The D-Backs will be sending Curt Schilling to the mound, to help try to bring back balance in this series, while the Athletics will be sending Mark Mulder to the mound.
Game 6 (at Arizona)
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| Counsell collects 3 hits in Game 6. |
1st Inning - All is starting out well for Curt Schilling in the top-half as he strikes out the side in Terrance Long, Miguel Tejada & Jason Giambi. The Diamondbacks threaten in the bottom with a lead-off double by Craig Counsell, followed by a Jay Bell walk... but couldn't do more, as Luis Gonzalez flies out & Reggie Sanders hit into a inning-ending double play.
Top of the 2nd - After two quick outs to Eric Chavez & Jermaine Dye (Dye was Schilling's 4th K in 5 batters), Johnny Damon draws a walk & steals second base. Ramon Hernandez (2-for-10, .200 BA in the series) comes up to the plate, after not playing in Games 4 & 5; Hernandez eager-to-play, hits a two-run HR off of Schilling for the Athletics to draw first blood, 2-0.
The Diamondbacks don't stay down for long, as in the bottom of the 2nd, they strike back. Mark Grace leads off the inning with a single, followed by a Matt Williams double. With runners on 2nd & 3rd, no outs, Steve Finley scores in Grace on a sacrifice fly to right, while Williams tags up & makes it to third. Damian Miller would tie the game by grounding out to deep second, as Williams scores. With two outs, Curt Schilling batting, Mark Mulder gets Schilling to strike out; Game tied 2-2.
Craig Counsell leads off the 3rd with a single & then steals second base; Jay Bell advances Counsell to third by grounding out. Luis Gonzalez & Reggie Sanders fail though, as Mark Mulder sends them packing with back-to-back strike outs.
The game would remain scoreless until the bottom of the 7th inning. Steve Finley leads the inning off with a single. Damian Miller strikes out for out number one, Mulder's 4th strike out of the day at this point. Greg Colbrunn comes in to the game, to pinch-hit for Curt Schilling; Colbrunn draws a walk. With runners on 1st & 2nd, one out, Craig Counsell delivers a go-ahead RBI single, driving in Finley. Counsell is always one of the players in MLB history, need a big moment & he was somewhere involved, be it the 1997 Florida Marlins or the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks... Another player that rings a bell & comes straight to mind is David Eckstein (Angels, Cardinals); Counsell's RBI single would be his 3rd hit of the day.
With Counsell on 1st, Jay Bell would strike out for the second out of the inning. With Luis Gonzalez coming to the plate & 4 HRs this series, the Athletics were wise to intentionally walk him & face Reggie Sanders instead. With Arizona leading 3-2 & two outs, Sanders would strike out for Mark Mulder's 6th K of the game.
Top of the 8th - Oakland second baseman Frank Menechino reaches first on an error by Arizona's shortstop Craig Counsell. Oakland calls on Jason's bro Jeremy Giambi to pinch-hit for pitcher Mark Mulder; Giambi hits into 4-6-3 double play. With two outs, against reliever Byung-Hyun Kim (Grade A*-XYW), Terrance Long rolls 42 (result 40 - Ball [Walk against W] )... a two-out bases-on-balls to Long. Down 3-2, Miguel Tejada capitalizes on Kim's mistake & sends the ball into the stands for a two-run HR to give the Athletics, a 4-3 late lead. Jason Giambi would strike out for out number three.
Oakland calls on reliever Mike Magnante, who pitches a scoreless 1-2-3 inning against veterans Mark Grace, Matt Williams & Steve Finley.
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| Tejada reacts in 8th Inning, with HR off of Kim. |
Bottom of the 9th - Diamondbacks are down to their 8th, 9th & 1st hitters of the lineup (Damian Miller, pitcher/likely pinch-hitter & Counsell, who has three hits). Oakland's closer Jason Isringhausen strikes out Miller for the first out. Arizona calls on Erubiel Durazo to pinch-hit against Isringhausen & draws a walk -- needing more speed on the base paths, Arizona calls on the speedy Tony Womack to pinch-run for Durazo; Womack steals second. One out runner on second, Craig Counsell flies out with no advancement from Womack for out number two. Jay Bell, being the last chance for Arizona grounds it to Eric Chavez at third, the long throw across the diamond, Jason Giambi leaps in the error, out number three & the Oakland Athletics have just won the World Series!
The road teams have won 5 of the 6 games of this series, the only time the home team was Game 5's walk-off home run for Eric Chavez in front of Oakland's fans.
It's really difficult to go through the game notes to see who exactly takes home the World Series MVP for Oakland at the moment, I do know in a losing effort, Arizona's Luis Gonzalez hit 4 home runs.
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