In the 2000 American League Division Series, the New York Yankees came out of Game 3 with a chance to clinch the series and move one round closer to claiming their third consecutive World Series title.
However, despite their hope to win the series as quickly as possible in front of their home crowd in the Bronx, the Oakland Athletics were not a team that would give up so easily.
With almost 57,000 people in attendance at Yankee Stadium on a Saturday night in The Bronx to see “The Rocket” Roger Clemens start against the Athletics’ Barry Zito, the Bombers would see just about everything go wrong for them from the start of the game to the final out, disappointing a packed house.
October 7: Yankees 1, Athletics 11 (box score)
Playoffs: 2-2 tie in the ALDS (88-76 overall)
Prior to the start of the Division Series, Yankees manager Joe Torre had locked in on a three-man rotation, as he did not trust struggling Trade Deadline acquistion Denny Neagle or beleaguered veteran David Cone to make a playoff start. This meant that since Clemens started Game 1, he would go in Game 4 in the Bronx on three days’ rest. There was no way of knowing how someone like Neagle might have fared, but in hindsight, using Clemens on short rest was a misfire.
In the top of the first inning, the Athletics came out disciplined, letting the Rocket make mistakes, and he did. A leadoff walk to Terrence Long put a runner on first, and although a forceout at second took him off the bases, the Yankees weren’t able to turn a double play, keeping a man — this time Randy Velarde — on the basepaths. Then, Jason Giambi also took a walk before Olmedo Sáenz stepped up to the plate. And on the first pitch he saw, he crushed the baseball well over the left field wall to give the A’s a 3-0 lead.
Clemens worked two straight outs following the home run, and the scoreboard was silent for both teams for a decent amount of time through the game. The Yankees didn’t find their first hit off the future AL Cy Young Award winner Zito until the bottom of the third inning, managing to get men on base via the walk in the bottom of the second, but outside of that, there was not really a hint of offense for the home squad.
There were no runs for either team until the top of the sixth inning, when the Athletics would strike again. After Eric Chavez and Miguel Tejada found their way into scoring position via a single and a double, respectively, Ben Grieve hit a single to short right field, scoring them both and sending Clemens to the dugout in favor of Mike Stanton. Stanton didn’t fare much better, however, as he immediately allowed a single to Jeremy Giambi and a forceout at second base caused a run to score on the next play. So, the game quickly became 6-0 after another three-run inning for the visitors.
The Yankees managed to find a run in the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to a Jorge Posada double that brought in Paul O’Neill, who singled to lead off the inning against Zito. And following the Posada double, Art Howe called upon the A’s bullpen, bringing in erstwhile Yankee Jim Mecir to work the final out of the frame. That would be the only run of the game that the Yankees would put on the board, and from there, the Athletics put on an impressive offensive display.
Randy Choate pitched a strong seventh but was removed in the eighth following a walk and a steal from Miguel Tejada, and was replaced by Dwight Gooden, who would have an abysmal outing, starting by giving up a single to Ryan Christenson, who originally came into the game as a pinch-runner in the top of the sixth. With a 7-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, Mike Magnante stepped on the mound and worked the Yankees one-two-three, giving way for the offense once more.
Gooden returned to the rubber for New York and allowed four straight baserunners via a double, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and a double, which scored two runs and put two more runners in scoring position with no outs. Tejada grounded out to second base, which scored a run and advanced Chavez from second, and a single from Bo Porter scored the fourth run of the inning and the 11th run of the game for the Athletics.
After that outburst to put the Athletics in double-digits, Doug Jones stepped on the mound to seal the deal, allowing only a single in the bottom of the ninth to Luis Polonia before securing the final out and a Game 5 appearance.
The A’s were exhilarated to be flying back West for a Game 5. The Yankees seethed, but as it turned out, they were determined to at least make the long flight worth their while.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.