Infinite Cleveland

1997 World Series: Game 3
FLORIDA MARLINS @ CLEVELAND INDIANS
OCTOBER 21, 1997
TIMELINE 21
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Marlins 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 10 1
Cleveland Indians 9 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 11 13 0
Leiter KO'd in First as Indians Erupt for Nine; Cleveland Wins Game 3
Al Leiter threw four balls to Omar Vizquel and the evening was over. Not officially — there were still eight and a half innings to play, and 44,880 paying customers to keep in their seats — but the first inning produced nine Cleveland runs on eight hits, and what followed was three hours of paperwork. Leiter's final line read two-thirds of an inning, five hits, seven runs, twenty-seven pitches. the cold air causing his pitches to break all wrong and bounce in the dirt, the ball squirting past the catcher on pitch after pitch, making a major league mound look like lane 12 at the West Side Lanes. The 'Boooooooooooowliiiiiiiiiiiiiing' chant, last heard in an earlier telling of this night, resurfaced from a group behind the Florida dugout pantomiming the follow-through. Leiter trudged off looking like a man who had shown up in his bowling shoes and only just realized it.

The damage came in a single unbroken wave. Roberts doubled. Alomar singled. Thome singled. Ramirez singled. The bases loaded, and Marquis Grissom doubled into the right-center gap to clear them — three runners rounding in procession, Gary Sheffield's throw arriving at each base a half-step late. That made it 6-1 before Leiter left. Heredia inherited the wreckage and expanded it: Vizquel singled home Grissom, Justice singled home Vizquel, Roberts scored on another Alomar single. Nine runs. Cleveland batted around. The inning ended only because Ramirez, perhaps bored, struck out swinging.

Charles Nagy, handed a gift the size of a small building, did the professional thing and kept it. Six innings, six hits, two runs, no walks. Florida collected ten hits on the night and stranded ten runners, which is the arithmetic of a team going through the motions against an eight-run deficit in the rain. The Marlins' bats moved. Nothing came of it.

In some shufflings of this particular deck the game goes nine hard innings. In this one it barely went one. The twenty-first time is not always the charm — sometimes it is simply the rout.
FLORIDA 1997 BATTING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
E. Renteria SS 4 1 2 0 1 1 0 .500 0 0
J. Eisenreich LF 5 0 3 0 0 0 1 .600 0 0
M. Alou DH 5 1 2 1 0 2 6 .400 0 1
G. Sheffield RF 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 0 0
B. Bonilla 3B 3 0 1 0 1 2 1 .333 0 0
D. Daulton 1B 4 0 1 1 0 0 3 .250 0 1
C. Johnson C 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 .000 0 0
D. White CF 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .250 0 0
C. Counsell 2B 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0 0
Totals 36 2 10 2 3 7 22
BATTING
Doubles: M. Alou (1, 4th Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 0 outs)
Total Bases: D. White , E. Renteria 2 , J. Eisenreich 3 , D. Daulton , B. Bonilla , M. Alou 3
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: D. White , D. Daulton , M. Alou
GIDP: C. Counsell
Team LOB: 10

BASERUNNING
SB: E. Renteria (1)

FIELDING
Errors: D. White
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
O. Vizquel SS 4 3 2 1 2 0 1 .500 0 1
B. Roberts LF 4 2 2 1 1 0 1 .500 0 1
D. Justice DH 5 0 2 2 0 1 3 .400 0 2
S. Alomar Jr C 3 1 2 2 1 0 0 .667 0 2
J. Thome 1B 4 1 1 1 1 1 5 .250 0 1
M. Ramirez RF 4 1 1 1 1 3 3 .250 0 1
T. Fernandez 2B 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 .200 0 0
M. Williams 3B 3 2 1 0 2 0 2 .333 0 0
M. Grissom CF 5 1 1 3 0 1 4 .200 0 3
Totals 37 11 13 11 8 6 22
BATTING
Doubles: B. Roberts (1, 1st Inning off A. Leiter, 1 on, 0 outs) M. Grissom (1, 1st Inning off A. Leiter, 3 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: S. Alomar Jr 2 , M. Williams , O. Vizquel 2 , J. Thome , B. Roberts 3 , M. Ramirez , D. Justice 2 , M. Grissom 2 , T. Fernandez
2-out RBI: S. Alomar Jr , O. Vizquel , B. Roberts , D. Justice 2 , M. Grissom
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: , J. Thome 2 , M. Ramirez , M. Grissom 2
Hit by Pitch: S. Alomar Jr
Team LOB: 10

BASERUNNING
SB: O. Vizquel (1)

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Vizquel-Fernandez-Thome)
FLORIDA 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
A. Leiter L (0-1) 0.2 5 7 7 2 0 0 27 13 94.50
F. Heredia 1.0 5 4 4 4 1 0 45 19 36.00
T. Saunders 4.1 2 0 0 2 3 0 55 35 0.00
L. Hernandez 2.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 19 16 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: A. Leiter 4
Batters Faced: A. Leiter 9, F. Heredia 12, T. Saunders 18, L. Hernandez 7
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: A. Leiter 0-2, F. Heredia 0-2, T. Saunders 5-5, L. Hernandez 2-2
Pitches - Strikes: A. Leiter 27-13, F. Heredia 45-19, T. Saunders 55-35, L. Hernandez 19-16
Inherited Runners - Scored: F. Heredia 1-1 , T. Saunders 2-0
WP: T. Saunders 2
Hit Batsmen: T. Saunders
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
C. Nagy W (1-0) 6.0 6 2 2 0 5 0 96 64 3.00
E. Plunk 2.1 3 0 0 2 1 0 41 23 0.00
A. Morman 0.2 1 0 0 1 1 0 16 7 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: C. Nagy 57
Batters Faced: C. Nagy 24, E. Plunk 11, A. Morman 4
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: C. Nagy 3-10, E. Plunk 1-4, A. Morman 1-0
Pitches - Strikes: C. Nagy 96-64, E. Plunk 41-23, A. Morman 16-7
Inherited Runners - Scored: A. Morman 1-0
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Omar Vizquel
Ballpark: Jacobs Field
Weather: Rainy (47 degrees F), 25 MPH wind (left to right)
Start Time: 8:24 PM EST
Time: 3:33
Attendance: 44,880