"There are people in Cleveland who have been waiting for this since 1948. And there are people in Florida who have been waiting for this since Thursday." - Bob Costas at some point during the World Series. Baseball 93rd World Series pitted the old School Cleveland Indians vs the new School Florida Marlins (fastest expansion team to reach the WS). And the Game 1 matchup (played in Miami) mirrored it. 39 year old Orel Hershisher faced 22-year old Livan Hernandez. Coming off his 15 strikeout performance in the NLCS, Livan picked up where he left off and pitched 5 1/3 strong innings while Hershiser struggled in the 4th. Moises Alou belted a three-run HR to snap the 1 all tie. Charles Johnson followed suit and the Marlins won Game 1, 7-4. Game 2 saw Chad Ogea outpitch Kevin Brown. The latter surrendered six runs in six innings, capped on a two-run shot by Sandy Alomar in the 6th. Ogea allowed only one run in his outing as the Tribe evened it up with a 6-1 score. The series now shifted from the tropical heat of Florida to the bone-chilling cold of Cleveland. Playing in frigid conditions, including a 23-degree wind chill, Game 3 was a test of survival. Jim Thome's home run helped Cleveland take 7-3 lead after 5. But the Marlins rallied to tie the game two innings later. Then, in the top of the 9th, things got REALLY ugly for the Tribe, as the Marlins took advantage of three Indians' errors in a 7-run top half. But Robb Nen struggled through a 43 pitch bottom half, giving up 4 runs before getting the final out and a 14-11 win. It was not a pretty game to say the least, but the Marlins will take it to grab a 2-1 lead in games. Game 4 was a comfortable one.......if you're Santa Claus. At 38 degrees, the coldest World Series game ever, the Indians' bats caught fire. Manny Ramirez's two-run shot in the 1st got the scoring started. More than enough for 21 year old rookie Jaret Wright, who went 6 solid innings, and the Tribe evened the series with a 10-3 route. In Game 5, Moises Alou burned Hershiser again with a three-run home run in the 6th to overturn a 4-2 Indians' lead. The Marlins led, 8-4, after eight as Livan Hernandez pitched solidly again. But the Indians scored three in the bottom of the 9th to close the gap to 8-7 before Nen got Sandy Alomar to fly out to end the game and put the Marlins up three games to two. Now, the series shifts back to sunny Florida for the conclusion of the World Series.
4:01 Amazing play by Bonilla. But safe 4:10 Rob Nenn striking out Thome in game 1 on a 102 MPH fastball 9:53 ANOTHER AMAZING play by Bonilla. Reminds me somewhat of the Caminiti third base play
For all four home games at Pro Player Stadium in Miami Gardens, for this World Series the attendance was over 67,000 . For Game One it was 67,245. For Game Two it was 67,025 with many fans seating in sections where they could not see the entire playing field. Game 6's attendance of 67,498 was the highest single-game attendance for the World Series since Game 5 of the 1959 World Series, when 92,706 people filled the football-oriented Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Game 7's was on Sunday October 26 The attendance was 67,204.
That game 3 in this 1997 WS was similar to the game 4 of the 1993 WS between Phillies-Toronto Game 3 and Game 5 were rough home losses for Cleveland, falling short of the comeback both games
With game 3-4-5 being played in Cleveland, the Indians become the first team since the 1977 Yankees to host the All-Star-Game AND be one of the two teams to host the World Series in the same season. I can just imagine the fans FREEZING in that game 3 in the stands, specially those in the upper deck. Football and baseball games should not be played on very cold or very windy weather, or rainy or snow weather. Sandy Alomar is having an AMAZING 97 posteason and regular season. UNREAL That game 3, specially the 9th inning, both top and bottom, was just CRAZY
