Gonzalez hits game-winning single off Rivera

Associated Press

Arizona Diamondbacks celebrate defeating the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series last night, at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix. From right are Steve Finley, Luis Gonzalez and Randy Johnson. Others are unidentified.

PHOENIX - No comeback could be more unlikely, perhaps no World Series more dramatic.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, headed for another excruciating one-run loss that would give New York its fourth consecutive championship, staged a shocking ninth-inning rally of their own last night.

This 3-2 victory in Game 7 topped anything the Yankees managed last week in New York because no one expected it, not against the seemingly unbeatable Mariano Rivera. And it dethroned the three-time defending champions.

Mark Grace started the rally with a single, Tony Womack tied the game with a double, and Luis Gonzalez won it with a bloop hit. The Diamondbacks won the World Series in just their fourth season of existence, the fastest team to do so. The Florida Marlins won the World Series in 1997 in their fifth year.

Randy Johnson, in his second relief appearance since the 1995 playoffs, retired four Yankees in a row to get his third victory of the Series after Curt Schilling's masterful effort for 7 1-3 innings.

But Schilling left with his team trailing 2-1, the first time he had left a game behind in the postseason. With Rivera coming to the mound with a string of 23 consecutive postseason saves, it looked like a painful end for the Diamondbacks.

''I was trying to choke up,'' Gonzalez said of his one-out single that landed just behind shortstop Derek Jeter to send Jay Bell home with the winning run. ''I knew he was going to come in. It's a dream come true.

''This is probably going to go down as one of the best World Series ever.''

Schilling, starting on three days' rest for the second consecutive time, left with one out in the eighth inning after allowing a solo home run by Alfonso Soriano that put New York up 2-1. When manager Bob Brenly went to the mound he told Schilling, ''We'll get that one back. That's not going to beat us, big man.''

It sounded like an empty promise, since everybody knows the Yankees don't lose a lead in the late innings.

Yet Mark Grace - the old ex-Cub in his first World Series - started the ninth with his third single of the night.

Damian Miller came up to sacrifice pinch-runner David Dellucci to second. The bunt went a little too close to Rivera, who wheeled and threw to second for the force. But the throw was wide and got past shortstop Derek Jeter for an error, putting runners on first and second with no outs.

Bell, another old-timer in his first World Series, pinch-hit and bunted, but the Yankees got the force at third.

Womack, who transformed what had been a dismal season into a solid postseason, then came up with one of the biggest hits imaginable. He lined Rivera's 2-2 pitch down the right-field line, scoring pinch runner Midre Cummings from second to tie the game at 2.

With runners at first and third and one out, the packed Bank One Ballpark crowd went as crazy as a Yankees throng might be expected to go.

Craig Counsell, who scored the winning run for Florida in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Up came Gonzalez, who hit .325 in the regular season with 142 RBIs and 57 home runs. But he had been quiet much of the postseason.

Gonzalez made just enough contact to get the ball over Jeter's head in the drawn-in infield. It wasn't much of a hit, but it felt better than any one of those booming homers.

Bell ran home from third, the original free agent to sign with Arizona scoring the run that made the Diamondbacks champions.