Before Game 1, it occurred to me that this match-up might feature the highest-ever combined IQ for two starting pitchers in a World Series game. Curt Schilling has a well-known reputation as possibly the smartest player in baseball today, and Mike Mussina graduated from Stanford in three and a half years.
So, naturally, the game was characterized not by brilliant decisions but by key mistakes on both sides.
The Yankees, surprisingly, made almost all of them. Bernie Williams stood at home plate for a good five seconds admiring his RBI bloop double in the first, which proved harmless but set the tone for the rest of the game. In the bottom of the inning, Mussina missed his spot by about two feet and Craig Counsell—who apparently thinks he’s Mickey Hatcher—took him deep. In the third, Mussina hit Tony Womack with an 0-2 pitch, which cost him a run when Luis Gonzalez went yard. Then David Justice let a deep but eminently catchable ball clank off his glove; that was worth as many as three runs to the Diamondbacks.
Apparently not content to let his players have all the fun, Joe Torre then decided to make a mistake of his own. Explain this to me: Why on earth was Randy Choate pitching in the fourth inning? Mussina had made a few mistakes, to be sure, but he had struck out four batters in the first three innings, and thrown 47 of 68 pitches for strikes. He was scheduled to bat in the fifth inning; why not let him pitch the fourth and pinch-hit for him after that? Why let Randy Choate—who barely made the postseason roster—pitch when he doesn’t have to?
So after Choate—with help from another Yankee error—gave up four runs, the Yankees put it on autopilot with the score 9-1. Which begs another question: Why was Curt Schilling allowed to throw seven innings (and 102 pitches)? Bob Brenly should have seen the early blowout as a gift, an opportunity to pull Schilling early and bring him back on three days’ rest in Game 4, setting him up to make another start in Game 7 if necessary—and if the series goes seven games, believe me, it’s necessary.
The Diamondbacks swear to a man that there’s no mystique to the Yankees, but if there isn’t, then why would you leave your ace starter out there with an eight-run lead? Was Brenly really that worried that his bullpen might blow the lead? If they had pulled him after five innings, or even six, Curt would be primed to start Game 4. Now, the Diamondbacks might hesitate … and you can’t be hesitant if you want to beat these Yankees. When you’ve got the dagger at their throat, you’ve got to plunge it to the hilt.
That misstep aside, the Diamondbacks dismantled the Yankees with surprising ease. In some ways, it reminds me of the Reds’ 7-0 shutout of the A’s in Game 1 of the 1990 World Series, which served to give everyone notice that the A’s aura of invincibility was just an apparition. I don’t believe in momentum, or if I do it’s that momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher. Well, the Diamondbacks’ starting pitcher Sunday is the best pitcher in baseball.
