Greatest Moments in Marlins History: #59 World Series Here We Come

Miami Gardens— fl-marlins-last-game-sun-life-0929t— The Florida Marlins host the Washington Nationals for the final Marlins game ever at Sun Life Stadium. Ex-Marlin Gary Sheffield smiles as he stands next to one of two World Series trophies that the Marlins have won. Robert Duyos, Sun Sentinel

Welcome back to the Greatest Moments in Marlins History. The year was 1997 and the Marlins were in the NLCS against their division rivals, the Atlanta Braves. They had just come off a 2-1 victory in game 5 to be one game away from their first World Series. Now that you have the back story, we present to you moment 59: Game 6 of the 1997 NLCS.

It was pretty simple going into game 6: the Marlins win they go to the World Series, they lose and game 7 would be played in Atlanta with John Smoltz most likely on the mound. Simple, right? Not so much when in game six the Marlins had to go through Tom Glavine in Atlanta first.  How did the Marlins pull off this win? They struck fast and early!

In the 1^st inning the Marlins hit Glavine hard! Devon White started it off with a single, Edgar Renteria then walked, Gary Sheffield singled, and Bobby Bonilla singled in 2 runs. The runs didn’t stop there. After a sac bunt and an intentional walk Charles Johnson was hit by a pitch and Sheffield came home. Still not done.  Craig Counsell then hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Bonilla. Kevin Brown then went down swinging. 4 runs in the first inning!

The Braves answered back in the 1^st and 2^nd making the score 4-3, but the Marlins added 3 more runs in the 6^th to make it 7-3. Nothing much happened after that which brings us to the bottom of the 9^th and the Marlins are 3 outs away from going to the World Series.

Brown is still in the game going into the 9^th and gets Michael Tucker to pop out in foul territory with 3 pitches (1 out). Jeff Blauser and Greg Colbrunn both single to put a person at 1^st and 2^nd with 1 out. Up comes Kenny Lofton, who pops out to center field (2 outs). The Marlins are one out away from going to the World Series. Keith Lockhart makes us wait a bit longer as he singles in Blauser making the score 7-4!  Up comes Mr. Braves himself, Chipper Jones. A home run would tie the game, but on a 2-2 count Chipper smacks the ball hard to Counsell who flips it to Renteria and the Marlins are going to the World Series!

You know what I remember most about this game? It was sneaking into my bed a little FM/AM radio to listen the game because it was past my bed time. I couldn’t cheer when they won because I didn’t want my parents to know I was up (and now they do). I had to act shocked when my mom told me they won the next morning. Join me tomorrow and see what first will be moment 58.