Facts and Figures, Game Two

Well, the Rays stepped out of the headlights last night to top the Dodgers, 6-4, and even the Series at a game apiece. There were a combined fourteen hits in the game along with eight walks and 22 strikeouts, fifteen by the Dodgers. But, hey, all those punchouts generated five homeruns. Both teams used a total of twelve pitchers in a contest that took 3:40 to play. Now, let’s jump in the time machine and set the controls to October 21, 1975, for game six of the World Series between the Reds and Red Sox, ending with Carlton Fisk’s walkoff in the bottom of the twelfth inning for a 7-6 Sox win. Both teams combined for 24 hits to go with nine walks and fourteen strikeouts, seven per team. A total of twelve pitchers were used, only four by Boston. The game took 4:01 to play. In other words, a game featuring eleven more baserunners and two-plus more innings took just 21 minutes more to play. I wonder if anyone outside Los Angeles or Tampa will remember last night’s game two the way they do that game six from 45 years ago.