Some people will want to spend this day watching the History channel, viewing the various specials about the 9/11 attacks, especially this year being the 10 year anniversary, but I saw all I needed to that day, if I never see anything else on September 11th I'll be fine, not that I'm indifferent towards the attacks, quite the opposite actually, I'm comfortable living in denial, I know thats a problem, and in this case I'm ok with it
Back to baseball, what does baseball have to do with 9/11? A lot actually, there was a really good documentary made about how the New York Yankees post season literally lifted the spirits of an entire city, this time it wasn't just about the Yankees winning another Championship, it was about putting a city on their collective backs and winning a World Series if for no other reason than to allow the City forget for a brief second about everything that took place.
Yet, as dramatic a World Series as it was, it was so close to never happening at all.
Baseball like all sports would suffer a delay as a result of the attacks the first game back for both the Mets and Yankees was full of emotion and drama, this is a city that loves its baseball, and it served as a distraction. The Yankees would make the Post Season, facing the Oakland A's in the first round, a best 3 out of 5 Series. Going into the Post Season, Yankee great Right Fielder Paul O' Neill said he would retire at the end of the season. The A's were stacked, they had three of the best offensive players in the game in Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, and Eric Chavez, their starters were young and talented, an their bullpen was deep.
The Yanks however were starting to hear that they were getting too old to compete, they had just won three straight World Series, but many doubted with age being such an issue if they could compete for a fourth in a row.
And like the nay-sayers said in the first two games the Yanks looked old and sluggish, the young A's had their way with the Yankees starting pitching, and the talented pitching of the A's simply baffled the Yankee hitters. The Yanks would lose the first two games at Yankee Stadium, a lot of people thought the series was over, and for good reason, the Yanks had to go back to Oakland and win two games in a row just to have a chance to go back to New York to play Game 5 at the Stadium.
Going into Game 3 in Oakland there was as lot of doom and gloom in the air for the defending champs, all of the hopes rested on the right arm of the big free agent acquisition Mike Mussina, Mussina has two nicknames, one is the cute and kid-friendly Moose, the other however is more appropriate, "Mr. Almost" he almost threw a perfect game, he almost won a World Series, he almost won a Cy Young Award, he was a great pitcher no doubt but on the fringe of excellence. It was up to him to extend the season of the Yankees. Also the lefty Barry Zito was pitching for the A's which meant Paul O' Neill would be sitting out for what could be the final game of his historic career. What would happen during that game had to be seen to be believed, it was one of the greatest pitching duels in post season history, the Yanks got 1 run, Mussina was making that 1 run stand putting together a masterful pitching performance. However in the 7th with two outs and Jeremy Giambi on 1st, Terrance Long would get a long, deep hit to the outfield, Right Fielder Shane Spencer would throw the ball in, the throw overshot a waiting Jorge Posada, and it looked like the run would score, tying the game. Except for some reason, Derek Jeter was in no man's land, playing behind Posada to his right, Jeter was able to get a hold of the ball and flipped it to Posada. It silenced the crowd and commentators, no one had ever seen anything like it, the play known as "The Flip" left a lot of questions, biggest of all, what was Jeter even doing playing there, I mean, playing back-up to the catcher is a long way away from his shortstop position. Jeter said after the game, that they practiced that before, but whatever the reason, the flip saved the run but more importantly, saved the season for the Yanks as they would win the game 1-0.
The Yankees would go on to win Game 4 rather easily forcing a Winner take All Game 5 at Yankee Stadium, there was a feeling in the stadium that night that the Yanks would win this thing, and the Yanks didn't disappoint. It wasn't a breeze, but the Yanks won, moving on to the next round to face the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners had just picked up one of the most exciting players to ever play in Ichiro, he was causing a stir throughout the league. The Mariners set a record for the best regular season in MLB history, breaking the record set by the eventual champion Yankees in 1998, as tough a task as they had beating the A's a lot of people felt, myself included that this was going to be far more difficult.
However, the Yanks won the first 2 games in Seattle rather easily, the Yanks had the momentum on their side. When the series shifted back to New York the Mariners won Game 3 easily, in that game the Mariners looked like the Mariners of the regular season. Game 4 was crucial, Seattle manager Lew Pinnella made a promise the series would go back to Seattle for Games 6 and 7 and the Mariners would win, and to his point this was the hardest fought game of the series. It was a tense and tight pitching duel, both starters where strong, both teams would threaten to score, but neither team did. Brett Boone would score the first run in the top of the 8th hitting a solo homerun. In the Bottom of the 8th Bernie Williams would hit a solo shot himself. Marino Rivera would pitch in the Top of the 9th keeping the score tied, and in the bottom of the 9th Alfonso Soriano would hit a 2-run walkoff homerun, winning the game for the Yanks and giving them the big advantage in the series. The following night the Yanks would win very easily, the Mariners looked deflated, and the Yanks and Andy Petite capitalized, winning the game, and against most peoples predictions going back to the World Series for the fourth straight year.
