Having won Games 3 and 4 of the American League Championship Series, the 2000 Yankees went into Game 5 of the ALCS with a chance to clinch a spot in the World Series. Were you watching on the day, you almost certainly would’ve been expecting them to do so, considering what they had done in that era to that point — not to mention Roger Clemens’ demoralizing dominance of the M’s the previous night.
In addition to having won three of the prior four World Series titles, the Yankees also hadn’t wasted
many chances. From 1996-99, they went 9-2 in games where they had a chance to clinch a series, with their only two losses coming in the doomed 1997 ALDS against Cleveland. A defeat in Game 4 of the 2000 ALDS against the Athletics with Clemens on short rest was the first time they had lost one of those chances since ’97, but they followed that up with a fairly straightforward win in Game 5.
Considering the momentum was completely on their side going into Game 5 of the 2000 ALCS, you would’ve thought they had a very good chance at continuing that run of putting away series. The Mariners had other ideas though, and the Yankees did quite a lot to help them send the series back to the Bronx.
October 15: Yankees 2, Mariners 6 (box score)
Record: 3-2 lead in the ALCS
Looking to clinch a third-straight AL pennant, the Yankees sent Denny Neagle to the mound for Game 5. However, much like the rest of his Yankee tenure to this point, it didn’t go very well. While he retired Rickey Henderson to start the game, Neagle then issued three-straight walks to Mike Cameron, Alex Rodriguez, and Edgar Martínez. John Olerud then hit a liner to right, on which the speedy Cameron was able to tag up and beat the throw home. Neagle got out of the inning after that, but he had thrown 30 pitches in the inning, 14 of which went for balls.
On the mound for Seattle was future Yankee Freddy García, who managed to work around baserunners in all of the first couple innings. But the Yankees eventually got to him in the fourth. A Tino Martinez double, a Jorge Posada single, and a Paul O’Neill walk set the Yankees up with the bases loaded and nobody out. That brought 1995 Mariners cult hero Luis Sojo to the plate, and on the first pitch he saw, he looped one into the left-center field gap. Two runs scored as Sojo ended up on second with a double. Despite having a lead, two on, and still nobody out, the Yankees couldn’t further add to their lead, as García came back to retire the next three batters. That came back to haunt them.
Following the first inning, Neagle had settled down a bit, only allowing two singles total over the next three innings. Things came apart for him in the fifth, though.
Leading off the fifth, Mark McLemore caught the Yankees off guard a bit as he bunted for a single as Scott Brosius couldn’t barehand the ball. Neagle’s wildness then reemerged as he walked Henderson on five pitches. Lou Piniella and the M’s then opted to have Cameron lay down a sac bunt to move the potential tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position.
At that point, Joe Torre went to the bullpen and called on Jeff Nelson with the heart of Seattle’s order due up. The move did not pay off. On the first pitch Rodriguez saw, he squeezed through a single to left, scoring two runners to give the Mariners the lead back. To make matters worse, Martínez and Olerud followed that by slugging back-to-back homers off Nelson. In total, the M’s ended up scoring five runs in the fifth, going from down a run to leading somewhat comfortably.
As for Neagle, he was only dinged for three earned runs on the day in 4.1 innings. However, his lack of control played a major part of why the Mariners were able to strike both times. He issued four walks on the day, and threw barely half of his 88 pitches for strikes — 47.
Four runs was hardly an insurmountable deficit, but the Yankees didn’t do a ton to claw back into the game. Right after taking the lead, Seattle went to their bullpen. José Paniagua threw a scoreless sixth, and he and Arthur Rhodes then combined to work around a couple walks in the seventh. Rhodes then got one out in the eighth before a walk led to Piniella going with closer Kazuhiro Sasaki for potentially five outs.
Sasaki got the final two outs of the eighth on just seven total pitches. The soon-to-be-crowned AL Rookie of the Year did then work himself into some trouble in the ninth, though. He started off the inning by hitting Bernie Williams with a pitch, and then moving him into scoring position with a wild one. A walk to Jorge Posada later in the inning had the Yankees somewhat in business, but Sasaki eventually struck out Luis Polonia and got Sojo to fly out to end the game.
In total, the Yankees managed to strand 15 runners on base in total, going 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Doing that won’t win many games, never mind ones where the other team is playing with their lives on the line. Fortunately for the Bombers, they still had at least two more shots to win the pennant, and their next game would be back in front of their raucous fans at Yankee Stadium.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
