KOD 15 - Rolaids Reliever of the Year Award Winner Jim Kern

Kern was a perfect 12 for 12 in save opps and did not allow an earned run en-route to winning the award.

KOD 15 - NL Cy Young Award Winner Don Gullett

Gullet had a magical season playing for a magical team.

KOD 15 - AL Cy Young Award Winner Andy Messersmith

Messersmith along with running mate Frank Tanana had a dominant KOD15 on the hill as evidenced by the voting.

KOD 15 - AL MVP Award Winner George Brett

In the closest vote during our KOD15 Award Voting, Brett barely edged out Ron LeFlore of the Tigers

KOD 15 - NL MVP Award Winner Willie McCovey

Special thanks to all of you who cast your ballot for our KOD 15 Awards

Mickey Rivers KOD15 World Series MVP

• Mickey Rivers - .448, 13 hits, 4 runs, 4RBIs, HR – was named Series MVP.
• Pete Rose finished the Series hitting .481 with a .588 OBP.  He probably would have been MVP if Cincinnati had won the Series.
• George Foster led all hitters with 10 RBIs.
• Bobby Grich, Jim Spencer, Bob Oliver, Mickey Rivers, Ken Berry, and Leroy Stanton entered the Series with a combined 3 HRs for the entire season, including the LDS and LCS. Yet they combined for 7 HRs in the World Series.
• Despite finishing the season 2nd to last in the AL in number of HRs hit as a team, California out-homered Cincinnati 9-5 in the World Series.      
• Tanana’s loss in Game 2 and Messersmith’s loss in Game 3 were only the 2nd loss for each on the season, including the entire post-season.
• Tom Seaver’s loss in Game 6 and Don Gullett’s loss in Game 7 were only the 2nd loss for each on the season, including the entire post-season.

GAME 7: Angels 5, Reds 1 - Halos win series after being down 3-0

October 25, Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati 

Andy Messersmith vs Don Gullett
Angels 5, Reds 1
As unlikely as it seemed 4 days earlier, a 7th game would be played in the Series.  Each team responded with their best starter.  Cincinnati handed the ball to Don Gullett (9-1, 1.51), while California chose ace Andy Messersmith (7-2, 2.80).  Through 5 innings, both pitchers rose to the challenge.  Only Gullett showed a momentary lapse of concentration when he surrendered a 1-out triple to Ken Berry in the top of the 3rd, followed by a double by Mickey Rivers.  The score was still 1-0 when Joe Rudi led off the top of the 6th with a solo HR to give the Angels a 2-0 lead.  And with Messersmith firing bullets, having yielded only 3 singles thus far, perhaps that would be enough for victory.  Andy Etchebarren opened the 7th inning with a walk. Ken Berry then shocked the hometown Cincinnati crowd with his 1st HR of the season, a clutch 2-run shot, and suddenly the Angel lead was 4-0.  One out later, Gullett’s day was done. On came closer Tom Hall, who struck out Bobby Grich.  But then Angels’ team HR and RBI leader Don Baylor parked on into the left field seats to give California an imposing 5-0 lead.

Cincinnati managed to load the bases with 2-outs in the bottom of the 7thth inning.  But Messersmith escaped the jam by getting Dave Concepcion to groundout to shortstop. After California went quietly in the top of the 8th, Angels’ manager Lefty Fregosi Zaner decided to lift Messersmith after 116 pitches. And to use his well-rested the bullpen to get the last 6 outs.  However the strategy appeared to backfire when reliever Rudy May walked Joe Morgan and Pete Rose to lead off the bottom of the 8th, and Ken Griffey singled to knock in Morgan with the Reds’ first run.  Lloyd Allen was called on out of the pen and delivered exactly what the doctor ordered: a round-the-horn double play grounder, and then another infield groundout to limit the damage to 1 run.  With the score still 5-1, Cincinnati put 2 runners on base with 1-out in the bottom of the 9th.  When Bobby Tolan was announced as a pinch hit for Concepcion, Mel Queen, a righty who specializes in getting out left-handed batters came in in relief, and induced a 6-4-3 twin killing, the Angels’ 4th of the game.

And as improbable as it was, the California Angels, down 0-3 after 3 games had come back and won 4 straight against the best team in baseball to earn the KOD15 World Series trophy.  Indeed, anything can happen in a short series.

Angels win series 4-3

--submitted by Douglas Zaner--