ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Roughly half an hour after earning the win that forced tonight's finale to the World Series, Anaheim 31-year-old rookie Brendan Donnelly thought back to where he was at this time last year when the Yankees and the Diamondbacks played their classic Game 7.

"I was pitching in Puerto Rico and we had a game that day," he said while dressing after his team's 6-5 come-from-behind win in Game 6. "We planned to watch the World Series after the game but we wound up playing 21 innings and the World Series started before we were done. We played six and a half hours and we ended up watching the World Series between innings. They showed it on the scoreboard but as soon as the pitcher stepped on the rubber at the start of the inning, they stopped showing it.

	Scott Spiezio's 3-run HR in Game 6 helped deliver the Angels into Game 7.

"So I'm pitching the 21st inning and I knew if I stepped on the rubber that they would take the World Series off the board. But Arizona had a couple runners on base and I wanted to see how it ended. So I kept my foot off the rubber and just stood there and watched the game until Luis Gonzalez singled to win it.

"And then I started pitching and I gave up the game-winning run."

That was all so long ago and so much has happened in baseball since. Donnelly, already released six times in his career (including once by an independent minor-league team), had never pitched in the major leagues. Barry Bonds had never won in the postseason. The Angels had never won in the postseason. Francisco Rodriguez was a teenager. Darren Baker was two years old and probably unable to carry a 33-ounce bat from home plate to the dugout. The Rally Monkey was just a former "Friends" cast member down on his luck. Bud Selig could walk down the streets of Minneapolis without fear. Ted Williams was alive and at room temperature.

It's been a long, involved and often trying year. But it ends tonight, when the Angels and Giants meet one final time in Game 7 of the World Series.

And they can hardly wait. "I don't want to go home," Anaheim batting coach Mickey Hatcher said an hour after Game 6 and just before being informed that he would have to wait an extra hour because of daylight savings time.

Damn the luck. But what the heck, you wait this long to play baseball's ultimate game, what's another hour?

"This is what we've been waiting for our whole lives," said 5-foot-6 Angels shortstop David Eckstein. "Everybody growing up dreamed about this. Playing in the backyard, that's the situation you put yourself in. Game 7 of the World Series."

Dream about this all your life? Scott Spiezio hit a crucial three-run homer in the seventh inning Saturday, just the sort of situation his father (a veteran of the 1967 and '68 World Series), had been training him for since he was three years (the same age Scott learned to switch-hit). Everyday while he was growing up, Scott took batting practice from Ed Spiezio and each practice ended with his father simulating World Series situations.

This is the seventh game of the World Series, the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two outs and you're down by a run.

The last time they went through that routine was about five years ago after Scott was 26 and already in the majors. Spiezio bought 200 tennis balls, built a pitching screen with netting and PVC pipe and went to a Little League field where Ed threw batting practice for two hours. "My mother and two grandmothers shagged balls in the outfield," Scott said. "They used plastic shopping bags."

We've heard of "Angels in the Outfield," but Grandmothers in the Outfield? Well, it's no less likely than the plot to tonight's deciding game.

Anaheim's starting pitcher tonight is rookie John Lackey, who was pitching in Triple-A Salt Lake as recently as late June. The eighth rookie to pitch a deciding game, he's pitching on three days' rest. San Francisco counters with Livan Hernandez, who has been handling big-game pressure since he pitched for Fidel Castro and the Cuban national team.

"I expect him to rise to the occasion," said Giants closer Robb Nen, who pitched in Game 7 in 1997 with Florida. "He'll go late in the game and give us a really good chance to win."

And if not, they'll go to the bullpen. This is the last game of the season and everyone is available.

"Pitchers may be used in different roles. Ramon Ortiz may come out of the bullpen which would be a new thing for him," Spiezio said. "But everyone knows how big this game is and when you have the seventh game of the World Series, they would be able to pitch even if they pitched seven innings the day before."

Rookies in Game 7

Angels right-hander John Lackey becomes the eighth rookie to start the decisive, winner-take-all game of the World Series. Here's what happened to the first seven: Babe Adams, 1909 Pirates Blanked the Tigers on six hits for his third win of the Series. Hugh Bedient, 1912 Red Sox In Game 8 (there had been a tied), allowed just one run in seven innings. Picked up a no-decision as Joe Wood got the win in relief when Boston won in 10 innings. Spec Shea, 1947 Yankees Had won two games earlier, but lasted just 1 1/3 innings. Yankees won anyway, 5-2, as Joe Page tossed five scoreless innings in relief. Joe Black, 1952 Dodgers Started just twice during regular season, but was making third start of Series. Took the loss (to the Yankees) with three runs in 5 1/3 innings. Mel Stottlemyre, 1964 Yankees With Whitey Ford hurt, Stottlemyre went on two days' rest. Gave up three runs in four innings and got the loss against St. Louis. Joe Magrane, 1987 Cardinals Gave up two runs in 4 1/3 innings and had a no-decision as the Twins won the Series. Jaret Wright, 1997 Indians Gave up one run in 6 1/3 and was in line for the win until the Marlins rallied. --ESPN.com

Certainly Randy Johnson was able to do that last year in Game 7 but no starting pitcher has even lasted seven innings this Series. The two teams have combined for a 6.14 ERA, allowing a World Series record 21 home runs. Bonds, who played 16 major-league seasons and hit 600 home runs while waiting for this moment, is hitting .500 with a .731 on-base percentage and four home runs. That included a blast in Game 6 that traveled so far that a Giants fan from the Bay Area finally chased it down near a concession stand behind the right-field bleachers.

"I've got to hide it," Santosh Poonen said as people kept walking up to him to see and touch the ball as if it had magic powers. "Do you think I'll make it out of here alive?"

Will anyone? With all that hitting, no one is safe, especially the pitchers. The Giants rallied from 5-0 lead in Game 2 only to blow a 9-7 lead and lose. Anaheim rallied from 5-0 Saturday with just eight outs to go. Of course, Saturday's rally was nothing for Angels. They came back from a 6-0 deficit against the Yankees during the Division Series and came from behind in seven of their 10 postseason victories.

The Angels, naturally, prefer to attribute their frequent rallies to such things as hitting, resiliency and heart. But we all know better. Everyone knows it's all due to the Rally Monkey.

After beginning his career as Marcel, Ross' pet monkey on "Friends," RM has grown into a postseason icon more powerful than Mr. October himself. Every time the Angels show him on the scoreboard in late innings, the crowd goes crazy and the team responds. He showed up in the seventh inning Saturday and a couple batters later Spiezio homered. He appeared again in the eighth inning -- as part of a clip from the movie, "Lord of the Rings'' -- and within moments Troy Glaus doubled home the winning run.

We're beyond doubting whether the Rally Monkey has an effect. The only question remaining is whether the Angels voted him a full World Series share.

"I don't think we did," Spiezio said. "I think they're doing some sort of longterm deal with him. But his agent is pretty tough."

Anaheim's Jarrod Washbrun watched last year's Game 7 at home in Wisconsin, where he had to buy a satellite dish in order to pick up the Fox signal. Most viewers, apparently, won't even bother to change the channel to Fox. The series has been getting record low ratings.

That could change, though, with a Game 7 filled with a cast of characters this compelling.

We have the Giant who may break Hank Aaron's home-run record and a 5-foot-6 shortstop. A rookie starting pitcher and a Cuban defector. A major leaguer's son who has been trained for this since he was three and a three-year-old batboy in training for the 2025 World Series. A 34-year-old Salmon who played 1,388 games before reaching the postseason and a hyper-active monkey who once shared the set with Jennifer Aniston.

And that's just a few of the actors. We haven't even brought up Jeff Kent, who began this whole season on the disabled list after breaking his wrist while "washing his truck."

So who knows how it will end tonight. Just remember -- Donnelly once was released in the minor leagues to make room for high school science teacher Jim Morris, who was the subject of the hit movie, "The Rookie," which was released this spring by Disney, which owns the Angels (and ESPN). Given that serendipity, anything is possible tonight. Up to and including Bonds walking out of a cornfield to grab a new bat specially carved for him by little Darren Baker and then hitting a ninth-inning home run so far it breaks the stadium clock.

No matter who wins, after the past six games and after the past 12 months, you just wish that before it finally ends, you could step off the mound for a minute to halt the game, stop the clock and preserve the moment.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at cuffscaple@hotmail.com.