Infinite Cleveland

1997 World Series: Game 3
FLORIDA MARLINS @ CLEVELAND INDIANS
OCTOBER 21, 1997
TIMELINE 31
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Marlins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 7 1
Cleveland Indians 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 X 5 12 0
Nagy Cruises Into Eighth, Survives Marlins Scare; Cleveland Wins Game 3
For seven innings this was the quietest sort of dominance — Cleveland leading 5-0, Nagy cruising, the Florida lineup going through the motions like actors who have forgotten why they are on stage. Then the eighth inning arrived and the Marlins remembered, suddenly and all at once, that they were a baseball team. Craig Counsell cleared the bases with a double to right-center on a 2-1 count, the ball leaving his bat at 104 miles per hour and splitting the gap while three runners scored and 44,880 people went silent. Edgar Renteria singled home Counsell, and just like that it was 5-4, and the five-run lead that had seemed so permanent, so structural, had evaporated like breath in the October cold.

The runs that built that lead had come patiently in the fifth — Sandy Alomar Jr's first-pitch single scoring Grissom from third, Jim Thome grinding through a nine-pitch at-bat before singling to score Justice, Manny Ramirez reaching on a dropped throw at first that let Alomar score, Tony Fernandez lining one to right on 3-1 that brought Thome home from third. Four runs assembled from walks and singles and defensive mistakes, the kind of inning that feels inevitable rather than explosive. David Justice added one more in the sixth, singling home Grissom on the first pitch from Felix Heredia, and the game appeared to be over long before it actually was.

Michael Jackson entered for the ninth with one run of margin and immediately made it interesting — Moises Alou ripped a full-count double to right, the tying run in scoring position with nobody out. Sheffield grounded to first, advancing Alou to third. Bonilla struck out swinging. Then Jackson walked Daulton on 3-2, walked Johnson on 3-2, and the bases were loaded with two outs, the tying run still at third, the go-ahead run at second, and Devon White standing in the box representing everything Florida had left. Jackson threw a 2-2 fastball on the outside corner. White watched it pass. The umpire's strike-three call — a guttural bark that echoed off the grandstand walls and carried, it seemed, far beyond the confines of this single October night — left White frozen in the box, bat on his shoulder, staring at a pitch he will never get back, in a moment he has perhaps lived through before without knowing it.
FLORIDA 1997 BATTING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
E. Renteria SS 5 0 2 1 0 0 1 .400 0 1
J. Eisenreich LF 4 0 1 0 1 1 2 .250 0 0
M. Alou DH 5 0 1 0 0 2 4 .200 0 0
G. Sheffield RF 3 1 0 0 2 1 3 .000 0 0
B. Bonilla 3B 3 0 0 0 2 1 3 .000 0 0
D. Daulton 1B 4 1 2 0 1 0 2 .500 0 0
C. Johnson C 3 0 0 0 2 2 5 .000 0 0
D. White CF 4 1 0 0 1 3 8 .000 0 0
C. Counsell 2B 3 1 1 3 1 1 0 .333 0 3
Totals 34 4 7 4 10 11 28
BATTING
Doubles: D. Daulton (1, 8th Inning off A. Morman, 1 on, 1 out) C. Counsell (1, 8th Inning off A. Morman, 3 on, 2 outs) M. Alou (1, 9th Inning off M. Jackson, 0 on, 0 outs)
Total Bases: E. Renteria 2 , J. Eisenreich , D. Daulton 3 , C. Counsell 2 , M. Alou 2
2-out RBI: E. Renteria , C. Counsell
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: , D. White 4 , G. Sheffield
Team LOB: 12

BASERUNNING
SB: D. Daulton (1)

FIELDING
Errors: A. Leiter
Double Plays: 1 (Daulton-Renteria-Leiter)
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
O. Vizquel SS 4 0 1 0 0 1 2 .250 0 0
B. Roberts LF 4 0 2 0 1 0 2 .500 0 0
D. Justice DH 3 1 2 1 2 1 0 .667 0 1
S. Alomar Jr C 5 1 2 1 0 1 6 .400 0 1
J. Thome 1B 5 1 1 1 0 3 7 .200 0 1
M. Ramirez RF 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .250 0 0
T. Fernandez 2B 4 0 2 1 0 0 1 .500 0 1
M. Williams 3B 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .000 0 0
M. Grissom CF 2 2 1 0 2 1 1 .500 0 0
Totals 35 5 12 4 5 8 24
BATTING
Total Bases: S. Alomar Jr 2 , O. Vizquel , J. Thome , B. Roberts 2 , M. Ramirez , D. Justice 2 , M. Grissom , T. Fernandez 2
2-out RBI: S. Alomar Jr , J. Thome , T. Fernandez
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: M. Williams , O. Vizquel , J. Thome 3 , M. Ramirez
GIDP: B. Roberts
Sac Bunt: O. Vizquel
Team LOB: 12

BASERUNNING
SB: B. Roberts (1)
FLORIDA 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 PITCHING LINESCORE
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
A. Leiter L (0-1) 5.0 8 4 2 3 4 0 110 66 3.60
F. Heredia 1.1 2 1 1 2 2 0 29 14 6.75
J. Powell 1.2 2 0 0 0 2 0 18 13 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: A. Leiter 40
Batters Faced: A. Leiter 26, F. Heredia 8, J. Powell 7
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: A. Leiter 2-8, F. Heredia 1-1, J. Powell 0-3
Pitches - Strikes: A. Leiter 110-66, F. Heredia 29-14, J. Powell 18-13
Inherited Runners - Scored: J. Powell 1-0
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
C. Nagy W (1-0) 5.0 2 0 0 6 5 0 101 54 0.00
E. Plunk 2.0 1 1 1 1 4 0 34 18 4.50
A. Morman 0.2 3 3 3 1 0 0 19 8 40.50
P. Assenmacher H (1) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0.00
M. Jackson SV (1) 1.0 1 0 0 2 2 0 34 17 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: C. Nagy 62
Batters Faced: C. Nagy 23, E. Plunk 8, A. Morman 6, P. Assenmacher 1, M. Jackson 6
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: C. Nagy 3-7, E. Plunk 2-0, A. Morman 0-2, P. Assenmacher 0-1, M. Jackson 1-0
Pitches - Strikes: C. Nagy 101-54, E. Plunk 34-18, A. Morman 19-8, P. Assenmacher 2-1, M. Jackson 34-17
Inherited Runners - Scored: E. Plunk 1-0 , A. Morman 1-1 , P. Assenmacher 1-0
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Charles Nagy
Ballpark: Jacobs Field
Weather: Rainy (47 degrees F), 25 MPH wind (left to right)
Start Time: 8:24 PM EST
Time: 3:58
Attendance: 44,880