Their World Series opponent was an unlikely opponent, the Arizona Diamondbacks where in their first World Series in team history. Where the Yanks were extremely well rounded, in their starting pitching, bullpen, and hitting (most of their runs were scored via the homerun) the Yanks were your typical American League team. The Diamondbacks personified the National League, they were a scrappy team, they scored their runs simply by putting base hits together, stealing bases and bunting. They also had the two best pitchers that season, both of whom had their personal best seasons that year, in Curt Shilling and Randy Johnson. Shilling said before the series he would pitch 3 of the games, Johnson would pitch 2 games, which meant the Yanks were going to see the 2 best pitchers in the game 5 out of 7 games.
The first two games were played in Arizona, the Yanks struck first in Game 1 against Shilling, but the rest of the Game would belong to the D' Backs as they would win in blowout fashion. Game 2 was a battle of talented lefties Randy Johnson vs. Andy Petite, but the result was the same for the Yanks, the D' Backs would again win in blowout fashion.
Game 3 was must-win, and everyone knew it, Roger Clemens guaranteed a win, but he had to win, the Yanks finally had the pitching advantage as they faced Brian Anderson, the game was close but the Yankees eventually won the game, cutting their deficit in the series in half.
Game 4 was played on Halloween night, for the first time ever. The pitching match-up favored Arizona immensely, as it was Curt Shilling vs. the struggling Orlando Hernandez, the game was nip and tuck the entire time, the Diamondbacks had a 2 run lead going into the bottom of ninth facing the D' Backs closer Byung-Hyun Kim, who had been supremely reliable the entire post season, with their backs against the walls, Tino Martinez hit a 2-run homerun in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, forcing extra innings, after a scoreless top half of the inning Derek Jeter would come to the plate, soon after the stroke of midnight, for the first time ever, there was November baseball. Derek Jeter would take the Kim pitch and drill it into the seats in right field, winning the game for the Yanks, and earning himself the nickname Mr. November. The atmosphere in the stadium was unlike anything I'd ever seen before at any baseball game, the 9/11 attacks seemed to loom over the entire World Series, from former President Bush throwing out the first pitch before Game 3 to former Mayor Rudy Gulliani sitting in the front row during every single Post Season game, yet at this moment, for many New Yorkers that was a distant thought, the only thought on that night was the Yanks had just evened the Series in frantic fashion. But what would Game 5 have in store.
Coming into Game 5 Mike Mussina was hoping to rebound from his poor pitching performance in Game 1, unlike Game 1 he wasn't facing Curt Shilling, he was facing Miguel Batista, the game was once again a nail biter, but to the surprise of everyone as good as Mussina was on this night Batista was even better. In the top of the 9th the Yankee Stadium fans began to show their appreciation to the hard work and incredible play of Paul O' Neill as 50,000 plus all together chanted Paul O' Neill's name, it was one of the most touching moments I'd ever seen during a game as the appreciation rained down the entire inning, and its moments like that, that make me happy to be a Yankee fan, as bad as our reputation may be, Yankee fans are classy about that type of thing, not trashy like those Red Sox fans. Despite the Yanks trailing in the game by a run, the fans knew this would be the last time they would see Paul O' Neill playing, it was the type of moment in sports that I'll always remember. The Yanks however, for the second night in a row entered the bottom of the ninth down 2 runs, there was a little more optimism in the Stadium that night, after all the Yanks had just come back in the same situation the night before, but rarely does lightning strike twice. However 3rd baseman Scott Brocious would hit a homerun once again forcing extra innings, the miraculous happened again, the Yanks would again win the game in extra innings, again there was pandemonium at the Stadium, and again as close as the tragedy of that fateful September day hit, it seemed miles away at that moment. The Yanks had their first lead of the World Series, and two chances to win it, the scene however was shifting back to Arizona, but after the October and November magic of the past few days Yankee fans were confident they would take the series.
