1971 World Series
Niekro and Jenkins matched up in game one, and after allowing 3 straight hits and 2 runs to open the game, Jenkins was masterful. We rallied in the late innings and Fergie allowed only 1 more hit the rest of the game as we won it 4-2 and won the first world series game ever played at the Vet.
We wasted no time getting things going in game two as McCovey hit a two run shot in the bottom of the 1st to put us up. He came up again in the 2nd with the bases loaded and put another one in the seats off of Dean Chance. That was way more than enough as we rolled to a 9-2 win. More bad pitching news as Jim Nyman came in in the 9th to get some work and messed up his hamstring, our lefty specialist is done for the year, bleh.
Game 3 saw the christening of a new Mr. October as a tight affair between John & Tiant saw the game tied at 3-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Two of the Yankees runs came on solo homers from Darrell Evans. With 2 outs and nobody on, closer Bill Champion faced Evans, and you guessed it, surrendered a game winning homer to give the Yankees life. Dammit.
Game 4 was pretty brutal. Don Durhams second postseason start didn't go nearly as well as his first. He allowed an RBI double to Corky Withrow and a 2 run homer to our old friend Johnny Briggs in the 1st inning to give Phil Niekro more than he need. Niekro didn't even allow a hit till the 7th inning en route to a complete game, 2 hit shutout. The Yankees won 5-0 and evened the series up. Game on.
Game 5 saw Jenkins take the hill against Dean Chance, and the Yankees continued their momentum early. In the 2nd inning Tony Perez delivered an RBI single and Jake Gibbs popped a two run homer to put us in a precarious spot down 3-0. But if Evans was their hero in game 4, Yaz would be ours today. He delivered an RBI single in the 3rd and a 2 run double in the 5th to tie it. Then in the 6th, Richie Hebner would single in the go ahead run and Jenkins was in lock down mode from then on. In the ninth he allowed a leadoff double to Johnny Briggs but picked him off, struck out Tony Perez and got Darrell Evans to ground out weakly to 2nd, shutting the door on a huge 4-3 win to put us up 3 games to 2 heading back to Philly.
In game 6, Klages and Tiant both grooved through 5 scoreless innings. But in the 6th we broke through on an RBI single from Javier, and a 2 run single from McCarver. We added two more in the 7th on RBI hits from Bumbry and Javier. Klages rolled to a complete game, 3 hit shutout as we closed out the Yankees 5-0 and won the series in six games. Sweet.