Saturday, July 11, 2015

World Series: Did You Know?

Dave Justice is, to date, the last player to hit a home run in the Fall Classic in a 1-0 ballgame. But what a time to do it! It not only won game six for Atlanta vs. Cleveland, it won them their long-awaited Fall Classic. The Braves had won in 1914 and 1957, but that was the Boston / Milwaukee Braves. This was a first.

It had been a rematch of the 1948 World Series, which Cleveland had won over the still-in-Boston Braves. That also went six. Here, it was in Atlanta at Fulton-County Stadium. Game seven would have been there, if necessary. But Justice was not to be denied. Neither were the Braves.

The game was quite a scoreless, pitcher's duel up until Dave rocked 'em with the solo shot. Actually, 5 1/2 innings had been played. And not a single man had touched home. Tom Glavine was pitching a gem for Atlanda. Dennis Martinez was holding the Indians in there. The Braves had had their chances.

They got two hits of El Presidente in the bottom of the first, but came away with nothing. Justice hit a double in the bottom of the fourth. But he, Ryan Klesko and Javier Lopez were all stranded by the time the third out had been recorded. In the fifth, it was Atlanta with a walk and a single. Fred McGriff came to the dish wish two out and two on, with Justice on deck. But Martinez fanned him.

Glavine, meanwhile, was working on a no-hitter! I've kept that secret all this time, you see. But would it be enough? Cleveland finally got their first hit in the top of the sixth, but Tom got out of that. But once again, you had to wonder, would Glavine's fine performance be all for not? Thanks to Justice, no!

Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Justice took Martinez out of the park on a 1-1 pitch. Glavine went back to no-hit mode after the sixth. He gave up a walk in the seventh, but otherwise got every other batter out the next three innings.

Justice had a habbit of hitting the long ball in key situations in the postseason. This was one of four he hit in the Fall Classic. It won the game for Atlanta. The Atlanta Braves had been frustrated in their previous two trips to the World Series. Dave made sure Atlanta got through this time.


References


Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Neft, David S., and Richard M. Cohen. The World Series: Complete Play-by-play of Every Game, 1903-1989. 4th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1990. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Retrosheet. Web. 11 Jul. 2015. <www.retrosheet.org>.

Sports Reference LLC.  Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 11 Jul. 2015.

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