The 2005 World Series

The Giants were eight outs from taking home their first World Series in nearly half a century Saturday night, but the bullpen could not record those outs when it had to.
Sunday evening, with the season on the line, neither could Livan Hernandez.

The San Francisco starting pitcher retired just six Anaheim hitters and lost for the second time in the Fall Classic as the Anaheim Angels were crowned world champions following a 4-1 victory in the Series finale. The loss, compounded exponentially by the late-inning, five-run lead squandered Saturday, was the fourth in as many attempts for the Giants' franchise in winner-take-all contests.

Monday Tribute



Despite losing in Game 7 of the World Series, the Giants still plan to hold a tribute to the players in the early afternoon Monday. The team will fly back to San Francisco in the morning and an event is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT at Pacific Bell Park, where gates will be open to the public.


"Your heart is heavy and your stomach is empty," said manager Dusty Baker minutes after he carried his sobbing 3-year old son, Darren, from the dugout. "Your head and your brains feel full right now. It's a very difficult time."

It took a heaven-sent blend of superb pitching, dazzling defense and timely hitting by the Angels, but stated simply, the Giants left their hearts in San Francisco. After taking a 3-2 lead in the Series at home and a 5-0 lead into the seventh inning of Game 6, the team was outscored 10-1 in the final 12 innings as the Angels captured their first world championship. It was the eighth consecutive time that a do-or-die seventh game was won by the home team dating back to 1982.

"We're disappointed, but while today could have been one of the happiest days of our life, it just happened to be one of the proudest," said general manager Brian Sabean. "We're the National League champions, we're the second standing and maybe it would've been different if Game 7 might have been back there at Pac Bell [Park]."

GAME 7: ANGELS 4, GIANTS 1

Key moment: Kenny Lofton lofts a fly ball to center field with two on and two out in the ninth inning and Darin Erstad hauls it in to end the game and give the Angels their first World Championship in the 42-year history of the franchise.

Big hit: Garret Anderson lines a 1-1 pitch from Livan Hernandez to the right-field corner for a three-run double in the third to give Anaheim a 4-1 lead.

Big pitch: With the Giants trailing 4-1 with runners on second and third and two outs in the sixth, Anaheim's Brendan Donnelly strikes out pinch-hitter Tom Goodwin to end a San Francisco scoring scoring threat.

Key move: The decision to start rookie John Lackey, though a rookie hadn't won a Game Seven of the World Series in 93 years, was absolutely the right move as Lackey was outstanding with five strong innings and earned the victory.

Costly mistake: Dusty Baker decides to go with Livan Hernandez as his Game 7 starter instead of Kirk Rueter. Hernandez allowed four runs and is tagged with the loss and Rueter followed an inning later with four scoreless innings.

Key stat: 7-for-7 -- Troy Percival in save situations during the postseason.

Instead, it was at Edison Field, where rookie right-hander John Lackey -- four days removed from his 24th birthday -- kept San Francisco at bay, allowing one run and four hits in five innings while pitching on just three-days' rest. Only Reggie Sanders' sacrifice fly in the second inning kept Lackey (1-0) from blanking the Giants in the biggest game in San Francisco's history.

Hernandez (0-2) first encountered trouble in the second inning when he issued a two-out walk to the No. 7 hitter in the Angels' lineup, Scott Spiezio. Bengie Molina, who was batting just .234 in the postseason, followed with a double to the center-field wall that tied the game, 1-1.

In the third, David Eckstein and Darin Erstad both singled to put runners at first and second, and with two strikes on Tim Salmon, Hernandez hit the Angels' right fielder with a pitch to load the bases. Then he left a fastball out over the plate, and Garret Anderson doubled down the right-field line to score all three runners.

"It's tough," said Hernandez, his eyes still red from several minutes of crying and soul searching in front of his locker. "But Anaheim played good baseball the last two games. When they hit it, it hurt. That was the key. When they needed a base hit, they got a base hit.

"Anaheim beat me. I don't have an excuse. They hit me. I couldn't do nothing about it."

Reliever Chad Zerbe stopped the bleeding by finishing the third inning without incident and Kirk Rueter came on in relief to pitch four scoreless innings, but the damage had already been done. Lackey, Brendan Donnelly, Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival simply shut down the Giants' offense, holding the top four spots in the Giants order to a paltry 1-for-15, salvaged by Barry Bonds' fourth-inning infield single.

"You want the results to be different but what can you do about it?" said Bonds, who broke numerous individual records in the World Series and postseason but ended up without a championship ring. "They outplayed us. ... You can't be mad for doing your best. Disappointed? A little, but somebody has to win."

It was not only the top of the lineup that didn't come through in Game 7, however. The Giants brought the tying run to home plate with two outs in the fourth and sixth innings, only to have Sanders fly out to end one rally and his pinch-hitter, Tom Goodwin, strike out to kill the other.

In the ninth, the Giants rallied off Percival to once again bring the tying run to the plate, but the Angels' closer earned the save by striking out Tsuyoshi Shinjo and getting Kenny Lofton to hit a fly ball to Erstad in center field. When he made the catch, the Angels were headed down the street, to Disneyland.

"Everything you do is geared toward trying to make this happen and win the whole thing," said David Bell, who was robbed of a fifth-inning hit on a diving catch by Erstad. "It's disappointing, but at the same time if you feel like you gave everything, at least you can live with yourself. And as a team, I think we can do that."

Still, the loss was hard to swallow for a Giants team that seemed to defy all odds just by reaching the Fall Classic.

"Losing the Series means there's no shine at all," said second baseman Jeff Kent when asked if coming up short detracted from what the team had accomplished this season. "You bet, I feel like a loser today. I don't feel like a winner and I guess that's a better way of saying it."

He's not alone. Though the Giants have made 17 appearances in the World Series -- third behind only the Yankee and Dodger franchises -- this latest setback was its 12th in those Fall Classic berths. The last Giants team to end the year with a win in the postseason was the 1954 New York Giants.

Now, for the 48th straight season, it's wait 'til next year.