Infinite Cleveland

1997 World Series: Game 3
FLORIDA MARLINS @ CLEVELAND INDIANS
OCTOBER 21, 1997
TIMELINE 41
GAME LOG
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Florida Marlins 1 1 3 1 0 0 2 3 0 11 14 1
Cleveland Indians 0 0 2 0 0 4 0 0 0 6 7 1
Sheffield's Six-RBI Night Powers Florida Past Cleveland in Game 3
Gary Sheffield hit a baseball 412 feet into the rain in the third inning, and the rest of the evening was largely a formality dressed up as drama. In this forty-first arrangement of the familiar October Tuesday, Sheffield went three for four with six runs batted in, which is the sort of line that makes a box score look like a typographical error. His three-run home run off Charles Nagy, launched on a 2-1 pitch into the teeth of a twenty-five-mile wind, cleared the left-center wall at Jacobs Field and more or less cleared the suspense along with it.

More or less. Cleveland, being Cleveland, made a game of it in the sixth. Grissom's triple to right — a ball that carried down the line and kept rolling while two runners scored ahead of him — pulled the Indians within one, and for a few minutes the 44,880 hunched under the drizzle believed they were watching a story they had earned the right to finish. Felix Heredia's wild pitch brought Grissom home with the tying run, and the noise that rose through the wet air had the particular timbre of a city that has waited forty-nine years for something.

But Sheffield had been here before — or seemed to have been, in the way a man steps into a batting box with the settled ease of repetition. His double in the eighth, a rope to right on an 0-1 pitch, scored two more and settled matters at eleven to six. Bobby Bonilla's two-run homer in the seventh had already undone the tie, a 371-foot fly ball that the wind did not much trouble. Cleveland managed a single in the ninth — Vizquel, naturally, because certain men always have an answer even when there is no longer a question — and then it was over, and the rain kept falling on an empty diamond that looked, as always, like it was waiting for the next time.
FLORIDA 1997 BATTING LINESCORE CLEVELAND 1997 BATTING LINESCORE
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
E. Renteria SS 4 2 2 0 0 0 2 .500 0 0
J. Eisenreich LF 5 1 2 1 0 0 4 .400 0 1
M. Alou DH 4 2 1 1 1 0 2 .250 0 1
G. Sheffield RF 4 2 3 6 1 1 0 .750 1 6
B. Bonilla 3B 5 1 2 2 0 1 1 .400 1 2
D. Daulton 1B 5 0 1 0 0 2 2 .200 0 0
C. Johnson C 5 0 0 0 0 2 1 .000 0 0
D. White CF 4 2 3 0 1 0 0 .750 0 0
C. Counsell 2B 1 1 0 1 1 0 3 .000 0 1
Totals 37 11 14 11 4 6 15
BATTING
Doubles: G. Sheffield (1, 8th Inning off P. Assenmacher, 2 on, 2 outs) J. Eisenreich 2 (2, 3rd Inning off C. Nagy, 0 on, 0 outs; 4th Inning off E. Plunk, 1 on, 2 outs)
Home Runs: G. Sheffield (1, 3rd Inning off C. Nagy, 2 on, 0 outs) B. Bonilla (1, 7th Inning off A. Morman, 1 on, 1 out)
Total Bases: D. White 3 , G. Sheffield 7 , E. Renteria 2 , J. Eisenreich 4 , D. Daulton , B. Bonilla 5 , M. Alou
2-out RBI: , G. Sheffield 2 , J. Eisenreich , M. Alou
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: J. Eisenreich , D. Daulton , B. Bonilla , M. Alou
GIDP: C. Counsell
Sac Bunt: E. Renteria , C. Counsell
Sac Fly: C. Counsell
Team LOB: 6

BASERUNNING
SB: D. White (1) , E. Renteria (1)

FIELDING
Errors: B. Bonilla
Player AB R H RBI BB K LOB AVG HR RBI
O. Vizquel SS 5 1 3 0 0 1 1 .600 0 0
B. Roberts LF 4 0 0 0 1 1 4 .000 0 0
D. Justice DH 4 1 0 0 1 1 3 .000 0 0
S. Alomar Jr C 4 0 1 2 0 0 1 .250 0 2
J. Thome 1B 2 1 0 0 2 0 1 .000 0 0
M. Ramirez RF 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 .250 0 0
T. Fernandez 2B 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 .250 0 1
M. Williams 3B 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 .000 0 0
M. Grissom CF 4 1 1 2 0 0 0 .250 0 2
Totals 35 6 7 5 4 5 15
BATTING
Doubles: S. Alomar Jr (1, 3rd Inning off A. Leiter, 2 on, 2 outs) O. Vizquel (1, 6th Inning off F. Heredia, 0 on, 2 outs)
Triples: M. Grissom (1, 6th Inning off A. Leiter, 2 on, 2 outs)
Total Bases: S. Alomar Jr 2 , O. Vizquel 4 , M. Ramirez , M. Grissom 3 , T. Fernandez
2-out RBI: S. Alomar Jr , M. Grissom
Runners left in scoring position, 2 outs: M. Williams , J. Thome , B. Roberts , D. Justice
Team LOB: 5

BASERUNNING
SB: O. Vizquel 2 (2)

FIELDING
Errors: S. Alomar Jr
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 5.2 5 6 6 4 3 0 95 54 9.53
F. Heredia W (1-0), BS (1) 2.2 2 0 0 0 2 0 36 23 0.00
J. Powell 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 5 0.00
PITCHING
Game Score: A. Leiter 34
Batters Faced: A. Leiter 27, F. Heredia 10, J. Powell 2
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: A. Leiter 13-1, F. Heredia 4-2, J. Powell 1-1
Pitches - Strikes: A. Leiter 95-54, F. Heredia 36-23, J. Powell 10-5
Inherited Runners - Scored: F. Heredia 1-1 , J. Powell 1-0
WP: F. Heredia
Player IP H R ER BB K HR PI PS ERA
C. Nagy 3.0 7 5 4 1 2 1 65 41 12.00
E. Plunk 2.0 4 1 1 0 1 0 37 24 4.50
A. Morman L (0-1) 2.0 1 3 3 2 2 1 38 21 13.50
P. Assenmacher 2.0 2 2 2 1 1 0 34 20 9.00
PITCHING
Game Score: C. Nagy 26
Batters Faced: C. Nagy 17, E. Plunk 9, A. Morman 9, P. Assenmacher 9
Ground Outs - Fly Outs: C. Nagy 5-2, E. Plunk 3-1, A. Morman 3-1, P. Assenmacher 4-1
Pitches - Strikes: C. Nagy 65-41, E. Plunk 37-24, A. Morman 38-21, P. Assenmacher 34-20
Inherited Runners - Scored: E. Plunk 1-0 , A. Morman 1-0 , P. Assenmacher 1-1
GAME NOTES
Player of the Game: Gary Sheffield
Ballpark: Jacobs Field
Weather: Rainy (47 degrees F), 25 MPH wind (left to right)
Start Time: 8:24 PM EST
Time: 3:52
Attendance: 44,880