By Tony Becca - From The Boundary 
Becca
EVERY NOW and again something happens to underline the greatness of sport and baseball's 2002 World Series was one such occasion. It was sport at its best.
The greatness of sport is the unexpected - the triumph of the underdog, drama and excitement, and from beginning to end, the World Series, the first contested by two wild-card teams, provided all that and more.
In bringing together, not fancied teams like the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves, but rank outsiders like the San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels, one with only one superstar in Barry Bonds, one without even one, the World Series pitted two underdogs against each other with the Angels - the less fancied of the two, the one that won only six of their first 14 matches in their worst start ever, the one that lost the opening match in the American League Division series against the Yankees and again against the Minnesota Twins in AL Championship Series, the one that had never even been to a World Series before - coming out on top with a stinging 4-1 scoreline in Game 7.
And after losing the first game, after trailing twice, after looking down the barrel in Game 6, they did so in style and dramatically.
In a showdown to remember - a showdown during which the Giants scored 14 home runs and the Angels seven for a record 21, one during which the Giants scored 44 runs and the Angels 41 for a record 85, one during which 20-year-old Francisco Rodriguez, pitching for the Angels in Game 2, became the youngest pitcher to win a World Series game, and one during which the 24-year-old John Lackey, again pitching for the Angels, became only the second rookie and the first since 1909 to win Game 7, the Angels were brilliant.
After losing the first game at home, the Angels won the next two - one at home and one away - to lead 2-1, after losing the next two - both away - to trail 2-3, they were looking down the barrel at home with the Giants romping to victory at 5-0 at the end of the sixth inning in Game 6, and at that stage it appeared all over for the underdog of the underdogs.
In what has been described as the greatest comeback in World Series history, however, the Angels, probably with divine intervention, came up with three runs in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth to win 6-5 and to set up the final showdown in Game 7.
It was tough on Bonds, the home run king who is still to win a ring, and it was rough on the Giants who were hunting their first World Series since 1954 and who had started to hand out victory souvenirs during the sixth inning of Game 6.
It was, however, great for sport. Without the resilience, the never-say-die approach of the Angels, without the miracle - the unexpected twist - in Game 6, World Series 2002 would have been just another one. Thanks to Rodriguez and Lackey, however, thanks to Scott Spiezio, Darin Erstad and Troy Glaus who performed the miracle, and to Garnett Anderson who struck the three-run double that decided the contest in Game 7, it was something special - a contest to remember.
