The words “must-win” get thrown around a lot in sports. And quite often, the game to which they refer is no such thing. But headed into Game 2 of the ALCS, there was at least a pretty good argument that
for the 2000 Yankees, this game was close to “must-win.”
Seattle had come into the Bronx for Game 1 and stolen it behind a combined shutout by four Mariners pitchers. Losing Game 2 would have meant the daunting challenge of being down 0-2 and heading to the other club’s barn, in hockey parlance.
So it was incumbent on New York to win Game 2 and keep this thing from going off the rails. The M’s managed to jump out to a narrow early lead, and as the game went on with more zeroes on the scoreboard for the Yankees, the tension was palpable. Were they about to go into another skid like late September? By the end of the seventh, the so-called Bombers had been held scoreless in 21 consecutive innings.
This time, however, the Seattle bullpen couldn’t hold. A wild eighth inning salted away Game 2 for the Yanks, and they were able to head West with the series knotted at a game apiece.
October 11: Yankees 7, Mariners 1 (box score)
Playoffs: ALCS tied 1-1
New York definitely had the right guy on the mound for a game the club needed to win. Orlando Hernández entered this one unbeatable (and unbeaten) in his playoff career. In eight career October appearances, El Duque was 6-0 in eight games. He boasted a sterling 1.23 ERA across 51.1 innings. Though that ERA would rise by fractions of a point, he was his normal superhuman self when the Yanks needed him most. Again.
He needed to be. Because his counterpart for Seattle was just as good. John Halama (check his B-Ref page… underrated Immaculate Grid guy) pitched to a 5.08 ERA during the regular season. Even at the height of the Steroid Era, that was still bad. So of course, he stepped onto the mound at Yankee Stadium and stymied the Yanks offense.
Meanwhile, the Seattle offense did manage to scrape a run across, in the top of the third. So, with their starter holding serve, they nursed a one-run lead as the Yankees began to run out of outs.
After Halama had made it through six innings, Seattle went to the ‘pen, and for one inning, the move paid off. But then, they went to Arthur Rhodes for the eighth inning. Rhodes had a long career, and was pretty good for Seattle in 2000. But on this night, he didn’t have it. At all.
The first four Yankees to come to the plate all reached, with two runs crossing the plate. Those runs snapped a 20-inning scoreless streak for New York. Suddenly, a one-run deficit was a one-run lead. And the Bronx Bombers were nowhere close to done. A Paul O’Neill sacrifice fly scored a third run and ended Rhodes’ night.
His replacement did no better. José Mesa entered for Seattle. He managed to get a second out on a botched squeeze bunt that ended with Posada getting caught too far off third base. Hilariously, it went into the box score as Sado getting caught trying to steal home.
Nevertheless, two more runs crossed the plate for the Yanks before the yet-to-be-named Mr. November himself, Derek Sanderson Jeter, strode to the dish. Jeets put the exclamation point on the inning. His two-run dinger capped off a seven-run inning for the Yankees when they direly needed it.
Not taking any chances, Joe Torre turned to Mariano Rivera, with El Duque having thrown 115 pitches to get through eight frames of one-run ball. Mo gave up a fan interference double to John Olerud, but then retired the next three batters he saw to end Game 2.
The Yanks, despite being no strangers to playoff baseball, were not immune to nerves. Paul O’Neill explained to Buster Olney that, prior to that monster eighth inning, the Yankees were “trying so hard that you squeeze the bat handle.”
Crisis averted. The Yanks remembered how to swing the bats and avoided falling into a hole that might have been to deep to climb out of. Off to Seattle for the next three games.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
