Angels Playoff Foes: 2002 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bernie Williams

The Angels first postseason game in 16 years had no lack of second guessing. Anaheim entered the bottom of the 8th with a 5-4 lead before Ben Weber and Scott Schoeneweis gave up that lead. With the game tied 5-5 and two Yankees on base, all of Anaheim was waiting for Percival to enter.

Instead, Mike Scioscia called upon Brendan Donnelly, whose 2-2 pitch Bernie Williams deposited in the right field stands to give the Yankees an 8-5 lead. Mariano Rivera closed out the 9th to give the Yankees the Game 1 victory.

Answer: Orlando Hernandez

The Angels jumped out to a 4-0 lead early, but were stunned when the Yankees came roaring back. After the Yankees closed to within one run, Alfonso Soriano hit a 2-run homerun in the 6th to put the Yankees ahead 5-4. With Yankee Stadium buzzing from the comeback, all hope seemed lost for the Angels. Orlando Hernandez had been pitching in relief since the 4th inning and had allowed only one hit before Anderson and Glaus both went deep on him in the 8th. That gave the Angels a 6-5 lead and this time they would hold the lead and win 8-6.

Answer: Alfonso Soriano

With runners on 1st and 3rd and one out, David Eckstein hit a tailor-made double play ball to Alfonso Soriano. Soriano allowed the ball to go through his legs and Shawn Wooten came in to score on the play and tie the game. The Yankees would regain the lead at 2-1 before the Angels scored 8 in the 5th inning and went on to win 9-6.

Answer: Joe Mays

The headlines read "A-Mays-ing" and in Game 1 of the ALCS he was. The Angels only managed a single unearned run off of Christian Guzman's error. Despite Mays' outstanding pitching, the game remained close throughout as Minnesota held on for a 2-1 win. Joe Mays would be somewhat more vulnerable in Game 5 of the ALCS, giving up eight hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings.

After the 2002 ALCS, Joe Mays returned to obscurity for the most part. He recorded a 6.30 ERA in 21 starts in 2003 and missed all of 2004 with injuries.

Answer: Homer Hankies

That was a strange series indeed ... one venue had fans cheering on a monkey and hitting plastic balloons together, and the other had fans waving handkerchiefs all over the place. And the oddity would only grow for Angels fans, as the San Francisco faithful would end up bringing rubber chickens to the World Series (to protest the intentional walking of their superstar Barry Bonds).

Answer: Kyle Loshe

Kyle Loshe was the only Minnesota Twins pitcher to throw in Game 5 and not give up an earned run. Johan Santana (who would go on to win the 2004 AL CY Young by the way) gave up Adam Kennedy's dramatic 3rd home-run of the game, Romero and Hawkins both surrendered three as well trying to get the Twins out of that deadly 7th inning. Kyle Loshe had the job of pitching the 8th with his team trailing 13-5 and pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning.

Answer: Reggie Sanders & David Bell

The 2nd inning started off with a walk to Barry Bonds. JT Snow kept the inning going with a single, which led to Reggie Sanders launching a 3-run homerun. David Bell followed with another homerun to reduce the Angels' lead to 5-4. The Giants would lead by as much as 9-7 before yet another late Angels comeback gave Anaheim an 11-10 win.

Answer: Pedro Feliz

While AL pitchers have to hit when the World Series is in the NL park, the AL teams regain the advantage when the World Series is in the AL park and the DH is used. San Francisco hadn't needed a DH before the World Series and scrambled to plug anyone they could find in. Shawn Dunston had been doing a decent job in the DH role, going 2 for 7 (.286) with a big Game 6 homerun.

But Dusty Baker had a hunch and benched Dunston in favor of Pedro Feliz. The move did not payoff as Feliz went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts and Shawn Dunston never got into the final game.

Answer: Tom Goodwin & David Bell

I almost feel like I should formally apologize to anyone who picked JT Snow and David Bell. While those two did reach base, one was forced out. Recall the 9th inning: JT Snow singled to right, Tom Goodwin hit into a fielder's choice -- forcing Snow out at 2nd and leaving Goodwin on 1st, David Bell walked, Shinjo struck out, and Lofton flied out. So, Goodwin (by virtue of the fielder's choice) and Bell were the two who were on base and when Kenny Lofton flied out to Darin Erstad to end the World Series.

Answer: Pepsi Blue

Pepsi introduced Pepsi Blue in May of 2002 and hyped it all summer. It seemed like almost every commercial break had SEV in the monetary performing their single "Same Old Song". And while I am amused that I still had trouble remembering the product, that song does immediately evoke memories of the 2002 playoffs. Pepsi Blue did fall from grace very, very shortly after October 2002, but at least Pavlov would be proud of what the song has done to me.