Infinite Cleveland

1997 World Series: Game 3
FLORIDA MARLINS @ CLEVELAND INDIANS
OCTOBER 21, 1997
TIMELINE 25
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Florida Marlins 0 2 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 3 10 10 1
Cleveland Indians 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 7 9 2
Alou Homers Twice as Florida Wins Game 3 in 11 Innings
Eleven innings on an October night, and by the end the game had passed through so many shapes — pitchers' battle, slugfest, comeback, collapse — that it hardly resembled the thing it had been two hours earlier. Florida 10, Cleveland 7, the final score of a game that was tied at seven entering the eleventh and had been tied, at various moments, three separate times. Moises Alou hit two solo home runs off Charles Nagy, both on full counts, the first a 364-foot fly ball to left in the third and the second a towering 410-foot shot to the gap in the sixth, and it was Alou's evening in the way that certain players simply insist upon a night until the game relents. One had the sense he had lived through this particular Tuesday before, had found the seam in Nagy's delivery from memory rather than from sight.

Cleveland trailed 7-4 entering the bottom of the ninth and appeared finished. Then Omar Vizquel doubled off Robb Nen on the second pitch he saw, Bip Roberts lined a single to left, David Justice struck out swinging, and Sandy Alomar Jr ripped a double into the left-center gap at 103 miles per hour, scoring Vizquel and advancing Roberts to third. Jim Thome struck out on a full count — the crowd's roar dying mid-throat — but Manny Ramirez singled to right on an 0-1 pitch, and both Roberts and Alomar scored when the throw home from right field arrived a half-step late. Seven-all. The ballpark shook with the force of 44,880 people who believed they had witnessed the decisive moment.

They had not. The tenth passed in silence — six outs, no hits — and then in the eleventh Jose Mesa's command abandoned him entirely. Jim Eisenreich reached when Mesa dropped a throw at first, Alou worked a thirteen-pitch walk that seemed to last longer than some of the earlier innings combined, and Kurt Abbott blooped a single to shallow right that scored Eisenreich from third. Then Alou stole third and the throw from Alomar sailed into left field, scoring Alou and sending Abbott to third, from where he tagged on Daulton's fly to right. Three runs on one hit and two errors — the game ending not with a swing but with the slow accumulation of small failures, the way these things sometimes do when the night has gone on too long and the cold has settled into everyone's hands.
FLORIDA 1997 BATTING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
E. Renteria SS 6 1 0 0 0 2 3 .000 0 0
J. Eisenreich LF 4 2 0 0 2 1 3 .000 0 0
M. Alou DH 4 3 2 2 2 1 3 .500 2 2
G. Sheffield RF 4 2 2 2 1 1 1 .500 0 2
a- K. Abbott 3B 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1.000 0 1
B. Bonilla 3B, RF 5 0 0 0 1 1 4 .000 0 0
D. Daulton 1B 5 1 2 3 0 0 2 .400 0 3
C. Johnson C 5 0 2 1 1 2 1 .400 0 1
D. White CF 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 0 0
C. Counsell 2B 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 .200 0 0
Totals 43 10 10 9 7 8 21
a - K. Abbott substituted for G. Sheffield in the 9th

BATTING
Doubles: G. Sheffield 2 (2, 2nd Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 0 outs; 7th Inning off P. Assenmacher, 2 on, 2 outs) D. Daulton (1, 6th Inning off C. Nagy, 1 on, 2 outs)
Triples: D. Daulton (1, 2nd Inning off C. Nagy, 1 on, 1 out)
Home Runs: M. Alou 2 (2, 3rd Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 2 outs; 6th Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 1 out)
Total Bases: G. Sheffield 4 , C. Johnson 2 , D. Daulton 5 , C. Counsell , M. Alou 8 , K. Abbott
2-out RBI: G. Sheffield , D. Daulton , M. Alou
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: D. White , J. Eisenreich , B. Bonilla
GIDP: M. Alou
Sac Fly: D. Daulton
Hit by Pitch: D. White
Team LOB: 9

