| | NEW YORK -- The longest major league postseason game that ever was ended
similarly to the longest perfect game that wasn't.
Robin Ventura, meet Joe Adcock.
And say hello to Chris Chambliss, Bill Mazeroski and Joe Carter,
who had similar adventures on postseason homers.
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DEATH TRAP
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An 0-3 hole usually means a quick demise. The Mets became just the second team to win two games after losing the first three. Below is a list of how teams with a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series finished up: |
|
Year
|
Series
|
Result
|
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1998
|
W.S.
|
Yankees swept Padres
|
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1998
|
NLCS
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Padres beat Braves 4-2
|
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1995
|
NLCS
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Braves swept Reds
|
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1990
|
W.S.
|
Reds swept A's
|
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1990
|
ALCS
|
A's swept Red Sox
|
|
1989
|
W.S.
|
A's swept Giants
|
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1988
|
ALCS
|
A's swept Red Sox
|
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1976
|
W.S.
|
Reds swept Yankees
|
|
1970
|
W.S.
|
Orioles beat Reds 4-1
|
|
1966
|
W.S.
|
Orioles swept Dodgers
|
|
1963
|
W.S.
|
Dodgers swept Yankees
|
|
1954
|
W.S.
|
N.Y. Giants swept Indians
|
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1950
|
W.S.
|
Yankees swept Phillies
|
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1939
|
W.S.
|
Yankees swept Reds
|
|
1938
|
W.S.
|
Yankees swept Cubs
|
|
1937
|
W.S.
|
Yankees beat N.Y. Giants 4-1
|
|
1932
|
W.S.
|
Yankees swept Cubs
|
|
1928
|
W.S.
|
Yankees swept Cardinals
|
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1927
|
W.S.
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Yankees swept Pirates
|
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1914
|
W.S.
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Boston Braves swept Phi. A's
|
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1910
|
W.S.
|
Phi. A's beat Cubs 4-1
|
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1907
|
W.S.
|
Cubs swept Tigers
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When Ventura lost his apparent grand slam for failing to touch
second base -- and third, and home plate -- in the 15th inning of the
New York Mets' wild 4-3 playoff victory over Atlanta on Sunday, it
was the second such bizarre and memorable finish involving the
Braves.
Forty years ago this season, Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh
Pirates pitched perhaps the greatest game in major league history against
the-then Milwaukee Braves, hurling 12 perfect innings before losing
3-0 on Joe Adcock's home run in the 13th inning.
Only it wasn't a home run.
The score of the May 26, 1959 game was changed to 1-0 a day
later by National League president Warren Giles because Adcock
passed Hank Aaron on the bases, turning his homer into a
game-winning single.
This time, Ventura hit a ball over the right-center fence at
Shea Stadium with the bases loaded. Ordinarily, that's a grand
slam. But Ventura never made it around the bases, mobbed by his
teammates at second base.
The ruling was an RBI single for Ventura and a final score of
4-3 instead of 7-3.
"I saw it go over and then I just ran to first," Ventura said.
"As long as I touched first, we won. So that's fine with me."
In the 1959 game, Haddix retired the first 36 batters he faced before an error by third
baseman Don Hoak gave the Braves their first baserunner of the
game.
Eddie Mathews then sacrificed Mantilla to second. Hank Aaron was
intentionally walked to set up the possible double play.
With the no-hitter still in place, Adcock came up. He hit a high
slider over the right-center field for a game-winning three-run
homer. Or so everyone in the crowd of 19,194 thought.
Aaron, who had touched second base, thought the ball had bounced
at the bottom of the wall, not beyond it, and stopped running,
assuming the game had ended as soon as Mantilla scored.
Adcock did not look up as he rounded the bases. He did
not see Aaron stop, passed him up and was declared out.
The next day's newspapers declared the score as 2-0. At first,
only Adcock's run was wiped out. But Giles officially changed the
score to 1-0.
Haddix's reaction to the scoring change was almost identical to
Ventura, who said, "I don't care if it was a home run or not as
long as we won."
Haddix, who lost the game and, three decades later, saw the
no-hitter tag removed from his name by a historical committee,
said, "I didn't care what the score was. All I know was we lost."
On three other famous game-winning homers, the hitters had to
fight their way around the bases.
Chambliss hit the pennant-winner for the New York Yankees in the
ninth inning of the 1976 playoffs against Kansas City. He was
mobbed by joyous fans, who ran on the field at Yankee Stadium, and
battled his way around the bases. An hour or so later, he came back
on the field to touch home plate, just in case someone thought he
had missed it the first time.
"Home plate was gone. Somebody had already taken it,"
Chambliss recounted Sunday night. "There were no umps there,
either. But a few of them told me years later that the run counted
because it was fans that were in the way."
Mazeroski won the 1960 World Series for Pittsburgh against the
Yankees with a home run and ran through fans to complete his
circuit of the bases. Toronto's Carter did the same thing to win
the Series against Philadelphia in 1993.
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ALSO SEE
Amazin' Mets win 4-3 in 15 innings
Klapisch: Nothing is impossible
Mets vs. Braves series page
Eight relievers do the job for Mets
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