[Highlander]

We move to the Fall Classic between the Yankees and the Pirates! They have faced each other in a few World Series over the years, most notable in 1960 when Bill Mazeroski hit his famous HR to win the series. We'll see what happens here!

In Game 1, the Pirates stuck with Bert Blyleven as their starter to open the series and in a surprise to no one, the Yankees went with Ron Guidry. The Pirates showed that Guidry is mortal, however, as the score was tied at 2 each after 7. Both teams went to their bullpen in the 8th and similar to the ALCS, GOose Gossage failed to deliver. To be fair, an error by Lou Piniella led to 2 unearned runs, but it was enough as the Pirates would take game 1 by a 4-3 score. Odell Jones got the Pirate win in relief and Kent Tekulve got the save.

Rookie Don Robinson looked to give the Pirates a 2-0 series lead and would face off against Dick Tidrow in Game 2. However, this one started off bad for Pittsburgh and kept getting worse. The Yankees got runs in the 1st, and then in each of innings 6-9 to pile up 11 runs. Tidrow wasn't at his best as he gave up 5 runs himself, but it was more than adequate to give the Yankees the win. Mickey Rivers hit 2 HR to lead the Yankees attack.

Game 3 saw a 1-1 tie in the series with John Candelaria on the mound for Pittsburgh against Catfish Hunter. As in the NLCS, The Candyman was rolling. He pitched a complete game shutout and Willie Stargell hit 2 HR and drove in 5 as Pittsburgh won the game 7-0 to take a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 saw another new hero emerge. The Pirates, behind pitcher Bruce Kison, took a 2-0 lead into the 8th inning over Jim beattie and the Yankees. However, in the bottom of the 8th, Graig Nettles hit a 3-run HR off of Kison to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead and Goose Gossage was able to shut things down in the 9th to save it and tie the series up a 2 games each.

Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1, with Blyleven and Guidry on the mound. As expected, it was a low scoring game. Reggie Jackson finally made his name know by driving in 2 runs for NY and that was all they would need as Guidry and Gossage held the Pirates to just 1 run. The Yankees now lead the series 3 games to 2. However, the last two games are in Pittsburgh, so anything can happen!

Game 6 was a back and forth affair like you might expect as the World Series is starting to wind down. Don Robinson and Dick Tidrow were on the mound again and both lasted 7 innings with the Yankees up 3-2. When the bullpens took over, things got crazy. The Yankees scored one more run in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th to seemingly be on the verge of winning the Series as they were ahead 6-2. However, for some reason, Goose Gossage was taken out of the game in the 9th despite just a 4 run lead. He had pitched a lot recently, but calling on Larry McCall was just a bad idea! The Pirates rallied hard against McCall with RBI doubles from Omar Moreno and John Milner, plus a solo HR by Bill Robinson. By the end of the inning, it was all tied at 6. The game continued on until the 12th, where another hero emerged! This time it was no surprise, as Dave Parker took Yankees reliever, Paul Lindblad, deep for a solo game winning HR. We will have a Game 7.

The Pirates would send the hot youngster to the mound in John Candelaria. The Yankees countered with a veteran who has some big World Series experience from his days in Oakland, in Catfish Hunter. An RBI double by Reggie Jackson in the 1st got the Yankees off to a 1-0 lead. The 2nd and 3rd innings saw no scoring, but in the 4th, the Yankees struck again with 2 more runs to take a 3-0 lead. The way the series has gone, more fireworks were certainly expected.....but none came. Catfish was his old vintage self and shut the Pirates down the whole way, pitching a 6 hit shutout to clinch the World Series for the Yankees. Kudos to both teams for a hard fought and entertaining series!