MLB.com

LINESCORE		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
	Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	6	3
	Diamondbacks	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	3	11	0

Watch the TV broadcast Starters: Roger Clemens vs. Curt Schilling WP: Randy Johnson   LP: Mariano Rivera HR: NYY: Soriano (1, 8th inning off Schilling) DEF: Jeter's play on Counsell grounder (5th), Rivera's throwing error (9th)

After Arizona opened the series with a pair of wins at home behind dual aces Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson, the Yankees responded with three straight wins in New York to take a three games to two lead. The Yankees had rallied from two runs down with only one out to go in both Games 4 and 5, a pair of comebacks that seemingly put destiny on the their side.

However, Arizona responded in overwhelming fashion in Game 6, pounding out a 15-2 win with Johnson on the hill to send the series to a deciding Game 7. The matchup for the final game pitted a pair of 20-game winners, Schilling for the Diamondbacks and Game 3 winner Roger Clemens for the Yankees.

Clemens had mentored Schilling ten years earlier, helping set him on the path to his current greatness, and both master and pupil were in top fashion in the early innings. The game was a scoreless duel into the sixth, when Danny Bautista drilled a double into deep center field to drive home Steve Finley with the first run of the game.

But the Yankees answered in the top of the seventh, as singles by Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill and Tino Martinez knotted the game at one apiece. The Diamondbacks chased Clemens in the bottom of the inning but failed to score; Clemens allowed only one run on six hits, and struck out 10, in 6.1 innings.

Despite pitching on only three days' rest for the second time in the series, Schilling was still on the mound in the top of the eighth. Alfonso Soriano, whose 12th-inning single won Game 5 for the Yankees, led off and fell into a 0-2 hole. But Schilling left a two-strike forkball over the middle of the plate and Soriano golfed it into the left-field stands for a 2-1 Yankees lead. Schilling exited two batters later, having thrown 7.1 innings with six hits and two runs allowed, and nine strikeouts.

After Miguel Batista recorded the second out of the inning, Johnson entered in relief and retired Chuck Knoblauch on a short fly ball to end the inning. It was Johnson's second career postseason relief appearance; the first came when he picked up the win in Game 5 of the 1995 American League Division Series against the Yankees.

Closer Mariano Rivera came on to start the eighth for the Yankees, riding a string of 23 consecutive postseason saves and boasting a career postseason ERA of only 0.70. When he struck out the side in the eighth, a fourth consecutive championship was only three outs away.

Johnson held the Yankees scoreless in the top of the ninth, setting the stage for a memorable ninth-inning rally. Mark Grace led off with a single, and pinch-runner Dave Dellucci advanced to second when Rivera threw Damian Miller's bunt into center field, with Miller reaching first. Jay Bell bunted into a force out at third for the first out, forcing Dellucci at third.

Tony Womack stepped to the plate, the owner of the hit that won Game 5 of the National League Division Series for the Diamondbacks. After working the count to 2-2, Womack lined a double into the rightfield corner to score pinch runner Midre Cummings with the tying run and sending Bank One Ballpark into a frenzy. Rivera then hit Craig Counsell with a pitch to load the bases.

Luis Gonzalez was next up, and he blooped a single over the Yankees' drawn-in infield to win the game and the series.

With the win, the Diamondbacks became the fastest expansion franchise to win a World Series, doing it in only their fourth season. For their efforts, Johnson and Schilling were named co-MVP's of the series, combining for all four Diamondbacks wins and a 1.40 ERA in 38.2 innings.

Copyright 2001 by the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball