Giants History 10/27: 2002 World Series

Today’s actually a sad day in San Francisco Giants history. The Anaheim Angels defeated the Giants, 4-3 in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series.

It was a Giants team that included Kenny Lofton, J.T. Snow, Barry Bonds, Rich Aurillia, and Jeff Kent…among others. Future (and now former) Giant, Bengie Molina was the catcher for that Angels team. Anaheim’s John Lackey got the Win. He was the first rookie pitcher to win a World Series Game 7 since 1909.

"The Angels won the Series despite scoring fewer runs (41) than the Giants (44). The Angels lost the first game in all three rounds of the playoffs (Division Series, League Championship Series, and World Series), yet rebounded to win each time. They were the first, and to date only, team to do this since the new postseason format was created in 1994.The Angels became the first American League non-East team to win the World Series since the Minnesota Twins in 1991. The Angels were also the first American League Wild Card winner to win the World Series."

By the way, the Angels were still the Anaheim Angels and not the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

I remember watching the game when I worked as a correctional officer at a juvenile facility in Kentucky. The kids and I were rooting hard for the Giants, and I may or may not have left the television way past normal time to finish the game. But hey, it was the World Series. If there’s ever a time to break the rules, that was it.

Where you you watching during the 2002 World Series?