Game One

By Robert Nishihara

And then there were two.

One is the most storied franchise in the sport with an unparalled history of success and riches. The other is a baseball newborn with little in its limited history to distinguish it.

And the two teams playing for the 2003 World Series title couldn't have two more different forces driving them toward a championship.

The New York Yankees expect to win. In fact, they have won so often that each subsequent triumph is little more than an added trinket to an already overflowing victory chest. Their past is punctuated by the biggest names in the game's history, a lineage built on the broad shoulders of Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio and Mantle. They are the Roman Army on the move, a menacing unstoppable force coolly efficient and merciless in victory. And they play in a city with the biggest swagger on the planet, a city that will not accept anything other than the Yankees continuing their long history of success.

In contrast, the Florida Marlins are playing for today. They are a young team riding a huge wave of momentum. They sent the 100-win San Francisco Giants home with two breathtaking late inning victories and then felled the long-suffering Chicago Cubs by winning three straight, the last two at rollicking Wrigley Field against two of the hottest playoff pitchers around, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. They have become one of baseball's most improbable stories in 2003, defying seemingly incalculable odds at every defining moment.

So, it's the Goliath of all Goliath's vs. Twenty-Five guys trying to reload their slingshots to bring yet another bigger, stronger opponent tumbling to the ground.

And in Game One of the 2003 World Series, score one for the little guys with the slingshots.

The 100th version of baseball's Fall Classic opened with plenty of unexpected twists and turns.

On paper, a David Wells-Brad Penny pitching match-up looked like a horrible mismatch.  Wells entered Game One with a sparkling 1.76 ERA and a 2-0 record in the 2003 postseason (and an even more impressive 10-2 career postseason record).  Meanwhile, his opposite number, Florida's Brad Penny, had been awful in the playoffs.  Quite frankly, Penny's previous playoff starts had been worth about that much.  His ERA was a bloated 10.24, and he had temporarily lost his spot in the rotation when Florida skipper Jack McKeon bumped him in favor of Carl Pavano in Game 6 of the NLCS.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Bronx.

Someone apparently forgot to remind Brad Penny that he was supposed to stink.  The team that wasn't supposed to be there, the team that was supposed to be cowed by the likes of Barry Bonds, Mark Prior, Wrigley Field, and Yankee Stadium ended up being the team that took its game to the opposition and then watched the other team make enough small mistakes to cost them.

And Florida didn't wait long to put its brand of baseball on display.  In the top of the first, Marlin leadoff man Juan Pierre dropped a perfect drag bunt to the right side for a hit.  Luis Castillo followed with a bloop single that barely cleared the infield but chased the speedy Pierre all the way to third.  Florida's postseason rock, Ivan Rodriguez, was next, and he delivered again, lifting a sacrifice fly to center to plate Pierre.  The RBI was Rodriguez's seventeenth of the 2003 postseason, and the Marlins had an early 1-0 lead.

The Yankees evened the score in the third, but if not for a costly mistake and a controversial ruling might have taken the lead.  Karim Garcia, he of the Pedro incident and the bullpen brouhaha in Boston, looped a lazy flare to left.  However, rookie Miguel Cabrera, with little experience in the outfield, got a poor jump on the ball and when he tried to make a sliding catch the ball bounced away from him.  Garcia alertly hustled to second on the play.  After a Rafael Soriano ground out, Nick Johnson drew a walk. 

With Derek Jeter up and runners on first and second with one out, Florida's Penny dropped the ball on the mound for an apparent balk (which would have sent the runners to second and third).  However, home plate umpire Randy Marsh ruled that time had been called and that the dropped ball wasn't a balk since it didn't happen in active play.  So, when Jeter lined a single to center, Garcia was the only runner to score with Johnson stopping at third.

Bernie Williams had only driven in five runs in the 2003 postseason coming into the game, and he followed Jeter's clutch single by popping out to shallow left unable to bring Johnson home.  With Hideki Matsui up next, Florida catcher Rodriguez made, perhaps, the biggest defensive play of the game.  After Penny's first pitch, Rodriguez gunned the ball to third to pick off Johnson who was caught completely off-guard.

The Marlins struck again in the fifth.  After Jeff Conine walked and Juan Encarncion singled, shortstop Alex Gonzalez bunted the runners over to put the pair in scoring position with one out.  Leadoff man Pierre, whose bunt single in the first had lead to Florida's first run, delivered again with a liner to left.  Conine scored easily but left fielder Matsui's throw which appeared to be on line with a chance to beat Encarnacion to the plate was cutoff by Yankee third baseman Aaron Boone who chose to gun the ball to first to try to nail Pierre after an aggressive turn.  Pierre dove back to the bag and was safe, while Encarnacion scored Florida's third run of the game uncontested.

In the New York fifth, Bernie Williams redeemed himself for his missed RBI opportunity in the third.  Williams hit a long solo homer to right center to cut the Florida lead to 3-2.  With one out and a runner on, Penny was taken out in favor of rookie phenom Dontrelle Willis who closed out the inning.  Penny's final line: 5 1/3 IP, 7 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 k's, and 3 walks.

Wells exited an inning later, and his line was nearly as efficient: 7 IP, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 1k, and 2 walks.

From there, it was a duel between the bullpens.  The Yankees offered up Jeff Nelson, who warded off the distraction of lingering talk of the bullpen brouhaha in Boston, to pitch a scoreless inning, and Jose Contreras, the hard throwing Cuban veteran.  Contreras was also effective in his inning of work, allowing only a two-out walk to Pierre.

Florida countered with Willis, whose struggles in the postseason were puzzling in contrast to a brilliant regular season, and closer Ugueth Urbina.  Willis was sparkling in 2 2/3 innings of work, allowing two hits and no runs while striking out a pair.  Urbina snuffed out a rally in the 8th by striking out Jorge Posada, but got himself into trouble in the 9th by walking Jason Giambi.

With no out and a runner on first (Giambi being replaced by pinch-runner David Delluci), Yankee manager Joe Torre instructed Aaron Boone, the hero in the ALCS with the walk-off Game 7 homer, to bunt.  However, Torre took the bunt sign off after a couple of pitches and Boone flied harmlessly to right.  Pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra followed with a walk.  After Soriano struck out looking on a nasty 3-2 changeup, Johnson stepped up desperate to redeem himself for the pick-off play earlier in the game.  With two on and two out, Johnson did not find redemption, flying out to center to end the game.

Florida 3, New York 2.

Of course, there is a lot of baseball left to be played before the 2003 World Series is decided.  However, the Florida Marlins have to feel pretty good about Game One.  Their speed killed, the D-Train steamed back on the tracks, and their weakest link ended up not looking quite so weak after all.

The New York Yankees, on the other hand, must retrace their steps and figure out a way to minimize the mistakes they made in Game One: sloppy baserunning, errant cutoff plays, and a failure to move runners effectively.

Like I said, score one for the little guys with the slingshots.

But as one former Yankee was fond of saying, "It ain't over 'till it's over."  And this one's a long way from being over.