Jason Grimsley’s former claim to fame was stealing back Albert Belle’s corked bat a few years ago. Last night he helped the Yankees steal back a game, and the World Series. Grimsley fired 21/3 scoreless innings of relief to keep the Yankees in the game after Andy Pettitte blew up, surrendering five runs in 32/3 innings.
Grimsley’s performance enabled the Yankees to come back from a 5-1 deficit and post a 6-5 victory in 10 innings to take a 3-0 (it’s only a matter of time) lead in the Series. The bullpen literally saved the night for the Yanks and Grimsley was the hero.
After bouncing around six organizations in 1996 and ’97, Grimsley found his way back to the Indians in 1998 and pitched so well at AAA-Buffalo that the Yankees stole him away from pitching-poor Cleveland when he signed a minor league contract with the Yankees this past January. Yankee scouts were impressed with Grimsley’s performance against Columbus and his live arm. And, class, we’ve all learned that Yankee scouts can do no wrong.
Grimsley rolled a 7-2 record in the regular season, posting a 3.60 ERA in 55 relief appearances and didn’t make the post-season roster the first two series, but that didn’t keep him from working. “Each day he’d come in at 2 o’clock and work just in the hope of being put on the roster, working like Chad Curtis did, ” said Jim Leyritz. “That’s karma for him and Chad Curtis, two guys you wouldn’t expect to win the game like that.”
Said Grimsley, “This is the stuff you dream about when you start playing baseball. And Chad is a hero. A year ago I never felt I’d be in this situation.”
Grimsley found himself on the bench throughout the Rangers and Boston series. “After not being out there for so long, I just wanted to throw strikes,” he said. “And I wanted them to hit my pitch. This is something you work for your entire career.”
Two unlikely heroes, Grimsley said, “that tells you a lot about the confidence the manager has in you. When your manager steps up like that it builds your confidence a little more.”
After Grimsley worked his magic, Jeff Nelson then picked up the slack and Mariano Rivera closed it out with two scoreless innings. Rivera knows the Yankees are so close to clinching and what the bullpen has meant to the Yankees.
“The bullpen did it today, it was big,” Rivera said, who picked up the win. “I did the little job I had to do. The bullpen knew it had to take control today.”
And now that the Yanks are up 3-0, is it officially over? “We’ll try to make it over tomorrow,” Rivera said. “We’ll see what happens.”
It’s over. The Yankees’ bullpen and bench is too much for the Braves to handle.