TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Game 7 Has A Magic All Its Own

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOEY JOHNSTON

jjohnston@tampatrib.com

Published: October 20, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - For the 48th time in history, baseball's postseason had a Game 7 to celebrate.

As the Rays battled the Boston Red Sox deep into Sunday night, even when no one could predict where the American League Championship Series was ultimately headed, one thing was clear.

The outcome - and the aftermath - would be remembered.

That's the magic of Game 7.

It's about Luis Gonzalez, jumping in glee, watching his bloop single falling in safely, knowing that a boyhood fantasy had been fulfilled.

It's about Bill Mazeroski, striking a dramatic blow for the Pittsburgh Pirates - and immortality.

It's about Steve Blass, Joe Morgan and Sandy Koufax.

It's about Aaron Boone, Yadier Molina and Francisco Cabrera.

Game 7 also exists in basketball and hockey. NBA fans never will tire of Willis Reed, hobbling into Madison Square Garden, inspiring a championship effort simply with his presence. The NHL has the iconic image of Raymond Borque finally raising the Stanley Cup.

And how can Tampa Bay fans forget 2004, when the Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 to win the franchise's only championship.

But Game 7 was made for baseball.

For decades, there was just the World Series. Even when the National and American Leagues split into divisions in 1969, the early playoff rounds were best-of-five affairs. Sometimes, they went by in a flukish flash.

But when baseball made the ALCS and NLCS into best-of-seven rounds in 1985, another layer of drama was added.

Gonzalez, the former Jefferson High player and outfielder for the Arizona Diamondbacks, knows he never will forget his moment in the 2001 World Series.

The Diamondbacks had just tied the New York Yankees in the ninth inning of Game 7. The bases were loaded. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was on the mound. Up stepped Gonzalez, who had always dreamed of being in such a situation.

In those dreams, he always hit a home run.

This time, it was a bloop single.

"There's no feeling like it," Gonzalez would say later. "Everyone should experience something like that once in their life."

Mazeroski knows the feeling, too. At the 1960 World Series, his ninth-inning solo homer lifted the Pirates past the Yankees 10-9 in Game 7. He was one of the best second basemen of his generation. He was an eight-time All-Star. In 2001, he was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame.

Still, if you mention Bill Mazeroski, one thing comes to mind: the home run in Game 7.

"At that moment, I thought I had hit a home run to win a game and end the World Series," Mazeroski once said. "I had no idea it was something people would still be talking about years and years later. No idea."

That's the story of Game 7.

It matters.

And it lasts forever.

Sunday night, the Rays and Red Sox got to experience that magic.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT