(AP) For
the first time in baseball history, the Angels are world champions. Anaheim completed its magical run to the top of the sport with a 4-1 win over the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 on Sunday evening before 44,598 at Edison Field. Third baseman Troy Glaus, who batted .385 with three homers and eight RBIs, was named series MVP. The Angels won the Series, four games to three, and will bring the World Series trophy to Anaheim for the first time in the 41-year history of the franchise. In a season that began and ended in the ball yard by the Big A, the Angels proved to be the biggest story. The team rebounded from a franchise-worst 6-14 start to win a team-record 99 games. They earned the American League Wild Card and disposed of the four-time defending AL champion New York Yankees in the AL Division Series. They lost the first game of the AL Championship Series to the Minnesota Twins, then steamrolled the Twins in four straight to win the pennant. And after going down 3-2 in the World Series to the Giants, the Angels came back home and took the crown, winning Game 6 in the greatest comeback in an elimination game in Fall Classic history, then outplaying the Giants in Game 7. "A lot of people worked really hard for this," general manager Bill Stoneman said. "This is like nothing I've ever been involved with. The team pulled together, the veterans came through, the rookies didn't act like rookies, and it was brought together by a great manager." That manager, Mike Scioscia, soaked in the third world championship of his career. He won titles as a Los Angeles Dodgers catcher in 1981 and 1988 and said this go-around was all about the players. "This championship was about 25 guys on the field giving everything they had," Scioscia said. "Winning the World Series is about the players on the field. I've never been around a group of guys who have worked so hard for a goal." Doug Miller MLB.com |
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