“Do you believe in ‘due?’” It feels like I’ve heard Michael Kay ask or say some variation of that a thousand times over the last quarter-century. Anyway, if you believe in due, then you had to think the 2000 Yankees were close to snapping out of it.
Their horrific September was a precursor to a Game 1 loss to the Athletics in Oakland. For Game 2 though, they had 19-game winner Andy Pettitte lined up, the 28-year-old about to take the mound for his 15th career playoff start already. The Yanks had the ideal
guy on the hill to try and snap out of their awful funk.
As he did so many times in his fantastic career, Pettitte delivered all the Yankees could have hoped for. The southpaw spun together seven-plus scoreless stanzas. Then he handed the ball to another playoff tested gladiator… Mariano Rivera. In 31 previous postseason appearances, the GOAT had held his opponents to a 0.38 ERA.
Like Pettitte before him, and as Mariano did so often in October, the greatest closer of all-time shut the door. All of a sudden, the Yanks had stolen home-field advantage from Oakland. New York was due. And they came through.
October 4: Yankees 4, Athletics 0 (box score)
Playoffs: tied 1-1 in the ALDS (87-75 overall)
The Yankees weren’t facing some jabroni, unfortunately. Kevin Appier got the Game 2 start for the A’s, coming off a 15-win regular season of his own. And Appier was up to the task of dueling with Pettitte.
The two starters hung zero after zero in the run column as neither offense could break through. Annoyingly, the Yanks had a great opportunity in the first inning. Appier walked 102 opposing hitters in the regular season and in the opening stanza he was up to his old tricks. Two of the first three Yankees reached via the free pass to put ducks on the pond. Alas, Bernie Williams flew out for the second out of the inning. Tino Martinez then singled but Jorge Posada, never a speed demon, was unable to score. Still. Bases loaded. A ball into the gap could have broken this game open early. Unfortunately, Paul O’Neill was unable to deliver the big knock and Appier wriggled out of the jam.
Pettitte, meanwhile, never even came close to being in trouble. He allowed a runner to reach in the first then promptly erased him via a twin killing. That was it, through five innings. AP was nails.
In the top of the sixth, the Yankees finally broke through. The middle of the order started the rally, but it was the guys at the bottom of the lineup who drove the dagger into Appier and Oakland. A double and an intentional walk put Bernie and Paulie on first and second with two out. Appier was one pitch from escaping. Again. But his luck had run out.
First, Glenallen Hill singled to break the scoreless tie. Luis Sojo followed, driving in two more with a double down the first base line past a diving Jason Giambi. In the blink of an eye, the Yankees led 3-0 and it was getting late early in Oakland, considering Mo loomed.
Staked to a three-run lead, Pettitte did exactly what he was supposed to. Despite surrendering a leadoff double in the home sixth, the portside slinger delivered the fabled Shutdown Inning, quickly getting back in the dugout.
After the bats failed to dent the Athletics’ bullpen in the seventh, Pettitte got in his first real trouble of the game in the bottom half. A pair of singles put runners on first and second with one out. More importantly, they brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Ben Grieve. Andy, however, was equal to the challenge. An easy ground ball to third resulted in an around-the-horn 5-4-3 double play, as well as an emphatic fist pump and yell from the Yankee starter.
Oakland had their last best chance in the eighth after a double and an error put runners on second and third with two out. The good news for Oakland? That ended Andy’s night. The bad news for Oakland? Skipper Joe Torre summoned Mariano, who extinguished the threat with an easy groundout to third.
Pettitte’s final line: 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 3 K. Grade that start. And remember to grade it on a curve, considering the Yanks faced an 0-2 deficit had Pettitte faltered early, considering how Appier had pitched.
In the top of the ninth, New York added an insurance run, via a Clay Bellinger RBI double. Now, Mo strode back to the mound with a four-run lead. Despite giving up a two-out double to future American League MVP Miguel Tejada, Rivera closed out Game 2 with minimal drama, knotting the series at a game apiece and wrestling home-field advantage away from the AL West champion Athletics.
Everyone on and around the team knew what this win meant. Writing for the New York Times, Jack Curry called it “An Essential and Immeasurable Victory for Yankees.” Though it was only one win, Curry noted it felt like the Yanks had just won the series.
Paul O’Neill, meanwhile, admitted that if the Yankees had lost Game 2, they would have been “tapped out,” dead men walking. But thanks to Pettitte and Mariano and a timely rally, the ALDS shifted back to the Bronx with a Yankees team that had life and momentum on their side.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
