| | ATLANTA -- Here's how life works when you're a New York Yankee.
You get good news when Atlanta pitcher Tom Glavine has to kick his
scheduled start because of a bad case of the flu. You get bad news when
his replacement is Greg Maddux. You fall behind 1-0, and Maddux is
doing some brilliant business. You have to replace your best pitcher,
Orlando Hernandez, with a pinch-hitter because you don't know if you'll
ever score a run.
|  | | Brian Hunter mishandled a bunt in the eighth inning, one of the key plays to New York's four-run rally. |
Except that you're a Yankee, and you know you will. You always do.
Modesty forbids you to say this, of course, but you know.
The wisdom came to Paul O'Neill in the first game of
the World Series To End All World Series. And before him to Derek Jeter,
and before him to Chuck Knoblauch, and before him to Darryl
Strawberry.
It is hard to know which of those at-bats, all of which contributed
to New York's 4-1 win over Atlanta in Game 1, was the one that blew
Atlanta's thin veneer of control, but early polling suggests that for
Braves aficionados, Strawberry's walk was the key that
led to the horrors that followed.
And for Yankees fans? Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
"This isn't unusual for us," O'Neill would say. "We're
used to one-run games. You win enough of them, you think you're going to
win every one. Once we tied the game, we figured we would find a way to
win it."
OK, it wasn't a one-run game by the usual mathematical standards. But
it sure felt like one, which is why the Yankees played it like one. And
ultimately, won it like one.
The Braves had ridden Maddux to a 1-0 lead going into
the eighth inning, despite having only one hit -- a Chipper Jones home
run . He came out to start the eighth with his usual icy confidence.
To nobody's surprise, so did the Yankees. Scott Brosius nudged his
third single of the evening into left field. Then, hitting for Hernandez,
Strawberry walked on five pitches, which is so unlike Maddux that it confuses the imagination.
"That was it," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said when asked if that
was the play of the game. "Yeah. That one."
It was more important, certainly, than Knoblauch's bunt, which first baseman Brian Hunter misplayed to load the bases. Without the two men already on, New York manager Joe Torre isn't bunting. With them, well, you know Torre loves playing National League ball in those situations.
But was it more important than Jeter's line single to left after
coming back from an 0-2 count? Hard to say; Jeter's single, after all,
tied the game at one.
And it couldn't have been more important than O'Neill's two-run
single to right off the hyperkinetic John Rocker.
"It's pretty obvious that left-handers aren't going to make their
living off a guy like Rocker," said O'Neill, who hit less than .200 off lefties this year. "The first pitch was by me in a hurry, but I was able to wait him out, get to 3-1, and find a
hole. I just wanted to put it in play and hope that good things
would happen."
Good things did. O'Neill slipped the 3-1 fastball between Hunter
and second baseman Bret Boone to score Strawberry and Knoblauch. So
instead of the Yankees being without their best pitcher, they have
removed the Braves' best starter, scored off the closer, grabbed the lead and still
have Mariano Rivera to finish the deal.
In other words, just another Yankees postseason special. Even when you're sure you've got them, they are all the more sure that they've got you. And they don't let go.
Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Examiner is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
Blunder-ful win in opener for Yankees
Key at-bat: Strawberry walks
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Paul O'Neill believes he was fortunate to get the two-run single.
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 Derek Jeter describes his eighth-inning hit.
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Scott Brosius says he has to stay focused against Rocker.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Greg Maddux knows winning is the bottom line.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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