Diamondbacks win World Series in dramatic fashion

By Ronnel Daniels
Norwich Guidon Sports Editor

After a season when Barry Bonds broke the homerun record with 73 and the Mariners set a new record for wins by a baseball club with 111 wins, the World Series brought us the greatest collective ninth-inning comeback in postseason history.

In what is being hailed as one of the most exciting World Series of all time, Luis Gonzalez hit an RBI single with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Arizona Diamondbacks a 3-2 Game 7 victory over the New York Yankees.

For the first time since 1997, there is a new World Champion. The Diamondbacks dethroned the mighty Yankees in a thrilling seven games.

In the ninth inning, the D-Backs snatched a fourth straight World Series Championship from the Yankees' unbeatable stopper Mariano Rivera.

With the series opening up in Arizona, the Diamondbacks took a 2-0 lead in the series behind the pitching of Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson.

After being dominated by Schilling and Johnson, both teams went to New York for game three, four and five; the Yankees had to regroup. They won game three by a score of 2-1.

In games four and five, baseball fans witnessed two ninth inning comebacks. In game four, down 3-1, the Yankees' Tino Martinez hit a two-run homerun that tied the game in the bottom on the ninth with two outs.

In the bottom of the tenth inning, Mr. November Derek Jeter hit the winning homerun that tied the series at 2-2.

In game five, the Yankees attacked the Diamondbacks with closer Byung-Hyun Kim again in the ninth inning. Scott Brosius saved the Yankees with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth, then Alfonso Soriano singled home the winning run in the bottom on the 12 inning to give New York a three to two game edge.

In games six and seven, the Diamondbacks outplayed the Yankees. They won game six by the score of 15-2, tying the series at 3.

Game seven set the stage for two Cy Young winner Curt Schilling and Roger Clemens to go at it. Schilling shut down the Yankees with only two runs.

Entering the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees thought that they had it won, but the Diamondbacks had their magic working, too.

Leading 2-1, Mark Grace led off with a single, and Rivera threw away Damian Miller's bunt for an error, putting runners at first and second.

Jay Bell bunted into a force play at third, but Womack lined a tying double to the right-field corner. Craig Counsell scored the tying run. With the infield in, Gonzalez hit it hard enough for a game-winning single that set off fireworks, pounding music, and deafening cheers.

The Yankees finished the seven-game epic with a putrid .183 batting average. They scored a total of 14 runs.

The Diamondbacks' ERA of 1.94 was the lowest in a World Series since the Reds' four-game sweep of Oakland in 1990.

The Yankees were two outs away from adding another championship to their winning streak, but because of the late-game heroics by Arizona, the torch has now been passed.

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