Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993 TAG: 9310210242
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Long
And then it all came apart for the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Toronto Blue Jays somehow hung on long enough for Mitch Williams to appear in the midnight mist at Veterans Stadium, and they whacked him. Devon White's two-run triple capped a six-run rally in the eighth inning for a 15-14 victory Wednesday and a 3-1 lead in the World Series.
The Blue Jays won the highest-scoring of 779 postseason games and moved to one victory from becoming the first World Series champions to repeat since the 1977-78 New York Yankees.
Toronto will try to win it tonight when Juan Guzman pitches against Curt Schilling.
How Toronto won the longest nine-inning game in series history - 4 hours, 14 minutes - may have been hard for the Blue Jays to believe, but it was probably even harder for the 62,731 fans to stomach.
The crowd sat through a rain that did not stop and saw their team start fast. Lenny Dykstra homered twice, doubled and tied a Series record by scoring four runs and Milt Thompson drove in five as the Phillies built a 12-7 lead after five innings.
But on a night when everyone looked like a designated hitter - Blue Jays designated hitter Paul Molitor was back in the lineup, at third base - the big edge was not enough.
Toronto became the third team to overcome a five-run deficit in the Series, doing it against the Phillies' struggling bullpen. The Blue Jays scored twice in the sixth against David West and won it against Larry Andersen and Williams.
Trailing 14-9 in the eighth, Joe Carter singled with one out, John Olerud - back after being benched to make room for Molitor - walked and Molitor hit a hard grounder that skipped past third baseman Dave Hollins for a two-base error and a run.
That meant it was time for Williams, who had two wins and three saves, albeit shaky almost each time, in the Phillies' five postseason wins.
Williams, however, finally left Philadelphia in a hole from which it could not recover.
Tony Fernandez met Williams with a single for his fifth RBI of the game and ninth of the Series, and Pat Borders walked to load the bases.
Pinch hitter Ed Sprague struck out, but Rickey Henderson lined a two-run single to center and White followed with a drive that seemed to bounce endlessly into the right-center field gap.
Tony Castillo was the winner and Duane Ward got the last four outs for his second save of the Series. Williams was the loser.
The 29 runs shattered the Series record of 22 set in Game 2 in 1936 when the New York Yankees beat the New York Giants 18-4.
Each time Toronto scored, Dykstra rallied the Phillies. He drew the first of Stottlemyre's four walks in the first inning - tying a World Series record - and came home when Jim Eisenreich walked with the bases loaded. Thompson followed with a triple for a 4-3 lead.
Dykstra homered in the second after a single by Tommy Greene for a 6-3 edge. His hit got the Blue Jays bullpen stirring, finally.
After the Blue Jays scored four times in the third, capped by Devon White's two-run single, Dykstra doubled with two outs in the fourth and scored on Mariano Duncan's single for a tie at 7.
Dykstra and Daulton each lined two-run homers during a five-run fifth off Al Leiter. Power hitter Dave Hollins began the burst with a bunt single, the first ball Molitor had to handle, and Daulton connected.
Eisenreich also bunted for a single toward the right side and scored on Thompson's sliced double to left. With two outs, Dykstra hit a drive through the drizzle into the right-field seats for a 12-7 lead.
Later in the inning, the cheers for the Phillies turned to jeers for the Blue Jays. Manager Cito Gaston went to the mound for a pitching change, and right-hander Mark Eichhorn trotted in. But when he got there, Gaston said he wanted the left-handed Castillo instead.
Castillo had not been warming up, however, and Gaston said it was because his phone from the dugout to the bullpen was broken. After a brief discussion between the umpires and managers, Castillo was given as much time as he needed to get ready, and the groundskeepers took advantage of the 10-minute break and tried to dry the damp dirt areas.
Greene, who pitched the clincher for the Phillies in the playoffs, became the second straight Philadelphia starter to give up three runs in the first inning. Rickey Henderson led off with a double, leading later to a bases-loaded walk to Molitor with two outs and a two-run single by Fernandez.
Fernandez and Pat Borders hit RBI singles in the third as Toronto took a 7-6 lead and finished Greene. Reliever Roger Mason pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings before Toronto continued West's troubles.
West started the sixth and gave up a double to White and an RBI single to Roberto Alomar. At that point, West had faced 10 batters in World Series games with Minnesota and Philadelphia and allowed six hits and four walks.
The Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out and Fernandez got in one run with a grounder. Fernandez's nine RBI are the most by any shortstop in a World Series.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB