I was at the Ballpark for this game, and when it started, I told my wife this was either going to be a well pitched game, or a total fiasco. We got the well pitched game. I really didn’t think Benoit would hold on – I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for him to give up 6 runs in an inning. However, he didn’t. He got some really key strikeouts to get out of some jams, and looked every bit the well seasoned major league pitcher would be. Thing is, we need to keep playing teams that are good. When Benoit plays the Tampa Bays or the Baltimores (this months Baltimore), he plays bad.
However, last night he was great. Anaheim’s pitching was great too, especially Ben Weber out of the bullpen (come to think of it all the bullpen folks used (even my nemesis Rich Rodriguez) pitched well). There were three runs scored, two of them on solo home runs (Anaheim’s Garret Anderson & Pudge). In fact, Pudge scored both runs, and threw out a runner attempting to steal in the 9th, which was huge.
A nice game, and while there were 16 men left on base for both teams, one that seemed to be an old style pitching duel – nice to see in the surprisingly cool weather of late September 2002.
Additional game commentary is available here.