ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A three-run double by Garret Anderson and clutch pitching worthy of the final game of the baseball season carried Anaheim to a 4-1, Game 7 victory over the San Francisco Giants Sunday night and to the Angels first World Series championship in the franchise's 42-year history.
John Lackey became the first rookie pitcher to win the seventh game of a World Series since 1909, upholding the faith of Manager Mike Scioscia by allowing one run on four hits over five innings.
Brendan Donnelly, Francisco Rodriguez and Troy Percival then blanked the Giants the rest of the way to nail down an unlikely title for the team that finished second in the American League West behind the Oakland Athletics.
The Giants, who were seeking their first World Series title since 1954, were within reach of the championship Saturday night when they took a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh. But Anaheim staged a remarkable rally to pull out a 6-5 victory and the Angels came from behind again in the decisive game Sunday night.
Troy Glaus, who drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in Saturday night's comeback victory, was named the Most Valuable Player of the World Series as the voters ignored the magnificent performance in a losing effort by Barry Bonds.
Glaus had three home runs, eight RBI, 10 hits and 22 total bases in the series.
"No matter what happened, we were going to play hard and leave it all out there," Glaus said. "Today was the same way. These fans have been waiting a long, long time for this and we all feel so great to be the team to bring the championship here."
Bonds, baseball's all-time single season home run record holder who was playing in his first World Series, went eight for 17 in the seven games with four home runs and 13 walks. There had been a sentiment on both sides that win or lose, Bonds would be the logical choice for the MVP award.
Bonds reached base twice Sunday night on an infield single and a walk, but the bases were empty all four times he came to the plate.
The series had two significant momentum shifts with San Francisco bouncing back from a 2-1 deficit by slowing down the Angels' bats in Game 4 and then Anaheim coming back from its big deficit in Game 6.
"The turning point was when they came back last night," said San Francisco Manager Dusty Baker. That was a big game for them. And they pitched outstanding today. I'm proud of these guys. They fought the whole way.
"They took it down to the end in seven games in the World Series. I hate to lose. It hurts us and it hurts the city."
San Francisco took the lead in the second inning on singles by Benito Santiago and J.T. Snow, followed by a sacrifice fly by Reggie Sanders.
But Anaheim tied it in its half of the second and then erupted for three more runs in the third -- all of the Angels' scoring coming against San Francisco starter Livan Hernandez.
With two outs in the Anaheim second, Hernandez walked Scott Spiezio, whose three-run homer started the Angels' comeback in the sixth game Saturday night. Spiezio then raced around from first base to score the tying run when Bengie Molina doubled to left-center.
Anaheim sent eight men to the plate in the third and it took a tremendous bit of relief pitching by Chad Zerbe to hold the Angels to three runs in the inning.
David Eckstein led off the third with a single, moved to second on a base hit by Darin Erstad and Hernandez hit Tim Salmon with a pitch to load the bases.
That brought up Anderson, who uncorked a double down the right-field line that cleared the bases and gave Anaheim a three-run lead.
"I was just looking for something out over the plate and didn't want to try to do too much," Anderson said. "He got it out over the plate and he paid for it."
Hernandez then intentionally walked Troy Glaus, after which Zerbe was called in from the bullpen.
Zerbe got Brad Fullmer, Spiezio and Molina all to hit ground balls to end the threat. Anderson was thrown out at home trying to score on Spiezio's grounder to third base.
Staked to the lead, Lackey worked his way out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fourth and got help in the fifth when Erstad in center field made a diving catch of a sinking liner off the bat of David Bell.
Donnelly came on in the sixth and, with two out, walked Santiago and gave up a double to Snow. But he struck out Sanders to end the threat. Donnelly threw a perfect seventh, Rodriguez came on to strike out the side in the eighth and Percival caused a final concern in the ninth by putting two on base with one out.
But Percival struck out pinch-hitter Tsuyoshi Shinjo and got Kenny Lofton to fly out to end the World Series and send the Angels streaming onto the field in celebration.
"This is unbelievable for our fans," said Percival, whose Angels finished 41 games out of first place Seattle in 2001. "This team has worked as hard as any team ever."
"I've been in this game a long time," Scioscia said, "and I've never been around a group of guys who have been so passionate about the game. I'm enjoying this. But this game is about playing and what these guys have done will carry for their whole life."
It was the second straight World Series in which a team won the sixth and seventh games at home after falling behind, 3-2. Arizona did the same thing to the New York Yankees last season.
