Posted on 10/20/2004 1:00:49 PM PDT by demlosers
NEW YORK (AP) -- One chance left. Otherwise, infamy.
On the brink of the biggest collapse in postseason history, the New York Yankees have one opportunity remaining to pull themselves together and finally finish off Boston.
If not, this storied team with 26 World Series titles also will be remembered for the biggest October choke ever.
Against its bitter rival, no less.
Talk about a painful winter of wondering what if. Talk about an angry George Steinbrenner.
Time to panic in pinstripe city.
``If you've got nerves, you shouldn't be there,'' star closer Mariano Rivera said.
Curt Schilling shut down the Yankees on a gimpy right ankle Tuesday night, and the Red Sox saved their season for the third day in a row with a 4-2 victory in Game 6 of the AL championship series.
Boston became the first team in baseball history to pull even after trailing 3-0 in a best-of-seven series. Only twice in North American major professional sports has a club come back to win such a series after dropping the first three games, both times in hockey: the New York Islanders against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the quarterfinals of the 1975 NHL playoffs and the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings in the 1942 Stanley Cup final.
The Yankees desperately don't want to be added to the wrong side of that short list.
``We can't worry about history here,'' Alex Rodriguez said. ``If we win tomorrow, it won't be embarrassing.''
Rivera should be fresh for Game 7 because he didn't pitch Tuesday night. The problem for New York is not the end of the game, the question is who to start Wednesday night. Even after Game 6, manager Joe Torre said he hadn't decided yet.
Hey, it's only the whole season on the line.
Kevin Brown seems the likely choice, mostly because there are few other options. The 39-year-old right-hander would be pitching on just three days' rest, and he lasted only two innings in Game 3 at Fenway Park. Plus, he's never a sure thing due to his balky back.
The Yankees really might have to piece it together to pull this one out. They haven't lost four straight games since April -- three of those came at home against the Red Sox.
``Their team has responded. We're going to find out about our team,'' captain Derek Jeter said. ``We haven't been in this situation. Not this team.''
After blowing late leads in Boston the previous two days, the Yankees thought coming home would give them a boost.
Instead, the momentum remained with the Red Sox.
``Nobody in here, even all of us, thought that this was going to be easy,'' reliever Tom Gordon said. ``We just need to go out there and do what we do, make it fun for ourselves.''
Playing before a lively crowd of 56,128 on a raw, misty night, New York couldn't even get a hometown call.
Mark Bellhorn's three-run homer for the Red Sox was originally ruled a ground-rule double. But after much discussion, the umpires correctly reversed the call -- the ball had ricocheted back onto the field after hitting a fan in the front row of the left-field seats.
Then, in the eighth, with the Yankees seemingly on the verge of another comeback, the biggest call of the night went against them.
Rodriguez hit a dribbler between the mound and first base. Boston reliever Bronson Arroyo picked up the ball and reached out to tag Rodriguez, who chopped down on Arroyo's arm and knocked the ball free.
Jeter raced around to score and Rodriguez wound up on second, apparently cutting the deficit to 4-3. But the umpires got together again and called Rodriguez out for interference.
``I should have just run over him,'' Rodriguez said.
Angry fans began throwing debris on the field, delaying the game even longer. When play resumed, Jeter went back to first and Arroyo escaped further damage.
New York went 14 innings in two games without a run before Bernie Williams homered off Schilling in the seventh. Even then, only Jeter jumped off the bench and showed any enthusiasm.
The Yankees put the tying runs on base in the bottom of the ninth, but Tony Clark struck out against closer Keith Foulke to end it.
``I think everybody presses at a certain point,'' catcher Jorge Posada said. ``Trying to do too much. Trying to hit the ball too hard. We didn't hit in the clutch.''
Now the Yankees are left trying to avoid a collapse as monumental as any the Red Sox ever endured.
``I guess it was supposed to come to Game 7. We'll see what happens,'' Torre said.
You are correct, the Mets were down to the final out and had two strikes in Game 6 of the 1986 Series, before the passed ball and the Bill Buckner goof allowed the Mets to win the game. Worst night of my life. Although many forget that was only Game 6 - the Sox had another chance to win the Series, and were actually ahead in Game 7 too, but lost. That was the night of my second wedding anniversary, and it was miserable.
No, no, no it's pronounced "wickid."
The Yankees need Olerud to win, which is why they lost the past 3 games, he's been hurt.
We'll see, we'll see. By the way, my husband went to Fairfield University...
The Red Sox haven't won since 1918. If they hadn't been a dominant team in the years before that (wins in 1912, 1915 and 1916), it could even be written off as undeserving because of the number of ball players fighting in WWI.
you are 100% right.......go Yankees, rudy guiliani's team
Money, money, money, mmmoney....mmmmmmmmoney. (You'd sign too).
I'm a Sawx fan, but I really wanna see that Cards line-up hitting in Fenway..Eait till Pujols and Rollen see the Green MOnster..
I'd much rather play at Fenway than at Yankee Stadium. NY fans are nasty, IMO!
How do people get to the Stadium in the Bronx?
Isn't the Subway still closed because of the Republican Convention?
It was worse than that. The Mets were down to their final strike with no one on base. The Mets started their entire rally with no one on and two outs.
Also, if Buckner fielded the ball cleanly, it was too late since the Mets had already tied the game one batter earlier. Buckner's error gave the Mets the win, but the game would have went into extra innings, and more than likely, just prolonged another inevitable loss for the Sox.
I like that scenario, except that the Astros would have a hard time keeping the Sox lineup in check. I hate to say it, but the Sox have to be favored to win over the Astros, and I would really, really hate to see that scenario in relation to the election a few days later. Too many ways for the media to hype Kerry as the comeback kid, and that this is the year for Boston (Pats, Sox, Kerry)
Hillary doesn't know the difference between a pop fly and a man's fly.
``I should have just run over him,'' Rodriguez said."
Um, yeah. Or... mabye you should have just accepted the fact that you hit a lousy pitch and were out. But instead, you thought you'd try to get away with cheating. What a loser. This is what $25 million a year gets you?
I have never liked the Red Sox much, but Rodriguez is a great reason to dislike the Yankees even more. Of course, the spoiled-brat, whining-baby behavior of their fans when the calls (rightly) went against them last night are another.
Yankees fans are classic "front runners", classic band-wagon jumpers. I hope they Yankees get their collective *sses handed to them tonight. I can't wait to hear the silence as all those blowhard ignoramouses watch the despicable Red Sox celebrating an historic butt-kicking, right there in the heart of Yankee-dom.
Or am I taking all of this a little too seriously? :-)
Jeters--er, cheaters--never win
What's that noise? Killer bees in St. Looey?
If the yanks lose, there will not be silence. They will burn the city down.
I have no clue how the game will go, I hope the Sox pull it out though.
Lost to Mets in 1986 (ball thru Buckner's legs)
Kerry is NOT a real Red Sox fan .... otherwise he'd know who David Ortiz and Manny Ramierez are (not Manny Ortez ...)
Yep, I don't care about sports, but if it's from Kerry's state, I want it to lose.
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