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MARIANO RIVERA |
THE ALL STARS
& PEDRO'S HISTORIC YEAR
1999
ALCS, GAME #2
The Sox can't
get the job done in New York
and go down two games to none
October 14, 1999
...
The New York Yankees came from behind for the second straight night
to beat the Sox, this time 3-2 on a tie-breaking single by
sore-ribbed Paul O'Neill. History falls heavily in favor of the
Yankees, who tied a record held by three of their illustrious
predecessors with their 12th straight win in postseason play, putting
them two wins away from returning to the World Series for the third
time in the last four years.
Little
besides blind faith appears to favor the sons of Jimy Williams. Not after the
Sox took a lead into the seventh inning for the second straight night and lost
it. Troy O'Leary and Jason Varitek missed home runs by mere inches, the Sox are
1 for 13 with runners in scoring position in two games, and they may have lost
first baseman Mike Stanley, who was hit in the right wrist by a pitch from Jeff
Nelson in the eighth inning (X-rays were negative).
The Sox, who
left 13 runners on base, gave it one last shot in the ninth on two-out singles
by Nomar Garciaparra and O'Leary. But an overmatched Damon Buford, who entered
the game as a pinch runner for Stanley in an eighth inning in which Williams
emptied his bench, went down swinging against Mariano Rivera.
The Yankees
closer hasn't allowed a run since July 21, a span of 32 appearances, including
four in the postseason. The Sox bullpen, meanwhile, couldn't protect the 2-1
lead Nomar Garciaparra had given the gallant Ramon Martinez with a two-run home
run off Yankees starter David Cone, who matched a personal postseason best by
striking out nine in seven innings.
With a
healthier bullpen, Jimy Williams probably would have excused Ramon Martinez for
the night after he walked leadoff man Ricky Ledee to open the seventh. Martinez
already had thrown 105 pitches entering the inning, and while he was still
hitting 90 miles per hour on the radar gun, he had not been pushed to such
extremes since before his surgery, 15 months previously.
But Jimy
Williams elected to stick with the elegant righthander. Scott Brosius bunted
Ledee to second, but Joe Girardi popped out, leaving Martinez one out away from
finishing his night's labors with a lead. But Knoblauch rifled a 1-1 pitch into
the left-field corner, scoring Ledee with the tying run. With Derek Jeter the
next hitter, Williams came for Ramon, who delayed his departure until reliever
Tom Gordon was almost to the mound.
Gordon
lasted one batter. Missing high with his fastball, Gordon walked Jeter, bouncing
a 3-and-2 curveball that Varitek did a nice job of blocking to keep Knoblauch at
third, where he'd advanced with a stolen base without drawing a throw.
Jimy
Williams then summoned Cormier to face O'Neill in a reprise of their
ninth-inning encounter in Game 1. Cormier won that one, inducing O'Neill to tap
back to the mound. Cormier jumped ahead of O'Neill putting the Yankees'
right-fielder in a 1-and-2 hole, but O'Neill, despite being jammed, flared the
next pitch over Nomar's head.
Jimy
Williams emptied his entire bench in the span of four batters in the eighth
inning, using three pinch hitters and two pinch runners. Yankees manager Joe
Torre countered with four pitchers. The outcome of all the maneuvers? With the
bases full of Sox, Yankees reliever Ramiro Mendoza struck out pinch hitter Butch
Huskey and retired Jose Offerman on a gentle fly to center.
While the
Yankees' 12 straight matches the record set by the '26, '27, and '32 Bombers,
the Sox were unable to end their own streak of 10 straight losses in American
League Championship Series play. |
