Magical Marlins Win It All Florida Turns Back Cleveland On Renteria’s 11th-Inning Hit

A World Series maligned, abused and just plain ignored by the rest of the country came to one of the most thrilling conclusions in history.

However, in keeping with the overall theme of the Series, an error proved to be the deciding play.

The Florida Marlins could care less. Let Indians second baseman Tony Fernandez agonize all winter.

They’ll be busy celebrating a courageous ninth-inning comeback and Edgar Renteria’s two-out, bases-loaded single in the 11th Sunday night, all giving them a 3-2 victory against the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series.

“I told these guys when we came out of the clubhouse tonight, we were going to be world champions,” Florida manager Jim Leyland said. “We are.”

A crowd of 67,204 spectators at Pro Player Stadium exploded in ecstasy when Renteria’s line drive up the middle glanced off losing pitcher Charles Nagy’s glove and headed into center field. The Marlins mobbed one another in the infield while Fernandez walked off the field with his head hanging low, a one-time Gold Glove shortstop whose defensive error will live in infamy.

“I wanted to get Bonilla. I think that was a mistake,” Fernandez said.

Pitcher Livan Hernandez, the winning pitcher in Game 1 and Game 5, was named the World Series MVP.

“I’m disappointed,” Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove said. “I can’t tell you how disappointed I am. You don’t get many chances, and to come this close is very disappointing. But I’m truly proud of the group I’m associated with. We played hard. But the Marlins played a great game and things just happened to go their way. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Bobby Bonilla started the winning rally with a single up the middle off Nagy. Catcher Gregg Zaun popped up a sacrifice bunt and Bonilla was almost doubled up at first by Nagy.

Craig Counsell, whose ninth-inning sacrifice fly sent the game into extra innings, followed with a slow grounder to the left side. Fernandez went to his left and was in position, but glanced at Bonilla going to second. That cost him as he pulled up his glove, allowing the ball to roll into right.

Bonilla went to third. Jim Eisenreich was walked intentionally to load the bases and Fernandez partially redeemed himself by making a nice play on Devon White’s grounder, getting the force at home.

But Renteria followed with his single up the middle and the Florida Marlins, five years after their birth, are the first wild-card team to win a World Series.

“I know Jim Leyland wanted this bad,” outfielder Gary Sheffield said. “He’s a very emotional guy and we didn’t want to let him down.”

The Indians were three outs away from their first World Series championship in 49 years and Fernandez would have been a hero, because his two-run single in the third had given Cleveland their only runs. But it started to unravel when Hargrove brought in closer Jose Mesa for the ninth.

Moises Alou started the game-tying rally by dropping a soft line drive into left-center for a single. Mesa struck out Bobby Bonilla but Charles Johnson, hanging tough on a 1-2 fastball, reached out and slapped a single to right, allowing Alou to dash for third.

Counsell followed with a fly ball to right field and the game was tied.

Marlins 3, Indians 2 (11) Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Vizquel ss 5 0 1 0 0 2 .233 TFrnndz 2b 5 0 2 2 0 1 .471 Ramirez rf 3 0 0 0 2 2 .154 Justice lf 5 0 0 0 0 3 .185 MaWllms 3b 2 0 0 0 3 2 .385 SAlomar c 5 0 1 0 0 0 .367 Thome 1b 4 1 1 0 1 0 .286 Grissom cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .360 JrWright p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000 Assnmchr p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — MJackson p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 BrAndrsn p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — d-Giles ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .500 Mesa p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — Nagy p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — Totals 36 2 6 2 6 13 Florida AB R H BI BB SO Avg. DWhite cf 6 0 0 0 0 2 .242 Renteria ss 5 0 3 1 1 0 .290 Sheffield rf 4 0 1 0 1 2 .292 Daulton 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .389 c-Cnne ph-1b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .231 Nen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — e-Cnglsi ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .333 Powell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — Alou lf 5 1 1 0 0 1 .321 Bonilla 3b 5 1 2 1 0 2 .207 CJohnson c 4 0 1 0 0 2 .357 1-Zaun pr-c 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Counsell 2b 3 1 0 1 1 1 .182 ALeiter p 0 0 0 0 2 0 — Cook p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — a-Floyd ph 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 b-Abbott ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Alfonseca p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — FHeredia p 0 0 0 0 0 0 — Esnrch 1b 1 0 0 0 1 0 .500 Totals 40 3 8 3 6 11 Cleveland 002 000 000 00 2 Florida 000 000 101 01 3 Two outs when winning run scored.

a-announced for Cook in the 7th. b-flied out for Floyd in the 7th. c-fouled out for Daulton in the 8th. d-flied out for Anderson in the 9th. e-struck out for Nen in the 10th.

1-ran for Johnson in the 9th.

E-TFernandez (2), Ramirez (1). LOB- Cleveland 8, Florida 12. 2B-Renteria (2). HR-Bonilla (1) off JrWright. RBIs-TFernandez 2 (4), Renteria (3), Bonilla (3), Counsell (2). SB-Vizquel 2 (5). S-JrWright. SF-Counsell. GIDP-Thome 2, Daulton.

Runners left in scoring position-Cleveland 3 (Justice 2, Giles); Florida 3 (Sheffield, Alou 2).

DP-Cleveland 1 (TFernandez, Vizquel and Thome); Florida 2 (Daulton, Renteria and Daulton), (Counsell, Renteria and Eisenreich).

Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA JrWright 6-1/3 2 1 1 5 7 108 2.92 Assenmacher 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 11 0.00 MJackson 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 6 1.93 BrAnderson 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 7 2.45 Mesa 1-2/3 4 1 1 0 2 39 5.40 Nagy L,0-1 1 2 1 0 1 0 17 6.43 Florida IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA ALeiter 6 4 2 2 4 7 115 5.06 Cook 1 0 0 0 0 2 12 0.00 Alfonseca 1-1/3 0 0 0 1 1 15 0.00 FHeredia 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.00 Nen 1-2/3 1 0 0 0 3 24 7.71 Powell W,1-0 1 0 0 0 1 0 10 7.36 FHeredia pitched to 1 batter in the 9th.

Inherited runners-scored-Assenmacher 1-0, Nagy 2-0, Nen 2-0, FHeredia 1-0.

IBB-off Nagy (Eisenreich) 1, off ALeiter (Ramirez) 1.

T-4:10. A-67,204 (41,855).

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: NOTEWORTHY The Marlins won the World Series in their fifth year, beating the previous standard of the New York Mets who won it in their eighth season.