Despite all the struggles, including a whimper of a finish in September and a near-elimination in ALDS Game 5 amid the grind of the postseason, the Yankees claimed their third consecutive American League
pennant 25 years ago today.
It was far from an easy or certain path, however, even in this final game to wrap up the Junior Circuit season. The Yanks were coming off of a Game 5 in which they were unable to secure the flag, scoring just two runs in the final game in Seattle. Now, coming off of a travel day, the Bombers were back home, and had a chance to march back to the series in front of the Bronx faithful. This game was a good microcosm of the season, as they took plenty of punches, but still came out the other side as victors.
October 17: Yankees 9, Mariners 7 (box score)
Record: Yankees win ALCS 4-2 (94-78 overall)
Following the Game 5 loss, the Yankees continued on that sour note to begin the sixth game in the Bronx. With postseason darling Orlando Hernández on the bump, the Mariners got straight to work in the top of the first, when back-to-back doubles from their two all-time great righties Alex Rodriguez and Edgar Martinez had them up 2-0 early on.
The M’s got to El Duque once again in the fourth inning, when rookie shortstop Carlos Guillén took him upper tank with two outs to score a pair of runs, putting Seattle up a more commanding 4-0.
If the Yankees wanted to avoid a decisive Game 7 in the ALCS, it would require a significant comeback in this one. Through his first three innings of work, John Halama had done his best to keep their bats quiet, allowing just two baserunners and facing one batter over the minimum. The Yankees would change that story in their half of the fourth.
After a pair of singles and a walk to Tino Martinez loaded the bases, Jorge Posada made Halama pay with a scorching double into right-center which scored a pair. On the next pitch, Paul O’Neill snuck a single through the middle to score another. Suddenly, the Yankees were trailing by just one run.
Joe Torre and co. continued to run out Hernández in Game 5 despite the shaky start, and the righty did begin to settle in. He pitched scoreless frames in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, giving the offense plenty of time to mount the comeback, something the fans saw come to fruition after the seventh-inning stretch.
Following singles from José Vizcaíno and Derek Jeter, brilliant Trade Deadline acqusition David Justice came through with the biggest swing of the season to date. On a 3-1 pitch, the former Atlanta World Series hero sent a ball into the third deck in right—and Yankee Stadium into a shaking frenzy—with a go-ahead three-run blast off Arthur Rhodes, who had blown it again.
Once trailing 4-0, the Yankees were now piling on to the Mariners in the bottom of the seventh against the Seattle bullpen. After the Justice homer, the Bombers added on to their total with another RBI knock from O’Neill, and a sac fly off the bat of Vizcaíno. When the inning was all said and done, New York was ahead 9-4, and the comeback was all but complete.
El Duque had pitched well enough to work into the eighth, though he was welcomed unkindly in the inning, when Rodriguez greeted him with a leadoff homer into left-center (ultimately his last as a Mariner). He lost a full-count battle to Edgar, who walked, and Torre finally hooked him with 128 pitches on the night.
El Duque gave way to Mariano Rivera to seal the deal in Game 6, though he would have no cakewalk either. John Olerud doubled, and while Mo got the next two outs, Mark McLemore grounded a double to right, plating both Edgar and Olerud to get his team right back into it. Rivera would mercifully strike out Jay Buhner shortly after, ending the inning, and sending Game 6 to the ninth with New York leading 9-7.
The ninth would be much easier for Mo, only having to work around a two-out single from A-Rod, before conquering his nemesis Edgar with a grounder to short, putting a cap on Game 6, and on the 2000 ALCS.
The Yankees were once again headed to the World Series — their third consecutive pennant, and fourth in five years. It was the kind of run not seen in baseball since the dynastic Yankees clubs led by the likes of Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.
Since the Mets had dispatched the Cardinals in a five-game NLCS for their first NL flag since 1986, the Yankees’ win over Seattle meant that MLB was now locked into the exciting prospect of a Subway Series in the Fall Classic, the first one in over four decades (also the days of Mantle and Berra). The tail end of this season had been far from easy, but after falling many times, this squad got up once again, with the top of the mountain now within reaching distance once again. They would just have to travel across town to do so.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
