right field wall and scoring Reggie Sanders to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead.
Matt Williams hit a three-run home run off Pettitte in the seventh, capping off an inning where the Diamondbacks took advantage of defensive miscues from the Yankees and a ball that bounced off Pettitte’s leg.
The Yankees got two of their three hits in the eighth inning with no outs, but Johnson made quick work of the rest of the lineup, striking out Scott Brosius and getting Luis Sojo to ground into a double play.
Johnson put the finishing touches on his second complete game of the postseason, setting down the top of the Yankees’ lineup in order in the ninth.
Johnson finished the night striking out 11 Yankees hitters, walking one and allowing three hits, while throwing 111 pitches. His performance helped give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead, as the series shifted to Yankee Stadium.
Game 3, Oct. 30: Yankees 2, Diamondbacks 1.
The setting was emotional in New York for games 3, 4, and 5, with the Yankees returning to play their first World Series game since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
To honor the victims, most of the Diamondbacks visited Ground Zero.
“It was so strange,” Gonzalez said. “The smoke was still there. The smell was still there. There were ashes and things smoldering.”
“It was a surreal experience,” infielder Jay Bell added. “To play the Yankees in the wake of 9/11 and to have the opportunity to go down to Ground Zero, it was extremely impactful and humbling to look at something so devastating.”
Despite the emotional experience, the Diamondbacks had to shift their attention to baseball and prepare to go into a hostile environment.
“It affected them when they were there, but once we got to the clubhouse, we could get prepared for them,” Womack said.
After President George W. Bush threw the ceremonial first pitch, it was time to play ball.
The Yankees started their eventual American League Cy Young winner, Roger Clemens, in Game 3, trying to avoid going down 3-0 in the series.
Jorge Posada gave the Yankees their first lead of the series since the top of the first inning in Game 1, driving a pitch down the middle of the plate from Brian Anderson into the left field stands.
Clemens ran into trouble in the fourth inning when the Diamondbacks got the first two runners on, but they only came away with one run in the inning, tying the game at 1-1.
Brosius gave the Yankees the lead right back in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single scoring Bernie Williams.
Eventual Hall-of-Fame reliever Mariano Rivera shut down the Diamondbacks the rest of the way, throwing a two-inning save. He struck out four batters and retired the six batters he faced in order.
The Yankees got their first win of the World Series and looked to carry that momentum into Game 4.
Game 4, Oct. 31: Yankees 4, Diamondbacks 3 (10 innings)
Looking to bounce back, Arizona sent Schilling back to the mound. The Diamondbacks had not lost in the playoffs when he pitched.
Game 4 was scoreless in the bottom third inning when Brosius went deep to right off Schilling for a solo home run.
The only run Orlando Hernandez gave up for the Yankees was a solo home run off the bat of Mark Grace to right field in the fourth inning.
Schilling had a nearly identical outing from Game 1. He pitched seven innings, allowed three hits, with one walk and nine strikeouts.
The Diamondbacks had a chance to add on in the fifth, but a great throw from left field by Shane Spencer nabbed Tony Womack, who was tagged out at the plate trying to give Arizona the lead
Back-to-back hits in the eighth inning from Gonzalez and Erubiel Durazo gave Arizona a 2-1 lead, and a fielder’s choice from Williams gave them another run, making it a 3-1 game.
That set the stage for Byung-Hyun Kim, a 22-year-old closer from South Korea, who came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth inning. Kim struck out the side in front of 55,864 fans at Yankee Stadium, but the top of the order loomed in the bottom of the ninth.
Derek Jeter bunted out to start the ninth, but then Paul O’Neill smacked a broken-bat single to left field, bringing the tying run to the plate.
Kim made quick work of Williams, striking him out on three pitches, and the Yankees found themselves down to their last out.
Tino Martinez, who was hitless that night, ambushed the first pitch he saw from Kim over the wall in right-center field, tying the game. Mariano Rivera began warming up in the bullpen.
Rivera made quick work of Counsell, Gonzalez, and Bautista, throwing 13 pitches in the top of the 10th inning.
In the bottom of the 10th, Jeter came to bat with two outs, but he did not bunt this time. After a nine-pitch battle with Kim that extended past midnight, Jeter homered on a 3-2 pitch to the opposite field, earning the nickname “Mr. November.”
In a New York minute, the series was tied.
Game 5, Nov. 1: Yankees 3, Diamondbacks 2 (12 innings)
Miguel Batista got the nod to start a pivotal Game 5 for the Diamondbacks, while the Yankees’ Game 1 starter, Mike Mussina, took the mound in front of his home crowd.
In another close game, the teams headed to the fifth inning scoreless.
Mussina blinked first, giving up a pair of solo home runs in the top of the inning to Steve Finley and Rod Barajas, putting the Diamondbacks ahead 2-0.
The Yankees stranded a pair of runners in the seventh and eighth innings, and Batista was pulled in the seventh inning with two outs after giving up a two-out single to Bernie Williams
Batista had the outing of his life, throwing 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball at Yankee Stadium, working around five walks and five hits and striking out six batters on 126 pitches.
