1999 World Series: Game 4

[With the Yankees squaring off against the Braves this week, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the two World Series during which they faced off in the late 90's]

At 2:30 in the morning on October 27th, not long after the dramatic conclusion of Game 3, Paul O'Neill got the kind of phone call that everyone dreads. When the phone rings at that hour, it rarely brings good news. When he answered, he found out that his father, Chick, who had watched his health decline over the previous months had passed away.

With Game 4 only 18 hours away, there wasn't much time to grieve. O'Neill decided to take the field and not to tell any of his teammates about his father until after the game. However, the organization was already aware of what had transpired and Joe Torre called to extend his condolences to his player. The time from when he received that call until it was time to play must have seemed like an eternity for Paulie.

When Whitey Ford finally threw out the first pitch, he set the stage for two other pitching titans to clash.

Roger Clemens first regular season after being acquired from Toronto proved to be a disappointing one. Coming off of back to back Cy Youngs and twenty win, 230+ inning, 270+ strikeout seasons north of the border, The Rocket turned in only the third best season of the Yankee starters. He had a 4.60 ERA, went 14-10 and actually had a WHIP higher than Hideki Irabu's. John Smoltz had fallen from his peak as well, heading to the DL twice in 1999, but still pitched effectively (3.19 ERA) when he was healthy. He was still regarded as a big game pitcher and the Braves could have done much worse than to have him on the mound.

Clemens and Smoltz matched scoreless frames in the first and second and Roger sat down the Braves in order in the top of the third.

Against Smoltz in the bottom half, Chuck Knoblauch led off with a single and Derek Jeter followed suit with one of his own, putting runners on the corners with no one out. Paul O'Neill struck out, then with Bernie Williams up, Jeter put himself into scoring position by stealing second. Smoltz then intentionally walked Bernie, to create the potential for a double play, a decision which came back to bite the Braves. Tino Martinez singled down the right field line, scoring Jeter and Knoblauch and moving Bernie to third. Darryl Strawberry went down on strikes for the second out of the inning, but Jorge Posada knocked a single to right to put the Yanks up 3-0.

That cushion would be all that Clemens needed. He cruised through the Braves line up, allowing only three baserunners over the next 4 2/3 innings. He retired the first two batters of the eighth inning, his 16th and 17th groundballs of the night, but hit a snag. He allowed two singles to Gerald Williams and Walt Weiss, which prompted Joe Torre to call to the bullpen. Clemens received a rousing ovation and doffed his cap, because barring a bullpen disaster, Clemens had just given the signature Fall Classic performance he had always yearned for. Jeff Nelson did allow one of Clemens' runners to score, but Rivera got Chipper Jones to ground out, lining up Clemens to be the winning pitcher in the clinching game of the World Series.

Jim Leyritz added a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to give Mo some breathing room, but it wasn't needed. The Braves went down 1-2-3, the final out coming on a fly ball to Chad Curtis in left field.

The Yankees became the first team to sweep back to back World Series since their 1938-39 counterparts and validated their torrid 1998 campaign with another division title and unstoppable postseason run. Joe Torre actually said that he thought the '99 Yanks were better than the '98 version because they had to walk in the shadow of a 114 win juggernaut. After the game, Sojo, O'Neill, Brosius and Clemens, who had lost his father at a young age gathered in a quiet room away from the celebration in a moment of both remembrance and camaraderie.

The Yankees didn't need the late 90's run to secure a place as the best team of the 1900's, but the three championships in 1996, 1998 and 1999 did bring their tally to an unmatched 25 titles.

1996 World Series: Game 5

[With the Yankees squaring off against the Braves this week, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the two World Series during which they faced off in the late 90's]

Before Game 5 rolled around, Andy Pettitte didn't have the most spectacular resume as a postseason pitcher. In 30 2/3 innings he had given up 29 hits and walked 15 while only striking out 11. As a result, he had allowed 21 earned runs, translating to an ERA of 6.16. His one solid playoff start, an eight inning, two run effort against Baltimore in Game 5 of the ALCS had been more recently overshadowed by the runaway train that bowled him over in Game 1 of the World Series.

