As Paul O’Neill walked out of the clubhouse after the Yanks’ 4-3 win over Boston, his 10-year-old son Andrew said, “Hey Dad, that was a great catch you made out there tonight.”
O’Neill laughed and said, “Thank you.”
Then Andrew asked, “But it looked like you got hurt out there, did you?” and O’Neill laughed again and said, “Nah.”
The exchange only proved that O’Neill truly doesn’t worry about his fractured rib or else his whole family would have been quaking over their bread winner’s acrobatic catch in the fifth inning.
Since the third game of the ALDS, O’Neill’s tender right side has been a story and the right fielder hates it.
After Wednesday’s win, a crowd of media descended on O’Neill’s locker. The first question was about his health.
“I’m fine, it didn’t affect me,” he said. “The story here is about Boston and New York playing an unbelievable game from both sides.”
O’Neill’s catch in the fifth, however, caused a collective gasp to rise from the Yanks. O’Neill made a sliding catch on a Troy O’Leary short fly ball and, as he rolled to the ground on his right side, he winced.
He then paced back and forth in the outfield after he threw the ball in and looked like he was testing how he was responding to it.
But last night O’Neill was in the lineup and manager Joe Torre said he had some treatment before the game but was good to go.
And O’Neill, who is a fierce competitor, went 1-for-5 Wednesday but was far more excited about the way his fellow outfielder won the game.
“I came back in here to get a new bat,” O’Neill said, “and as I was coming in, I heard the game on the radio and they said the ball was going, going, going back. I didn’t think it was gone but then when he said it was, I made a beeline out to the field.
“Extra-inning games in Yankee Stadium are like no other games,” O’Neill said. “It’s something special.”