Friday, October 27, 2000
Yankees win third straight title
Bronx Bombers take out Mets in five
By Chris Haft
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEW YORK — The Subway Series has carried its distinguished passengers, the New York Yankees, into baseball history.
They broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the top of the ninth inning and captured their third consecutive World Series with a 4-2 victory over the New York Mets in Game 5.
In winning this 96th Fall Classic, four games to one, the Yankees became only the fourth team to win at least three consecutive world titles. Sealing the link from Derek Jeter, the Series' Most Valuable Player, to Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig, the Yanks also accomplished this feat from 1949-53 and 1936-39. The Oakland A's won three Series in a row from 1972-74.
“It's a culmination of the year,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “When you win the first one of the three, it's great, because it takes so much to do it. You win two in a row, and it's great. You never fathom we'll be back again, because you figure there'll be a rock in the road somewhere.”
The Yankees and Mets followed the script that had dictated this entire Series yet made the storyline seem compelling. The Yankees, who won Games 1, 2 and 4 by a single run, waited until their final at-bat to secure the victory that gave them their fourth world title in five years.
The Yankees again displayed the knack for thriving suddenly under adversity. This was the team that lost 15 of its last 18 regular-season games. This was the club that had to fly cross-country to Oakland to win the fifth and deciding game of the division series.
And in the season's ultimate game before 55,292 bellowing fans at Shea Stadium, three hitters who were a combined 8-for-36 thus far in the Series ignited the Yankees' winning rally.
Mets starter Al Leiter seemed indomitable as the ninth began, striking out two of the more productive Yankees, Tino Martinez and Paul O'Neill.
But Leiter prolonged the inning by walking Jorge Posada, who was 4-for-18 in the Series to that point. Up came Scott Brosius, an ordinary 3-for-12. He singled to left field, moving Posada to second base and bringing Luis Sojo, who had entered the game one inning earlier as part of a double-switch, to the plate.
“In my career, I hadn't hit Leiter well,” said Sojo, who was 2-for-8 against the left-hander. “But he threw the pitch right down the middle.”
Up the middle was where Sojo grounded Leiter's first pitch for a single. Center fielder Jay Payton's strong throw and Posada arrived at home plate simultaneously, striking the Yankees catcher on the hip and causing the ball to carom wildly into the Mets' dugout on the first-base side. The throwing error enabled Brosius to follow Posada across the plate.
Yankees relief ace Mariano Rivera walked Benny Agbayani with one out in the ninth before retiring Edgardo Alfonzo and Mike Piazza on fly balls to start the Bronx Bombers' victory dance.
“When Mike hit that ball, I screamed, "No!'” said Torre, recalling his reaction to Piazza's moderately long drive. “Because any time he hits the ball in the air, it's a home run in my mind.”
Legitimate home runs by Bernie Williams and Jeter offset the Mets' pair of second-inning unearned runs off left-hander Andy Pettitte, who stranded nine Mets in seven innings before winning pitcher Mike Stanton relieved him to start the eighth.
The Yankees opened the scoring in the second inning, when Williams drove a 3-2 pitch over the left-field barrier. It ended the cleanup batter's hitless streak of 22 World Series at-bats, dating to last year's Game 2 against Atlanta.
The Mets inched ahead in the bottom of the inning, helped by a pair of Pettitte mistakes — a one-out walk and a fielding error. Those were the first runs Pettitte ever allowed in a Series start on the road. He pitched a total of 15ö scoreless innings in wins at Atlanta in 1996 and San Diego in 1998.
The Mets nursed their 2-1 lead into the sixth, when Jeter batted with one out and belted a 2-0 pitch for his second homer in two nights.
“Derek Jeter's a great player,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. “He didn't have to prove it this Series.”
SULLIVAN: This old team is one for the ages
NY YANKEES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
Vizcaino 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .235
a-Knoblauch ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .100
Stanton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
b-Hill ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Rivera p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Jeter ss 4 1 1 1 0 2 0 .409
Justice lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 .158
Bellinger lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Williams cf 3 1 2 1 1 1 1 .111
Martinez 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .364
Oneill rf 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 .474
Posada c 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 .222
Brosius 3b 4 1 1 0 0 0 1 .308
Pettitte p 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000
Sojo 2b 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 .286
Totals 34 4 7 3 3 9 8
a-fouled to catcher for Vizcaino in the 8th; b-flied to left for
Stanton in the 9th.
BATTING: HR - Williams (1, 2nd inning off Leiter 0 on, 0 out);
Jeter (2, 6th inning off Leiter 0 on, 1 out). RBI - Williams
(1), Jeter (2), Sojo (2). 2-out RBI - Sojo. Runners left in
scoring position, 2 out - Pettitte 1, Hill 1. Team LOB - 6.
FIELDING: E - Pettitte (1, catch).
NY METS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
Agbayani lf 4 0 1 1 1 1 2 .278
Alfonzo 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 .143
Piazza c 5 0 2 0 0 0 2 .273
Zeile 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 2 .400
Ventura 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 3 .150
Trammell rf 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 .400
Perez rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125
Payton cf 4 1 2 0 0 1 1 .333
Abbott ss 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 .250
Leiter p 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000
J Franco p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-Hamilton ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
Totals 34 2 8 1 4 7 15
a-struck out for J Franco in the 9th.
BATTING: 2B - Piazza (2, Pettitte). S - Leiter. RBI - Agbayani
(2). 2-out RBI - Agbayani. Runners left in scoring position, 2
out - Alfonzo 1, Leiter 1, Ventura 1, Agbayani 2, Piazza 1.
Team LOB - 10.
BASERUNNING: Picked off - Abbott (1st base, Pettitte).
FIELDING: E - Payton (2, throw).
--------------------------------------------------
Ny Yankees - 010 001 002 -- 4
Ny Mets - 020 000 000 -- 2
--------------------------------------------------
NY YANKEES ip h r er bb so hr era
Pettitte 7 8 2 0 3 5 0 1.98
Stanton (W, 2-0) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.00
Rivera (S, 2) 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 3.00
NY METS ip h r er bb so hr era
Leiter (L, 0-1) 8 2/3 7 4 3 3 9 2 2.87
J Franco 1/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00
IBB - Zeile (by Pettitte). Pitches-strikes: Leiter 142-84; J
Franco 6-3; Pettitte 129-80; Stanton 14-9; Rivera 13-8. Ground
balls-fly balls: Leiter 9-8; J Franco 0-1; Pettitte 12-3;
Stanton 1-1; Rivera 0-2. Batters faced: Leiter 36; J Franco 1;
Pettitte 32; Stanton 3; Rivera 4.
UMPIRES: HP--Tim Mcclelland. 1B--Jerry Crawford. 2B--Ed
Montague. 3B--Charles Reliford. LF--Jeffrey Kellogg. RF--Tim
Welke.
T--3:32. Att--55,292. Weather: 58 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 3
mph, left to right.
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