The Eleventh Inning!

Failure to score in Game 4, bases loaded
situation turns series fortunes in favor of Marlins


As I watched a complete Yankees collapse during Game 5 of the World Series my mind kept wandering back to Wednesday’s Game 4. This was for several reasons. First, I kept thinking about it being Roger Clemens’ last start as a major league performer. Secondly, I thought about the wonderful and classy sendoff the Florida Marlins and their fans gave the Rocket as he walked off the mound at the end of the 7th inning. Flashbulbs were going off like crazy as fans hoped to capture a little of the essence of the future Hall-of-Famer.

Those were the memorable parts of Game 4 that I will treasure forever. Like a lot of you I video-taped the Rocket’s last game. However, my most vivid memories of this game had nothing to do with Roger Clemens. My clearest memory is about something that didn’t happen long after Roger exited the game. My most frustrating memory is the top of the 11th inning.

When the Rocket left the game after the 7th inning he was trailing 3-1. That was due to a rocky first inning when Clemens gave up 5 hits and 3 runs to put his team behind early. It almost looked like he wasn’t going to make it out of the inning. Nevertheless, Roger gutted it out and kept the score at 3-0. From the 2nd inning through the seventh Clemens completely dominated the Marlins. They managed only 3 more hits and no runs and as if to punctuate his performance and career Clemens struck out Luis Castillo with a blistering 96 mph heater to end the 7th inning.

The Yankees lineup, which has had very little to write home about in this series, did very little against Marlins’ starter Carl Pavano. In the eight innings Pavano pitched he limited the pinstripers to 7 singles and a single run. That run scored in the 2nd inning when Aaron Boone’s sacrifice fly got Bernie Williams home from third base. It is interesting to note that the Yankees had the bases loaded, with no outs, in the second inning and could only manage the one run.

With the score still 3-1 at the top of the 9th inning Yankees’ fans in Pro Player Stadium and watching the game on their televisions rubbed their rosary beads, crossed themselves, prayed, cajoled and even cursed the team to do something. And something did happen. Ugueth Urbina, Florida’s closer relieved Pavano at the start of the 9th inning. Urbina got Jason Giambi to fly out to left field before running into trouble. He surrendered a double to Bernie Williams and then walked Hideki Matsui. The next man, Jorge Posada, grounded out to second, but his grounder allowed Williams to move to third base, but forced Matsui at second. Manager Joe Torre made his moves of the game. He called upon Ruben Rivera to pinch hit for Karim Garcia and David Delucci to pinch run for Posada. As runners stood on first and third Urbina hung a pitch over the plate and Rivera pounced on it. He tripled to right field, scoring Williams and Delucci. Miraculously the Yankees had tied the score. The magic stopped there. Sierra was standing on third base, 90 feet away, representing the go-ahead run when Aaron Boone (batting a buck fifty) grounded out to Alex Gonzalez to end the threat.

Jose Contreras, who had entered the game in the 9th inning in relief of Jeff Nelson, who had pitched a scoreless eighth, kept the Marlins off the scoreboard in both the 9th and 10th innings. This set up the Yankees to go ahead in the 11th inning. And for a while it looked like it was meant to be.

The Yankees faced Chad Fox and Bernie Williams greeted him with a leadoff double. Fox walked Hideki Matsui and then David Delucci sacrificed the runners to second and third with a bunt. With one out, Fox walked Juan Rivera intentionally to load the bases. Marlins’ manager Jack McKeon, known as “Trader” Jack pulled Fox at this point and inserted Braden Looper. The first batter Looper had to face was Aaron Boone. The anxiety level in the park and around the country for Yankees’ fans was excruciating. Boone, who had delivered the game winning walk off home run against the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 ALCS, had several options. Work a walk, get a hit or hit a grounder to the right side of the diamond or sacrifice fly a ball to the outfield. Any of those scenarios would have scored Bernie Williams from third base.

While this drama was setting up the Yankees had Jeff Weaver and Mariano Rivera warming up in the bullpen. Although I’m not Joe Torre I could see his thinking. Get the lead, go with Rivera. Close out the Marlins. Take command of the series 3 games to one. Keep in mind that Rivera had pitched two scoreless innings the night before in Game 3. Rivera was only coming in if the Yankees had the lead.

Unless you were deep in some third world country, you all know what happened. Looper kept coming inside to Boone with sinker balls and eventually got him to strike out with a pitch up and in. From my vantage point it looked to me like Boone swung at a ball out of the strike zone. That’s neither here nor there. Boone swung, struck out and failed to do his job in a critical situation. Looper then ended the Yankees’ threat by getting replacement catcher John Flaherty to pop out to the third baseman. With the score still tied, Torre went to Jeff Weaver to pitch the bottom of the 11th inning.

Weaver, who hadn’t pitched since September 24th, entered the game with a ton of baggage. He has had as terrible a year as a pitcher can have in the Bronx. His 6-9 record with an ERA of .599 didn’t make any of us feel very confident with his entry into the game. However, Weaver pitched an economical, scoreless, 1-2-3 inning, which allowed the Yankees one more shot at putting this game to bed.

The Yankees, like I said, ran out of magic in the 9th inning when they tied the game. Weaver went back to work in the bottom of the 12th inning after the Yankees went down in order in their half of the frame. The first batter he faced was shortstop Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez was batting .143 as he stood in against Weaver. He battled Weaver to a 3-2 count. Then, in a scene that has become all too familiar to the Yankees’ and their fans Weaver grooved a fastball that Gonzalez connected with and he lined it over the left field wall near the 330 foot sign for a game winning, walk-off home run.

Weaver took the loss, but in my opinion, the real loser was the Yankees’ offense. The fact they failed to score only one run in two bases loaded situations borders on the criminal. You cannot fail to score when those opportunities present themselves. In the playoffs and specifically the World Series if you don’t score you don’t win.

The Yankees as of this writing also lost Game 5 and now trail the Marlins in the series three games to two. They are now forced to go home to Yankee Stadium and sweep the Marlins in order to win their 27th world title. Fortunately, they have Andy Pettitte (Game 2 winner) and Mike Mussina (Game 3 winner) scheduled to pitch the final two games, if necessary. Unfortunately for the Yankees, the Marlins have already proven they can win in Yankee Stadium as they took Game 1 to start the series.

If the Yankees lose this series they have no one to blame but themselves. In 5 games they have left 73 runners on base. I don’t know what the record is for 5 games, but the Yankees have to be close. If the Yankees lose this series they can point back to the 11th inning of Game 4, when they failed to get the go-ahead run home, which allowed the Marlins to tie the series 2-2 instead of trailing 3-1. The Yankees, who were overwhelming favorites to win this series, now come home on life support. Let’s hope the Marlins don’t pull the plug.

PLAY BALL! …….. I hope


(c) 2003 Yankees Talk Shop @ ezboard.com

Redistribution, rewriting, rebroadcast, or republication of this story is prohibited without the prior written consent of Yankees Talk Shop and it's affilitates