PHOENIX — This is Don Zimmer's 53rd year in pro baseball. But he can still be amazed, and he was Wednesday and Thursday by the New York Yankees' back-to-back comebacks when they were one out from losing games to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

        “You think you're a los er,” said Zimmer, the Yankees' bench coach. “Then, all of a sudden, you look and you won. You say, "How'd we do it?'”

        Zimmer has been manager Joe Torre's right-hand man during all of the Yankees' incredible six-year run. But he said before Game 6 Saturday night that if the Yankees pull this season out, it will be the best of the five championships.

        “I'd have to say so,” he said. “With what happened on Sept. 11 and we've been down in every series, I'd say — if we win — this is the best of the six years.

        “But it's been a great ride all six years.”

        Zimmer, 70, is a Cincinnati guy, of course. He and former Kansas City and Chicago manager Jim Frey were high school teammates at Western Hills.

        Zimmer managed himself for 13 years. He was 885-858 with the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Boston Red Sox and Cubs.

        Zimmer also coached for the Red Sox. He was the third base coach during the 1975 World Series. Game 6 from that year is the only game he compares with Games 3 and 4 from this year.

        “You had (Bernie) Carbo hitting the three-run homer,” he said. “Then (Carlton) Fisk hit the homer. That's the comparison. But to have it happen two nights in a row ...”

        Zimmer nearly walked away from the game in 1995. He was with the Colorado Rockies as bench coach when he quit during the season. It was announced that he retired. That was his wife, Jean's, doing.

        “When I left Colorado, I said I was quiting,” Zimmer said. “She said "quit' sounds bad. So I said I was retiring. But I wasn't ready to retire. I said if any clubs call, I'll consider it.”

        Torre called. Zimmer considered it and accepted the job.

        He and Torre have been working closely ever since.

        “We discuss everything,” Zimmer said. “But there's one boss. That's Joe. But I'm not one to lay back. I say what's on my mind.”

        Zimmer filled in for Torre for the first 36 games of 1999 when Torre was recovering from prostate cancer. The Yankees went 21-15 in those games.

        Torre and Zimmer are working without contracts. Their deals ran out Oct.31. It has been reported that Torre will sign a three-year deal.

        “I expect Zim to be back,” Torre said.

        Zimmer is not certain.

        “I've been asked a lot the last six weeks,” he said. “There's two parts: You have to be asked back, and you have to want to come back. If I'm asked back, I'll have a decision to make.”

        If he's not back, he'll go to his home in Treasure Island, Fla., and savor the memories of the past six years.

        “It's something I'll never forget,” he said.

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