Greg Swindell got Tino Martinez to pop out on four pitches, and the Diamondbacks headed to the ninth inning with a lead for the second straight night.
After surrendering the lead the night before, Kim found himself pitching with a two-run lead in a save situation for the second time in as many nights.
Leading off the ninth, Posada lined a double to left field, bringing the tying run to the plate. Kim got the next two batters out, but disaster struck again for the Diamondbacks when Scott Brosius, another sub-.200 batter, took the young reliever deep.
The Diamondbacks were living out the nightmare once again, giving up a home run to the Yankees on back-to-back nights when they were one out away from winning the game. Instead, for the second straight night they would head to extra innings.
“You didn’t think about it. You got to play nine innings regardless,” Womack said. “Baseball is a roller coaster of emotions, but you don’t fall into it.”
Rivera gave up back-to-back hits to Bautista and Durazo in the top of the 11th, and the Diamondbacks had runners on second and third with one out after a sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk, a lineout and a groundout, Rivera worked his way out of trouble and the game remained tied.
Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly elected to remove his distraught reliever after Kim crouched on the mound in disbelief over a second straight blown save. Mike Morgan worked two innings before Albie Lopez came on for the 12th.
Chuck Knoblauch laced a leadoff single off Lopez to start the inning, and one pitch later, Knoblauch found himself on second base after a sacrifice bunt. The four-hour, 15-minute game concluded when Alfonso Soriano singled to left and Knoblauch came home, sending the Yankees’ crowd into a frenzy for the second straight night as the Yankees took a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6, Nov. 3: Diamondbacks 15, Yankees 2
On the brink of elimination, the Diamondbacks turned to their ace, Johnson, who had the team feeling loose despite the dramatic turn of events in the Bronx.
“Randy was dancing and singing on the plane. I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is weird, man. This is weird,’” Womack said. “This means we’re all free and easy. That should tell you how loose the plane ride going home was. There was nothing that needed to be said. We knew we had at least one game going back home.”
The Diamondbacks wasted no time ambushing Pettitte, getting a run off him in the first, and from there, the game quickly unraveled for the Yankees.
Arizona added three more runs in the second inning, and then eight runs in the third, knocking Pettitte out of the game. Even the Diamondbacks’ ace got in on the fun, getting an RBI single in the third inning.
The Diamondbacks had 22 hits and three walks that night.
Arizona won Game 6 in a laugher, setting up a dramatic Game 7 featuring Schilling and Clemens as the starting pitchers.
“I couldn’t sleep. We got game seven of the World Series against the Yankees tomorrow,” Brenley said. “It was probably about 4 o’clock in the morning. I finally climbed out of bed, went out on a patio, sat on a lawn chair, looking up at the stars and the moon, and said a prayer to the baseball gods.
“I said, ‘Listen, not for me, but for the Mike Morgans and Bobby Witts and RJ and Schilling and all of these veteran players, let them have this.’”
Game 7 Nov. 4, 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks 3, New York Yankees 2.
The stakes couldn’t get any higher. The Yankees were chasing their fourth straight World Series title and the Diamondbacks sought their first championship in just their fourth season.
Clemens and Schilling went head-to-head and neither pitcher let up until the sixth inning when Bautista doubled in a run to give the Diamondbacks a 1-0 lead.
Schilling looked unstoppable, facing the minimum through six innings until the seventh, where he ran into trouble giving up three hits, allowing the Yankees to tie the game.
Schilling ran into more trouble in the eighth inning. Soriano took him deep to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead that utterly deflated then-Bank One Ballpark. The Diamondbacks used three pitchers to get out of the inning, including Johnson, who returned in the ninth inning, but everyone knew they would have to go through Rivera, arguably the greatest postseason closer in MLB history, to answer Brenly’s prayer.
Rivera, who was a perfect eight-for-eight in save situations in the World Series, was ready to slam the door on the Diamondbacks once again, needing just six outs.
“There was not a feeling of dread,” Bell said. “We had already faced him three other times, but that being said, in the bottom of the eighth, he struck out the side so we knew, he’s got it going on tonight,”
In the bottom of the ninth, Grace ignited the rally with a single to center, and moments later Rivera threw wide of second on a bunt from Damian Miller, putting the tying run on second with nobody out.
After Bell’s failed bunt attempt, Womack stepped to the plate with one out and runners on first and second.
“He threw me, I think it was a 2-1 pitch, and I fouled it straight back,” Womack said. “The only thing I said was, ‘Usually with Moe, when he makes a mistake, you usually can’t miss it. So I just told myself, ‘Hey, just see the ball up and drive it.’”
Womack laced a double into right field, bringing home the tying run.
After Rivera hit Counsell to load the bases, Gonzalez came to the plate and etched his name in baseball history forever, walking off the Yankees and ending their three-year run of dominance with a bloop single.
“It was super special and I don’t take things for granted. Every time somebody mentions it, I always take the time to listen to their stories, where they were, what they were doing,” Gonzalez said. “I’m truly blessed that I was in that situation, but you don’t get there without good teammates and good people around you.
“Sometimes I get embarrassed because people say, ‘You won the World Series.’ I’m like, ‘No, it’s not me. It’s our whole team.’”
Be the first to comment