The Blue Jays won their first World Series.
It seems our first World Series win isn’t as celebrated as our second one, likely because it didn’t end in a walk-off homer.
But it did end with Joe Carter jumping up and down.
Game 6 was a 4-3, 11-inning win.
We were up 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9th, and Cito Gaston brought Tom Henke into the game. We had high hopes. Henke had pitched in 8 playoff games that year and hadn’t given up a run. Unfortunately, he gave up a leadoff single to Jeff Blauser this time. Damon Berryhill bunted him to second, and Lonnie Smith walked. Next, Francisco Cabrera lined one to left (which Candy Maldonado misjudged). Candy made a last-second leaping catch. Unfortunately, Otis Nixon lined a single to left again. Maldonado airmailed the throw into the plate over everyone, allowing the tying run to score and putting the winning run on third. Finally, Ron Gant made the last out of the inning.
Henke got the first out of the 10th inning, and Jimmy Key came in (on short rest after starting game 4) to get the last two outs.
At the top of the 11th, Key led off and popped out. But Devon White was hit by pitch, and Roberto Alomar singled. With Carter up, the whole baseball world figured Braves manager Bobby Cox would bring Jeff Reardon, the closer they picked up in an August 30th deal with the Red Sox, into the game. But Jeff had had a tough time in his two series appearances, giving up a game-winning home run to Ed Sprague in game two and a game-winning single to Maldonado in game three. So, Cox stuck with the tiring Charlie Leibrandt. Carter hit a fly ball to deep center (we were excited for a moment). But next up, Dave Winfield doubled home both White and Alomar, giving us a 2-run lead.
The bottom of the 11th was intense.
Key gave up a leadoff single, and then Alfredo Griffin made an error at short, putting the tying run on first. A bunt moved the tying run to second, and a groundout scored a run and put the tying run on third.
Mike Timlin came in to face Otis Nixon. Nixon tried for a bunt single, but Timlin jumped on the ball and threw over to Carter at first to win the series. Carter set a new world record for the vertical jump (which he beat a year later).
It was the 4th one-run game of the series. There was only one blowout. We lost game five by a score of 7-2.
A few years ago, Sportsnet replayed the entire series. I had the following observations:
With the home run in the 1993 World Series, I think Joe Carter was the only player to be the last to ‘touch’ the ball two seasons in a row. I spent a few hours looking for someone else who might have touched the ball to finish the World Series two years in a row.
