By WEB STAFF
sportsnet.ca
As the Angels and Yankees and prepare to meet for the first time in the ALCS, starting Friday on Sportsnet at the new Yankee Stadium, sportsnet.ca looks at the top five memorable ALCS moments involving the Angels or Yankees.
1. 2004 – Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees 4-3
Heartbreaking, thrilling, stunning. This ALCS became the first time in post-season baseball history that a club had come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game series. The Red Sox were three outs away from elimination in Game 4 when Dave Roberts reached base, stole second (barely touching the bag before being tagged) and was driven home by Bill Mueller to tie it off legendary closer Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning. Boston won it in the 12th on a walkoff home run by David Ortiz, who also drove in the winning run in extra innings in Game 4. Curt Schilling, displaying the famous “bloody sock” after surgery on his ankle, won Game 5, and the Yankees collapse was complete when they were routed 10-3 in their home ballpark in Game 7. The Red Sox went on to sweep the Cardinals for their first World Series in 86 years.
2. 2003 – Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3
While the Yankees collapsed in 2004, the previous year’s ALCS saw the curse of Babe Ruth loom large and loud for Red Sox fans again. At the centre of the series was Pedro Martinez. In Game 3, Yankees starter Roger Clemens threw a high pitch to Manny Ramirez and both benches cleared. Seventy-two-year-old New York bench coach Don Zimmer ran toward Martinez, swung at his head and missed, and then Martinez threw Zimmer to the ground. When Game 7 took place at Yankee Stadium, Martinez found himself with a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth and manager Grady Little decided to leave his ace in despite appearances he was tiring. By the end of the inning, the lead was gone and the game went to extras. In the bottom of the 11th, light-hitting Aaron Boone ripped the first pitch he saw for a towering game-winning home run to left field. And the “Curse of the Bambino” lived for one more year, while New York fell to the Florida Marlins in the Fall Classic.
3. 2002 – Angels beat the Minnesota Twins 4-1
On their way to their first-ever World Series appearance, the wild-card Angels upset the top-seeded Yankees in the division series to advance to the ALCS and face the Twins, who edged the Oakland Athletics in five games after winning the Central Division. The Twins won a pitchers’ duel at the Metrodome in Game 1, but that would be the only victory of the series for Minnesota. The Angels dominated the rest of the way, with the highlight for series MVP Adam Kennedy being the clinching Game 5. The light-hitting second baseman, with just seven home runs all season, hit three long balls in a 13-5 rout that sent Minnesota home for the year. The Angels went on to beat the San Francisco Giants in the first World Series featuring two wild-card teams, which included the rise of the “Rally Monkey” in the Angels’ Game 6 comeback in L.A.
4. 1996 – Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-1
Between 1996 and 2000, the Yankees won four World Series titles. But before this ALCS, the club hadn’t won a World Series since the Reggie Jackson years of 1977 and 1978. While the club would beat the Orioles in five games to head to their first Series in 18 years, Derek Jeter’s phantom home run in Game 1 makes this series one of the famous five. With the Yankees trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth, Jeter stepped to the plate and drove a fly ball to right field. Oriole outfielder Tony Tarasco backed up to the fence, but twelve-year-old Yankee fan Jeffrey Maier reached over and caught the ball before Tarasco could. The outfielder protested fan interference, but the umpires ruled it a home run, the Yankees had tied the game, and would win Game 1 in extra innings.
5. 1986 – Boston Red Sox beat the (California) Angels 4-3
A heart-breaking moment for Angels fans, made worse years later. Through four games, the Angels had taken a 3-1 series lead and led 5-2 heading into the ninth inning of Game 4. Starter Mike Witt was two outs away from his second complete game of the series when Don Baylor hit a two-run home run to bring the score to 5-4. Witt got the second out and was then replaced by reliever Gary Lucas, who promptly hit Rich Gedman. Angels closer Donnie Moore took the mound, and had two strikes on Dave Henderson but he sent a Moore forkball over left field for a 6-5 lead. While the Angels would tie it in the bottom of the ninth, they would lose in extras and lose the next two as well, falling in seven games to the Red Sox. On July 18, 1989 Moore would commit suicide, which some reports blamed on his inability to deal with the Game 5 collapse. Meanwhile, Boston would lose to the New York Mets in a World Series that is remembered simply for the famous error by Bill Buckner.