BASERUNNING
SB: G. Sheffield (1) , E. Renteria (1) , M. Alou (1) , K. Abbott (1)

FIELDING
Errors: B. Bonilla
PB: C. Johnson
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
O. Vizquel SS 6 1 1 1 0 1 3 .167 0 1
B. Roberts LF 6 1 1 0 0 2 4 .167 0 0
D. Justice DH 4 0 0 0 2 2 3 .000 0 0
S. Alomar Jr C 6 2 3 1 0 0 1 .500 0 1
J. Thome 1B 5 0 0 0 0 2 6 .000 0 0
M. Ramirez RF 3 2 1 2 2 1 1 .333 0 2
T. Fernandez 2B 5 1 2 2 0 1 2 .400 0 2
M. Williams 3B 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 0 0
M. Grissom CF 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 .333 0 1
Totals 43 7 9 7 6 9 23
BATTING
Doubles: S. Alomar Jr (1, 9th Inning off R. Nen, 2 on, 1 out) O. Vizquel (1, 9th Inning off R. Nen, 0 on, 0 outs) M. Grissom (1, 2nd Inning off A. Leiter, 1 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: S. Alomar Jr 4 , O. Vizquel 2 , B. Roberts , M. Ramirez , M. Grissom 2 , T. Fernandez 2
2-out RBI: M. Ramirez , M. Grissom , T. Fernandez
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: O. Vizquel , J. Thome , B. Roberts
Team LOB: 8

BASERUNNING
SB: T. Fernandez (1)

FIELDING
Errors: S. Alomar Jr , J. Mesa
Double Plays: 1 (Nagy-Vizquel-Thome)
PB: S. Alomar Jr
FLORIDA 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
A. Leiter 5.0 5 4 4 5 3 0 109 59 7.20
F. Heredia H (1) 3.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 36 21 0.00
R. Nen W (1-0), BS (1) 3.0 4 3 3 0 4 0 41 29 9.00
PITCHING
Game Score: A. Leiter 39
Batters Faced: A. Leiter 26, F. Heredia 10, R. Nen 13
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: A. Leiter 6-6, F. Heredia 2-5, R. Nen 3-2
Pitches - Strikes: A. Leiter 109-59, F. Heredia 36-21, R. Nen 41-29
WP: A. Leiter
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
C. Nagy 5.2 6 5 5 2 3 2 102 61 7.94
E. Plunk 0.2 0 2 0 2 1 0 27 14 0.00
P. Assenmacher 1.0 2 0 0 0 2 0 22 15 0.00
A. Morman 0.2 1 0 0 1 0 0 21 13 0.00
M. Jackson 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0.00
J. Mesa L (0-1) 1.1 0 2 0 1 2 0 29 21 0.00
J. Wright 0.2 1 1 0 1 0 0 12 7 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: C. Nagy 38
Batters Faced: C. Nagy 24, E. Plunk 5, P. Assenmacher 6, A. Morman 4, M. Jackson 3, J. Mesa 6, J. Wright 4
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: C. Nagy 7-6, E. Plunk 0-2, P. Assenmacher 0-1, A. Morman 2-0, M. Jackson 1-2, J. Mesa 2-0, J. Wright 0-2
Pitches - Strikes: C. Nagy 102-61, E. Plunk 27-14, P. Assenmacher 22-15, A. Morman 21-13, M. Jackson 4-4, J. Mesa 29-21, J. Wright 12-7
Inherited Runners - Scored: E. Plunk 1-0 , P. Assenmacher 2-2 , A. Morman 2-0 , M. Jackson 1-0 , J. Wright 2-2
WP: P. Assenmacher
Hit Batsmen: P. Assenmacher
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Moises Alou
Ballpark: Jacobs Field
Weather: Rainy (47 degrees F), 25 MPH wind (left to right)
Start Time: 8:24 PM EST
Time: 4:46
Attendance: 44,880