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Saturday, November 3
Updated: November 4, 5:02 AM ET
Oh, so many blowouts
By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com
The factoids keep on coming in a Game 6 edition of our Useless Information Department:
Your worst World Series blowouts ever:
14 runs, Game 2, 1936: Yankees 18, Giants 4.
13 runs, Game 6, 2001: Diamondbacks 15, Yankees 2.
13 runs, Game 2, 1960: Yankees 16, Pirates 3.
12 runs, Game 6, 1982: Cardinals 13, Brewers 1.
12 runs, Game 6, 1968: Tigers 13, Cardinals 1.
12 runs, Game 6, 1960: Yankees 12, Pirates 0.
12 runs, Game 5, 1951: Yankees 13, Giants 1.
11 runs, Game 1, 1996: Braves 12, Yankees 1.
11 runs, Game 7, 1985: Royals 11, Cardinals 0.
11 runs, Game 1, 1959: White Sox 11, Dodgers 0.
11 runs, Game 7, 1934: Cardinals 11, Tigers 0.
Now the Yankees' worst postseason blowouts ever:
13 runs, Game 6, 2001 World Series: Diamondbacks 15, Yankees 2.
12 runs, Game 3, 1999 ALCS: Red Sox 13, Yankees 1.
11 runs, Game 3, 2001 ALCS: Mariners 14, Yankees 3.
11 runs, Game 1, 1996 World Series: Braves 12, Yankees 1.
10 runs, Game 4, 2000 ALDS: A's 11, Yankees 1.
8 runs, Game 2, 1958 World Series: Braves 13, Yankees 5.
8 runs, Game 6, 1926 World Series: Cardinals 10, Yankees 2.
8 runs, Game 3, 1921 World Series: Giants 13, Yankees 5.
After blowout games, team that won by 10 or more went 7-4 in the next game. The other three blowouts ended the Series. And the of the 12 teams that won one blowout game or more in a World Series, eight of the 12 won the World Series. But of the nine teams that won a blowout but didn't end the Series in the process, only five went on to win the World Series.
The Yankees now have a chance to avenge what those 1960 Pirates did to them (namely, win a World Series in which the Yankees outscored them, 55-27). Arizona now has outscored the Yankees, 34-12, in this World Series -- but could still lose it. Or Arizona could become the third team to outscore its opponents by 25 runs or more in a postseason series. Biggest margins:
28 runs: 1960 World Series, Yankees over Pirates (55-27).
26 runs: 1996 NLCS, Braves over Cardinals (44-18).
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| Witasick |
Then there's Jay Witasick, who became the first relief pitcher ever to give up nine runs in a World Series game ( 1 1/3 IP, 10 H, 9 R, 8 ER, 0 BB, 4 K), the first to give up nine in any role since 1910 and the first pitcher of any shape or size to give up eight earned runs in any World Series game. Here's how Witasick's line compares to some of the other crooked numberfests in World Series history.
The three previous pitchers to allow nine runs in a World Series game:
Bill Kennedy, Pirates vs Red Sox, Game 5 1903
7 IP 11 H 10 R 4 ER 3 BB 3 K
Andy Coakley, A's vs. Giants, Game 3, 1905
9 IP 9 H 9 R 0 ER 5 BB 2 K
Mordecai (Three Finger) Brown, Cubs vs. A's, Game 2, 1910
7 IP 13 H 9 R 7 ER 4 BB 6 K
And the last pitcher to give up 10 hits in relief in a World Series game -- Charlie Hough, for the Dodgers against the Yankees, in Game 5 of the 1978 Series:
4 1/3 IP 10 H 5 R 5 ER 2 BB 5 K
Andy Pettitte threw just 16 pitches out of the strike zone in seven innings last Sunday. Six days later, he threw 23 pitches out of the strike zone in 2 1/3 innings.
This was only the fourth time in the last six postseasons that a Yankees starter called it a night without getting more than six outs or fewer -- and half of them were by Kenny Rogers in 1996:
Roger Clemens, Game 3, 1999 ALCS vs. Boston (and Pedro Martinez): 2 IP, 5 ER.
Kenny Rogers, Game 4, 1996 ALCS vs. Baltimore: 2 IP, 2 ER.
Kenny Rogers, Game 4, 1996 WS vs. Atlanta: 2 IP, 5 ER.
The Diamondbacks went 0 for their last 16 with runners in scoring position in Yankee Stadium. They went 11 for their first 15 in this game.
Of the six hits Randy Johnson gave up in Game 6, one was to Pettitte. No left-handed-hitting pitcher had gotten a hit off the Unit in either of the last two regular seasons.
The Yankees, naturally, never gave up 15 runs in any regular-season game all year.
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| O'Neill |
Paul O'Neill wasn't in the Yankees' lineup Saturday night, just as he missed the first two games at the BOB. In between, though, the Yankees won all three games he started in this World. Series. But what else is new? Starting with the 1990 Reds, O'Neill's teams are 21-3 when he starts ... 22-4 when he plays. (And he pinch-hit in the Game 1 loss).
The Diamondbacks went 81-2 this year during the regular season when they led after eight innings. If you count all the postseason games before they headed for New York, they were 89-2. Then, of course, in Games 4 and 5 of the World Series, they went 0-2.
Even though they lost, the Yankees still have won 19 of their last 23 World Series games. The only team to do better was -- who else? -- the Yankees, who won 20 of 23 in a number of different stretches from 1926-42, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Yankees have had a schizzo World Series in many ways. Before the ninth inning, going into Game 6, they were hitting .050 (1 for 20) with men in scoring position. From the ninth inning on, they were hitting .400 (2 for 5).
Also going into this game, the Yankees were hitting .375 off Byung-Hyun Kim (6 for 16) -- and .155 against all other Diamondbacks (23 for 148).
We're still trying to sort out just how historic those back-to-back Yankees comebacks in New York really were. Contrary to a report on Fox, this was the third time a team won two games in one postseason series when it went into its last inning (ninth or later) trailing. The others, courtesy of Elias' Rob Tracy:
1985 Blue Jays (ALCS)
Game 2: Toronto 6, Kansas City 5. Were trailing by one in the bottom of the 10th, scored two to win.
Game 4: Toronto 3, Kansas City 1. Were trailing by one in the top of the 9th, scored three to win.
1986 Mets (NLCS)
Game 3: Mets 6, Astros 5. Were trailing by one in the bottom of the 9th, scored two to win.
Game 6: Mets 7, Astros 6. Were trailing by three in the top of the 9th, scored three in ninth to tie, three more in 16th to take three-run lead, gave up two in bottom of 16th.
Finally, those comebacks in New York marked the 29th and 30th times the Yankees had trailed after six innings in a postseason game since 1996. Amazingly, they came back to win 13 of those games, a .433 winning percentage. As the New York Post's Joel Sherman points out, Torre's regular-season teams have just a .220 winning percentage (80-284) in those situations, according to Elias.
Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com
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