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Coming through Anderson rewards manager's faith with good outing
Updated: Wednesday October 31, 2001 4:48 AM
By Stephen Cannella, Sports Illustrated NEW YORK (AP) -- To put it lightly, Brian Anderson was excited Tuesday afternoon. Why shouldn't he have been? He was getting ready to start Game 3 of the World Series, the second postseason start of his career and his first since 1999. It was, in fact, his first start since Aug. 31. Even though Anderson endured his worst major league season this year, Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly named him as his Game 3 starter before the Series began, and Anderson was anxious to reward his manager's gesture of faith. "He had his uniform on an hour before the game," said catcher Damian Miller. "He was pacing back and forth." "I got here at 1 [p.m.] because I figured I'd do no good sitting in the hotel room," Anderson said. "I sat in here [the clubhouse], watched a couple movies and drank too much coffee. That last hour-and-a-half before the first pitch was just dragging. I didn't think it would get here."
What movies did he watch? "You don't want to know," he said. "Hoosiers and Rudy. We went for the inspiring sports movies." Given his excited and over-caffeinated state, Anderson's performance in Game 3 was even more impressive than it appeared at first glance. Though the Diamondbacks lost, Anderson pitched gallantly, showing no rust from his long layoff -- he last pitched Oct. 20, in Game 4 of the NLCS -- and keeping the Yankees' lineup almost as quiet as Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson did in the first two games of the Series. Anderson allowed five hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings, a fine performance considering he got little help from his defense. Arizona made three errors behind him, but none of those miscues led directly to any New York runs. "We kicked the ball around, made some errors, but Brian took care of them all no problem," said first baseman Mark Grace. "He could have crumbled but he made some great pitches when we put him in tough spots." Anderson spent much of the season in tough spots. He made two trips to the disabled list with groin, back and thumb injuries, and he lost his spot in the rotation in August after several poor outings. He pitched decently out of the bullpen down the stretch but still finished with a 4-9 record and a 5.20 ERA. Brenly raised some eyebrows when he announced he was trotting out the struggling left-hander for a Series start at hostile Yankee Stadium, but Anderson's outing Tuesday was better than even his manager expected. "He gave us a couple more innings than we thought we'd get out of him," Brenly said. "We knew he wouldn't be rattled by the situation and the surroundings here. He pitched tremendously." Anderson surprised even himself with his 107-pitch effort. "When I came into the dugout Matt Mantei said, 'Bro, you threw close to 100 pitches.' I didn't feel like I had thrown that number. Usually if I've thrown 110 pitches in the sixth inning it's because I gave up 10 runs." Grace said after his team's 2-1 loss that no one in the Diamondbacks' clubhouse expected them to sweep the Yankees. If they had to lose a game, their loss in Game 3 was as easy a pill to swallow as it could have been. Anderson vs. Roger Clemens should have been a pitching mismatch -- no one would have been shocked if the Yankees, back on their home turf, won this game in a blowout. Instead, they eked out a tight 2-1 win. New York's offense again looked feeble. The Yankees looked far from invincible.
Even in a losing cause, Anderson's effort was a boon for a team that's still in the driver's seat.
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