Game Seven

By Staff

Game Seven seemed like a formality. The Series turned in the seventh inning of Game Six, the Giants never recovered from blowing a five-run lead with eight outs to go. They seemed to walk like zombies through the final game of the 2002 season.

Part of their problem was their starter. Livan Hernandez was shaky in the first, and eventually got lit up for four runs. Hernandez had a reputation for being "The Man" in the postseason, and by that status, a logical choice for being the Game Seven starter, over Kirk Reuter, who pitched a great Game Four and was, in fact, effective later in Game Seven. The statheads will tell us that Hernandez's handful of playoff starts is too small a sample size to be meaningful, and that this season's games were a much better indicator of talent than some playoff games from the days of Eric Gregg. The psychologists will tell us that the Angels broke Livan's confidence with their Game Three whupping, piercing his cloak of dominance.

In any case, the Angels were a better team, and in Game Seven that means that they wear the rings. Without further ado, we give you the 2002 World Champions: