ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The brain is cluttered with baseball memories from Game 7.

A rookie starter, a rookie phenom and a rookie journeyman pitching their hearts out.

	Garret Anderson played the hero in Game 7 with a bases-clearing double in the third.

Darin Erstad's diving catch to rob David Bell of a base hit.

Kenny Lofton's flyball to the warning track.

The happiest scene in sports -- the mad-rush pileup on the pitcher's mound after winning the World Series.

The sad tears of a 3-year-old batboy being carried away in his daddy's arms.

The season begins in February. Eight months later it's over. Sometimes we get lucky enough to have it all come down to one game.

And sometimes that game is won with one key hit.

Garret Anderson, the stoic cleanup hitter for the Angels, smoked a double down the right-field line that drove in three runs for the Angels in the third inning, snapping a 1-1 tie and leading the Anaheim Angels to a 4-1 victory over San Francisco and the World Series title. Nobody would have guessed at the time that in this World Series of high-powered offense it would be the final runs of the game.

When Anderson stepped in, the bases were loaded and Giants starter Livan Hernandez was wavering like a sunflower in the Kansas wind.

"We faced Hernandez the other night and we knew we had to be aggressive against him," said shortstop David Eckstein, who led off the inning with a liner to left field for a single that nearly skipped past Barry Bonds if he hadn't knocked it down with his bare hand. Erstad then ripped a low liner into left that Bonds bear-hugged on one hop. Tim Salmon, the Angel with the longest tenure on the club, worked the count to 2-2 and then saw a fastball sail inside and hit him on the hand.

The bases were juiced with no outs. The Giants bullpen got busy. Anderson stepped in.

He was the team's best hitter this year, but had struggled at times in the postseason -- at least compared to his red-hot teammates. He was hitting .276 in the Series, but with no extra-base hits and only three RBI. With men in scoring position, he had gone just 2-for-10, including a hard liner to center in the first inning that resulted in a double play when Eckstein was caught off second.

While the Angels were hitting .326 as a team and slugging almost .500, Anderson couldn't buy a hit. Not that you could see the frustration on his face. With his calm, professional demeanor, Anderson resembles a bank president or college professor more than an All-Star left fielder.

"Garret Anderson is going through some tough times right now," Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher said before the game. "But he's swinging good. He's hitting a lot of balls hard. He's not getting the hits. This guy's great under pressure. He gets the hit when you need them."

Like Game 7 of the World Series?

Anderson took an 88-mph fastball for a strike. He took two balls and then drilled the next offering on a hook down the line, ripped so hard right-field umpire Tim McClelland could probably hear it ring as it zipped past him. The ball bounded into the corner and the Angels were off and running. Right fielder Reggie Sanders chased after the ball, was swatted on the back by a moronic fan with a plastic red ThunderStix as he leaned down to pick it up and finally got a grip to relay the ball toward home plate.

All three runners scored easily.

"I was thinking, 'Run, Timmy, Run!'" laughed Eckstein, remembering watching Salmon round the bases.

As Anderson pulled into second base, more than 44,000 Angels fans were screaming their heads off, pounding their sticks and thinking six innings into the future.

"He's been so clutch for us all year," said Eckstein. "People don't always appreciate what he does for us on an everyday basis. He plays every game, plays hard, and is so consistent."

Anderson soaked in the noise. No pump of the fist, no smiling, no pointing to his teammates in the dugout. Just another double. It could have been spring training in Tempe.

Hernandez, his baggy uniform top two sizes too big, had the same look on his face as Anderson. He had been a World Series hero -- winning MVP honors as a rookie with the Marlins in 1997 -- and was now the World Series goat, the loser of two games while giving up 10 runs in just 5 2/3 innings.

Giants manager Dusty Baker defended his decision to start Hernandez, who had led the National League in defeats, over Kirk Rueter.

"We didn't wrestle with that decision because Kirk was going on three days' rest and Livan was on his regular days," Baker said.

Rueter later entered and pitched four scoreless innings.

"Kirk gave us all he had," said Baker. "(But) to start the game, you know, our bullpen's spent, and we felt we did the right thing going with Livan."

Garret Anderson made it the wrong thing.

And after the game, he did what he wouldn't do on the field.

"It's over with. I can smile now," he said.

David Schoenfield is baseball editor for ESPN.com.