Pitching takes a holiday

No-names offer little resistance in four-hour slugfest

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- We knew this wasn't going to be, say, Roger Clemens against Greg Maddux. But come on already.

The 2002 World Series was supposed to be a charming meeting between two pretty good but mostly unrecognizable pitching staffs. There weren't any Cy Young awards cluttering up these clubhouses. There were no All-Stars strutting around. At least not any recent All-Stars.

This, it was said, was a refreshing World Series full of no-name pitchers.

Well, we all should have figured what that meant. Let this be a lesson: No-names are no-names for a reason.

Sunday evening, and late evening, and even later into the evening, in a wild Game 2 of the 98th World Series, pitching took a holiday. Checked out. Went on a siesta. It left no forwarding address.

The starting pitchers, if you can call them that, barely got warmed up before they were worked over. So began a succession of long relievers and middle relievers and short relievers that served as so many BP tossers for the hitters in this game.

If pitching is what wins ballgames, both the San Francisco Giants and Anaheim Angels are in a large pot of trouble in this Series.

"It really wasn't a good day today for any pitcher," said Angels starter Kevin Appier, an All-Star seven years ago, the only All-Star pitcher on either staff. He had a particularly odoriferous outing Sunday. "Except for Frankie."

Frankie would be 20-year-old Angels reliever Francisco Rodriguez -- K-Rod as he's known in some places. He was, in many ways, the hero of Sunday's late night show.

But before we get to him, let's start with the starters. Ooooo, were they bad. Terrible, in fact. The first four batters that San Francisco starter Russ Ortiz faced knocked out base hits. By the end of the first, Ortiz had given up six hits, had forced up a painful 30 pitches and was behind 5-0.

And then Appier got on the mound in the top of the second and gave back four of those runs, including back-to-back home runs to Reggie Sanders and David Bell.

That was the kind of night it was for pitchers. The only thing missing for the batters was a tee.

"It's not the type of game you want to be involved in," said Giants slugger Rich Aurilia. "I guess you could say they outslugged us tonight."

By the end of the second, both starters were long gone. Ortiz lasted 1 2/3 innings, Appier 2 innings and a couple of batters. And then came the string of walks to the mound and walks in from the bullpen that helped push this game to just three minutes short of a grueling four hours long.

By the end of the fifth inning, 23 hits had been banged out, 17 runs had been scored, four homers had been launched and 2 ½ hours had whizzed by at Edison Field. And that was with one scoreless inning.

By the end of the fifth, the Giants already had used two pitchers who had thrown a whopping 95 pitches. Anaheim was on its third pitcher, and the Angels already had tossed 106 pitches in the direction of home plate. The Angels, in fact, already had used the pitcher they plan on starting in Game 4, rookie John Lackey.

"Tonight," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, "wasn't a good night to be a pitcher."

Except for Rodriguez. He entered the game in the top of the sixth, with the Angels trailing 9-8, and put a stop to the nonsense. He mowed down all nine batters he faced. He started with strikeouts of Aurilia and Jeff Kent in the sixth, got Barry Bonds to ground out to first to end that inning and, by the time he was done, had four strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the Angels' hitters kept whacking around the Giants until they all walked off, exhausted. The Angels won, 11-10, evening the series at one win apiece. Rodriguez got the win, his fifth of the postseason.

"Filthy," said Angels reliever Ben Weber. "He's got Pedro Martinez stuff. He should be a starter with that stuff. If it's not Pedro-like, it's better than Pedro."

Even with K-Rod holding the Giants scoreless for a third of the game, the Angels still allowed 12 hits, including four home runs. A 485-footer -- who measures these things? -- by Bonds off closer Troy Percival in the ninth was particularly memorable.

The Giants staff gave up 16 hits, including a pair of homers to Tim Salmon. His two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth was the game-winner. The Giants pitchers did not manage a single strikeout.

All told Sunday night, the two teams used 11 pitchers -- if you want to call them that.

It's kind of an age-old question in baseball, something fans wonder about in every game with a big score like this one. Is the pitching that bad, or is the hitting just that good?

Sunday, the blame fell to the pitchers. Whoever those guys are.

John Donovan is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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