10 INNINGS Yankees 9 – Phillies 8
The teeth flashed just twice during the Yankees’ 9-8 win over the Phillies at the Stadium yesterday.
After watching his teammates battle back from a 6-1 deficit with a dramatic five-run ninth-inning rally and after giving up a tie-breaking, go-ahead home run in the top of the tenth inning to burly Phillie Brian Hunter, the ever-reliable Mariano Rivera bared his teeth in frustration. His lips curled back, his eyebrows furrowed and he disgustedly threw the resin bag down on the mound.
In the bottom of the 10th, with his Yankee teammates facing an 8-6 deficit, Rivera stared plaintively out at the field. He heard the utter confidence in his teammates’ voices as they collected their bats and helmets – “The determination we had in the bottom of the 10th was reminiscent of the last two seasons,” proclaimed Joe Torre – but he could not relax.
Had the Yanks expended all their comeback energy erasing an early 6-1 hole dug by starter Andy Pettitte to tie it at 6-6? For, as Paul O’Neill later pointed out, the Yanks have rallied many times this season only to fall short.
Rivera’s expression did not change even as Bernie Williams tied the game 8-8 with a single to left. It was only when David Justice cracked a ball just over the head of Phillies left fielder Ron Gant to plate O’Neill for the game-winning RBI, that the pearly whites revealed themselves again in a grateful grin.
“Mo has bailed us out so many times,” Torre said. “And after that two-out home run, we had the opportunity to do something for him. We turned a negative into a positive.”
Rivera joyfully joined his teammates on the field to knock fists and tap the helmet of the left-handed-hitting Justice, who is just into his third week with the Bombers. The Pinstriped bodies then streamed into the clubhouse, where newcomers and veterans alike told anyone who would listen how this win was a turning point.
“You remember certain games throughout the year,” said O’Neill. “This will be one of them.”
A weary but pleased Torre repeated several times how “big” the victory was.
“This game was an emotional lift,” he said. “The All-Star break is over. We have to start thinking about getting to the playoffs now.”
Bomber confidence has already permeated the souls of Yankee neophytes Justice, Jose Vizcaino and Ryan Thompson.
Justice deferred all personal praise with clipped, off-putting responses, but looked directly in a reporter’s eyes to rave about Bernie Williams (.333, 21 HR, 85 RBI).
“He is amazing,” Justice said. “When Bernie comes to hit, I don’t ever expect him to make an out. Ever. I expect him to get a hit every time.”
Williams actually struck out twice and hit into a double play yesterday, personifying the early-game listlessness of the Yanks, but had a vital run-scoring single in the ninth to twin up with his RBI hit an inning later.
Vizcaino, whose liner to third deflected off third baseman Scott Rolen for the game-tying RBI single in the ninth, also exuded Yankee boldness.
“When we tied it up, I knew we were going to win,” he insisted. “Even after they scored two runs.
“We came back from down seven against Baltimore,” the back-up second baseman pointed out of a July 6 win. “So, down five?”
Still, the Yanks did not show championship form until the last two innings.
“It didn’t look like we were going anywhere,” said Torre. “We seemed off balance. We had several opportunities and did nothing with them.”
With the Phillies ripping every flat and high Andy Pettitte fastball for hits, the Yanks were making noise but no music, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position through the first eight innings.
The fortunes changed in the ninth when a trio of Phillie relievers self-destructed after a Desi Relaford error, walking three and giving up RBI hits to Williams, Tino Martinez and finally Vizcaino to tie it up.
In the 10th, Chuck Knoblauch walked and Jeter was hit by a pitch to set the table for run-scoring hits by O’Neill, Williams and Justice.
Said Thompson: “Now you know why this is the best team in baseball, games like right here. I’ve been on teams when you’re down two [runs] late and guys want to know where you’re going for pizza. These guys worry about the task at hand. That’s the biggest difference between this team and others.”
