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Look back at: Divisional Playoffs |
League Championship
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Friday, October 27
Frozen moment: Je-ter! Je-ter! Je-ter! sounds so good
By David Schoenfield
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees had won it in their opponents' ballpark.
But it was still in their city and it does seem to be their trophy.
|  | | After winning the World Series for the third straight October, Yankees manager Joe Torre wraps up his wife, Ali, in a postgame hug at Shea Stadium. |
And so, 20 minutes after the invincible Mariano Rivera got Mike Piazza to fly out to Bernie Williams for the final out of the 2000 World Series, there was a large throng of Yankee fans, a couple thousand bunched in down the third-base line next to the Yankee dugout.
They were loudly chanting, "Let's Go, Yankees!" over and over again, a joyous singing and clapping that never gets old when it happens after the final game of a baseball season.
The fans didn't want to leave. They wanted to stay until the last subway train left for Manhattan and the Lower East Side and Brooklyn and all the places of the city.
When Luis Sojo was brought out for an on-field interview in front of the fans -- the Yankee clubhouse, which had flooded the night before, was too crowded to accommodate the mass of media -- the chanting changed to "Loo-ee! So-ho! Loo-ee! So-ho!"
"Looking out here, even though we're at Shea, look at this support," David Justice said from the middle of the crowd of reporters and television cameras. "We own New York, which means we own baseball."
And then there were spontaneous bursts of roaring and cheering. When World Series MVP Derek Jeter came out, the fans screamed their approval for their favorite Yankee. He only needed a last name.
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Five to look back on
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Here are the five biggest wins the Yankees have had over the last three years, all of which culminated in a World Series championship.
Game 1 of the 2000 World Series vs. the Mets
It was the longest World Series game ever -- four hours, 51 minutes -- and was it ever thrilling. The Yankees took an early 2-0 lead before the Mets scored three runs in the seventh inning. The Yankees then squeaked out a run in the ninth off Mets closer Armando Benitez. This all set up the thrilling 12th inning that was capped off by Jose Vizcaino's bases-loaded RBI single, giving the Yankees a 4-3 win.
Game 5 of the 2000 Division Series vs. the Athletics
Forced to a fifth and deciding game, the Yankees came busting out of the chute by scoring six runs in the first inning. Oakland got within two runs at 7-5, but the Yankees bullpen hurled 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, sending the Yankees into the ALCS.
Game 1 of the 1999 ALCS
vs. the Red Sox
In a close game throughout, the Yankees tied it up in the seventh and then won it in dramatic fashion, 4-3, on a walkoff home run by Bernie Williams leading off the bottom of the 10th inning.
Game 1 of the 1998 World Series vs. the Padres
Trailing 5-2 heading into the seventh inning, the Yankees scored seven runs in the inning en route to a 9-6 win. Chuck Knoblauch tied the game at 5-5 with a three-run homer and Tino Martinez capped the rally with a grand slam -- a pitch after home plate umpire Richie Garcia gave him a reprieve by calling a close pitch a ball -- powering the Yanks to the Series-opening victory.
Game 4 of the 1998 ALCS
vs. the Indians
Down 2-1 in the series, rookie Orlando Hernandez made his first-ever postseason appearance by pitching seven shutout innings, leading the Yankees to a 4-0 win over the Indians. The Yankees didn't lose another game the rest of the way to claim the title, finishing the regular season and postseason with a combined 125 wins.
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"Je-ter! Je-ter! Je-ter!"
The fans stayed -- cheering, hugging, high-fiving, enjoying. A sweat-and-champagne soaked Jeter and Roger Clemens, wearing gray World Champion T-shirts, led a group of Yankees parading the World Series trophy through the mass of photographers and television cameras.
Jeter held the trophy aloft as he came out of the dugout. He walked up to the third-base line, the cameras flashing. The fans went crazy. He carried it toward home plate. It seemed like his trophy to bring to his house and place above his fireplace for the winter.
The Yankees had won just 87 games during the regular season. They may not have defeated Oakland in the Division Series if the A's rotation had been set up properly. Seattle gave them a good fight. So did the Mets. But the Yankees -- and their fans -- were on top again.
"There were a lot of doubters, which is unbelievable to me, considering we had only won two consecutive World Series," Justice said. "We were written off against the A's. We were written off against Seattle. We were written off against the Mets. But who's riding home with the trophy? That makes the Subway Series even sweeter. We're jumping on the train with another ring."
At one point, the fans called for manager Joe Torre. "We want Joe! We want Joe! We want Joe!"
Winning never gets old, not for somebody like Jeter, who has done nothing but in his five years in the majors. Not for Sojo, who began the year with the Pittsburgh Pirates and ended it with his fourth World Series ring with the Bronx Bombers.
And winning never gets old for fans, either. Three in a row? Let's make it four in a row next year. Let's go back to Yankee Stadium next April and begin yelling and cheering some more.
And losing never gets easy. Ask Al Leiter. He pitched like a champion. In the end, however, after throwing his 142nd pitch of the game, he was left holding his head in the dugout, trying to fight back the tears.
As he walked off the mound and into the dugout, his teammates patted him on the back. He didn't look at them. He sat down, took off his hat and stared at the floor. He picked at his hat and then at a scab or blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand that had delivered so many devastating sliders and fastballs on this night.
After the game, Leiter stood in his locker stall and talked about what might have been. "We really wanted to beat them, because, you know, they're the 'Mighty Yankees.' It would be one thing if we came in here and just got blown away. It would've been better if we would've gotten our butts kicked. But I look back at it and there are so many what-ifs."
Like that fastball to Sojo, down the middle of the plate, a pitch that made Leiter the loneliest figure of the night. He sat there in the top of ninth inning. He put his hat back on and held his head between his two hands, still looking down.
"I was upset. I've never been so emotional. I've always been able to put it in perspective. I mean, it's just a baseball game," he said. "But under the circumstances, I look at how well I threw and not being able to get through it, not being able to finish it up, I'm not going to lie, it doesn't feel too good."
An hour after the end of the game, the fans were still there. Another player came out with the trophy. They cheered on.
"De-rek! Je-ter! De-rek Je-ter!"
Now, that feels good, doesn't it?
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