With the Series now in Arizona Andy Petite would get a chance at redemption vs. Randy Johnson. However, this game was never close, the Diamondbacks beat up on Andy Pettite, hitting him all over the place, meanwhile Johnson was in firm control, the win forced a winner take all Game 7
Game 7 was a match up of two of the greatest to ever pitch Roger Clemens and Curt Shilling, the night had a historic feel to it before a single pitch was hurled. The Yanks for all their dominance of the Late 90's Early 2000's didn't play a Game 7 in any of their World Series. Chuck Knoblock set the tone for the game early when he hit a routine double and tried to turn it into a triple, it was going to be that type of game, every inch of every play would count. The Diamondbacks would strike first, soon after the Yanks would get a run. This game wasn't going to be a blowout, both pitchers were on their game. In the Top of the 8th Alfonso Sorino hit a solo homerun giving the Yanks a 2-1 lead, it was up to Clemens and the rest of the bullpen to hold the lead to give the ball to Marino Rivera, and wrap this World Series up.
Marino is the greatest closer in MLB history, that isn't just my opinion as a Yankee fan, it's the consensus opinion, the position was there before him, but he's the person that made the closer position what it is today, he redefined it, and is almost automatic, at Yankee Stadium they play the Metallica song "Enter Sandman" when he enters the game, for several reasons, he puts the hitters bats to sleep, it's time to wrap of the game when he enters, and if you think you have a chance of winning put on you pj's because you're dreaming. Long story short, the guy is automatic. A lot of people feel during the Yankees dynasty of that era he was their MVP, and for good reason, the last time the Yanks lost a Post Season game with Mo pitching was in 1997 against the Indians.
The Yanks turned to Rivera in the Bottom of the 8th, which was not uncommon, the Yanks often went to Rivera earlier than most teams will go to their closer. Rivera breezed through the Bottom of the 8th. Shilling was still in the game and dealing, eventually however, he got in trouble. 1 run was going to be hard to come by against Rivera, 2 might as well be impossible. So manager Bob Brenly went to the previous nights starter, Randy Johnson. Johnson came into the game with it starting to rain, he would finish the Top of the 9th without allowing any of the runners on base to score, which meant the D' Backs were going to the bottom of the 9th trailing by 1 run. Personally at that time however, 1 run was plenty, I was already singing "We Are the Champions" and "New York, New York" the bottom half of the 9th was a mere technicality from the inevitable Yankee World Series win.
Rivera had struck out the side in the 8th, the heart of the order to be exact, it seemed like he could breeze through the bottom of the 9th in the same way. Such was not the case, Mark Grace led off the inning with a single. Damian Miller would follow, and it was clear he was going to bunt to get the tying run in scoring position. The next thing that happened lives in baseball infamy, Miller would lay down a bunt right back to the mound, Rivera would pick up the ball, and instead of throwing the ball to 1st to get the sure out, Rivera tried to get the lead run at 2nd, and misthrew the ball into Centerfield, putting runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs.
This was the moment when I stopped singing "We Are the Champions", it was the moment when I started to freak out, and it was the moment when I realized, the Yanks may not win this thing, it wasn't looking good. The rest is somewhat a blur, Rivera would get one out when Arizona would again try to bunt, he threw the ball to 3rd to get the first out, but there were still runners at 1st and 2nd. Tony Womack was the next hitter, he would get a double scoring 1 run, tying the game, and blowing the Save for Rivera. But more importantly there was a runner at 3rd, just 90 feet away. Luis Gonzales would hit a soft single, just over Derek Jeter, just hitting the outfield, scoring the winning run, thusly giving the Arizona Diamondbacks their first World Series. I can only imagine the crowd went crazy, but to this day, I don't know what happened. I remember turing off the TV and sitting in silence for an hour if not more, trying to figure out what went wrong, the Yanks were so close to victory, only to blow-up when it mattered most, something that didn't happen during the Joe Torre regime up to that point. For the city of New York, it was another major tragedy, certainly it was significantly more superficial than the attacks on 9/11, but for a city that loves its baseball, it was another tough blow. But what was so amazing about this World Series, and the entire playoff run of the 2001 Yankees, was after Game 7, people in New York weren't talking or thinking about 9/11, everyone was talking about the Yanks, and how they could blow the game. 9/11 had been an eerie backdrop of New York City everyday since it happened up to that point, and after Game 7, it wasn't quite as tough to deal with, the city of New York got what they needed, a distraction, something to take their minds off of the tragedy of that day, and the Yankees did that.
Looking back at that World Series, I would say (and a lot of people agree) it was the best World Series of all-time. Granted there were 3 blow-outs, but 3 of the games contained some of the most compelling and dramatic moments ever seen in sports, while the outcome wasn't what I would have wanted, or anyone other Yankee fan for that matter, it contained some of the great moments in Yankee history, from Derek Jeter becoming Mr. November, to the salute to Paul O' Neill, to the back-to-back miracle comebacks, the series contained so many iconic Yankee moments, and more importantly helped a city forget the worst tragedy to ever happen on US soil, and at the end of the day that was more important than the Yankees winning. (although it would have been nice)
No comments:
Post a Comment