HERE AT the end, the Yankees have finally found 1998.
They have once again become an unstoppable march toward greatness. A single-minded force that has no off button. They spent the schedule grasping for explanations of where the magic of the previous season had gone and loathing the comparisons to an incomparable team. And all the time the answer could have been this. “Just wait.”
The Yankees won Game 3 of the World Series 6-5 over the Braves in 10 innings last night and they now lead this best-of-seven three-games-to-none. They won this game in a fashion straight from the 1998 script. With contributions from everywhere. With a feel that any deficit could be overcome. With a relentless nature that can be summed up this way – they win because they win. This is what they do.
“We go out and play the whole game,” Joe Torre said. “And, when you do that you have a chance.”
The hope of those wanting a competitive World Series was that there would be a role-reversal repeat of 1996 when the defending champion Braves sprinted to a two-games-to-none lead on the road and then faltered at home to allow the Yankees to win a title. The Yankees won two on the road this time and stumbled at home last night. But did not fall.
Because the parts of 1996 they repeated were the best parts. That postseason they won because of their bullpen and last night the Yankee relief – from the surprise of Jason Grimsley to the certainty of the great Mariano Rivera – authored 61/3 shutout innings behind failed starter Andy Pettitte. And in that World Series they won a memorable Game 4 in extra innings after trailing 6-0. Last night, they won in extra innings after trailing 5-1.
And where there was not 1996, there were flourishes of 1998.
In the World Series last year, the Yankees won Game 1 over the Padres by rallying behind clutch homers from Chuck Knoblauch and Tino Martinez. They won Game 3 and prevented true competition for a title from breaking out by erasing what had been a three-run deficit in the seventh inning. And the next day they swept the Padres for their 24th World Series title.
Last night, the Yankees got clutch homers from Martinez and Knoblauch to help them erase what had been a three-run, seventh-inning Brave advantage. In the 10th inning, Curtis homered for the second time in the game and the idea of a competitive World Series was all but gone. The Yankees can sweep to their 25th World Series title tonight.
“We have such a special team,” Pettitte said. “It is incredible. People kept walking by me on the bench, patting my leg and, rather than blaming me, they were saying they were going to pick me up. We really felt we were going to win this thing.”
How do you explain that feeling? That sense that a four-run deficit is nothing? That ultimately victory is certain? These Yankees win because it is in their blood. It is their habit, their addiction, their very way of being. When it comes to victory in October, the Yankees have become indomitable and inevitable.
They were 11-2 in the postseason on their way to an historic title last year. They are 10-1 in these playoffs with the potential for a clinch tonight. They have won 11 straight World Series games, dating to 1996, and they are on the brink of winning a sixth straight post-season series.
“It is a team feeling we have,” Jim Leyritz said. “We just think we are going to win all the games.”
The Yankees won, though Pettitte pitched like the guy who nearly got traded in July. That is what they do. They win when they should. And they win when they probably shouldn’t.
They won because their minor-league personnel took an off-season gamble on a talented, but erratic arm belonging to Grimsley, who gave them 21/3 shutout innings to keep the Yankees in the game. They won because their major-league people liked the idea of having a security blanket like Curtis and signed him to the kind of three-year contract that a lot of clubs could never consider giving a spare part.
They won because Torre has infused a caring atmosphere around his clubhouse, which has allowed Knoblauch to keep moving forward rather than falling prey to a scatter-armed doom. And they won because it is in their soul. This group, now one win away from a third title in four years, performs with the soul of champions. That allows them to be down, but never out.
“I think there were 10 or 11 key players and key moments by us in this game,” Leyritz said. “That is us at our best.”
After three batters last night, Atlanta had as many hits (two) and runs (one) as it had managed against Orlando Hernandez and David Cone in the first two games. Pettitte could not finish the fourth inning, leaving to boos from 56,794 for putting the Yankees behind 5-1. Meanwhile, Tom Glavine seemed beyond his flu. The Yankee strategy was to try to hit him early in the count and the other way. But that merely played in the finesse-oriented Glavine’s strengths. He could not feel any lingering exhaustion from his cold because he needed just 40 pitches to complete four innings.
At that point, it was possible to buy the reverse ’96 theme. But the Yankees came back in their unrelenting way. Little by little. Inevitable. Grimsley, Jeff Nelson and finally Rivera pitching. After listening to questions about their lack of long ball, they won with homers from Curtis, Martinez, Knoblauch and Curtis again.
So the Yankees had contributions from everywhere. They were never out of the game. They had the sense about them that they would rally to win. They are again that team from 1998 that we have waited for them to be.
Their timing is perfect.