October 2, 1995: In a 1-game playoff for the American League Western Division title, Seattle Mariners southpaw Randy Johnson throws a 3-hitter and beats the California Angels, 9-1 at the Kingdome. It is the 1st postseason berth in the Mariners' history.
The 6-foot-10 pitcher known as the Big Unit finishes the season with an 18-2 record to establish a new AL mark for winning percentage by a lefthander, of .900, surpassing the record set of .893 by Ron Guidry in 1978. (Guidry still has the mark for lefty AL pitchers winning at least 20 games.)
Tony Philips of the Angels hits the game's only home run. But it's also the only run the Angels score. It's only 1-0 Mariners going to the bottom of the 7th, but Mark Langston collapses, and the Mariners capitalize, led by a 2-run double by Luis Sojo. This was the 1st big postseason hit for the future Yankee. There would be more.
The Angels led the Division by 11 games on August 9, and 6 games on September 12. But a pair of 9-game losing streaks, and a 7-game winning streak by the Mariners, doomed the Halos to one of the worst collapses in major league history.
The Angels were established in 1961, as the Los Angeles Angels. They became the California Angels in 1965, moved to Anaheim in 1966, and were usually good but never reached the Playoffs until winning the AL West in 1979. But they lost the AL Championship Series to the Baltimore Orioles.
They won the Division again in 1982, but blew a 2-0 lead to the Milwaukee Brewers. The won again in 1986, but blew a 3-1 lead to the Boston Red Sox. They didn't reach a Game 163 again until 1995, and thought they had the Division wrapped up, but they went downhill, and the Mariners went on a tear.
The Angels' inability to win a Pennant was beginning to be called "The Curse of the Cowboy." Gene Autry, Western movies' "Singing Cowboy," was their 1st owner, and still owned the team at this point. There seemed to be no reason why he would put a curse on his own team, but maybe he was the one who was cursed.
In the midst of the illness that would end his life the next year, Autry sold the Angels to the Walt Disney Company in 1997. Disney changed the team's name to the Anaheim Angels. The team finally won their 1st Pennant in 2002, and then won the World Series, ending the curse. But maybe they've started a new one: They've been to the Playoffs a few times since, but still have only the 1 Pennant.
But that's 1 Pennant more than the Mariners have: Established in 1977, they've gone 0-3 in ALCS play.
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October 2, 1995 was a Monday. There was only one other score on this historic day: On ABC Monday Night Football, the Buffalo Bills beat the Cleveland Browns, 22-19 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
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