As was the case in that game, his opponent was John Smoltz, who was well on his way to establishing a postseason resume which might be the best of all time, behind Mariano Rivera. After what was his finest season as a starting pitcher, Smoltz had already notched wins in all four of his postseason starts, allowing 5 runs in 30 IP (1.50ERA).

Due to the Game 1 rainout, this was the fourth straight day on which a World Series game occurred. As your average armchair prognosticator might predict, this would weigh more heavily on the position players who had taken the field all four days than the starting pitchers, and set the stage for a classic October pitchers' duel.

Regardless of the outcome, Game 5 of the '96 series was going to be the final event ever held at Fulton County Stadium, which amplified the electricity even beyond a World Series game which would determine which team went ahead 3-2. Smoltz took the hill in the top of the first and struck out the side in order, sending the home crowd into a frenzy. Pettitte countered by getting Marquis Grissom and Mark Lemke to swing through strike threes and then retiring Chipper Jones on a long fly to left.

Smoltz and Pettitte both allowed baserunners in the second inning, but each avoided trouble with two groundouts and a punchout. Smoltz tallied his fifth and sixth strikeouts in the third inning while Pettitte worked around a walk to Marqius Grissom and stranded him at second after a stolen base.

Leading off the top of the fourth, Charlie Hayes poked a ball towards the gap in right center. It was placed directly in between centerfielder Grissom and right fielder Jermaine Dye. As the two converged, Grissom called Dye off, but instead of getting out of his way, Dye stepped in front of Grissom, creating an unintentional screen for his teammate. Grissom momentaily lost track of the ball and it bounced off of his glove. Grissom was charged with the error, although if you were to ask Jermaine Dye, he would probably accept the blame. It would prove to be a costly mistake.

After a Bernie Willaims ground out moved Hayes to thrid, the Braves brought the infield in for Cecil Fielder. Big Daddy smashed a one-hopper off the left field wall, driving in Hayes and leaving Fielder on second base. It was an unearned run, a designation which only matters on paper.

Pettitte allowed base runners in the bottom of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings but was helped out by a caught stealing and two double plays.

Smoltz did the same in the fifth through seventh using three strikeouts and a double play to avoid further damage. However, after those seven innings, Smoltz had already thrown 126 pitches. Mike Bielecki had been used for two innings the night before and instead of bringing him out in a game the Braves were losing, Bobby Cox opted to leave Smoltz in. It turned out to be a good decision and he mowed down the Yanks on nine pitches in the top of the eighth.

Pettitte, by contrast, had only thrown 88 pitches. He got behind all four hitters in the frame 1-0, but needed only two pitches for each of them. Jeff Blauser flew out to left, pinch hitter Mike Mordecai grounded out to short, Marquis Grissom singled to center but Mark Lemke grounded out to Charlie Hayes for the third out.

Mark Wohlers came in for the ninth and walked Paul O'Neill with one out. Paulie was erased by a Mariano Duncan force out. This brought up Jim Leyritz with Andy Pettitte on deck. Wohlers intentionally walked the catcher, and instead of using Wade Boggs or Tim Raines, Torre opted to allow Pettitte to bat so he could face Chipper Jones and Fred McGriff in the bottom of the inning. Pettitte hit a flyball to left and went back to the dugout to grab his glove.

He got ahead of Jones 1-2, but Chipper laced a double down the left field line to lead off the inning. Torre stuck with his plan and left Pettitte in to face McGriff, who grounded out and advanced the runner to third. Pettitte's night was done as Torre summoned John Wetteland to face Javy Lopez and try to get out of the jam. With Mariano Rivera at his disposal, Torre almost never called on his closer to get out of a tight spot in the middle of an inning.

Wettleland got Lopez to ground out to third base, holding the runner and putting the Yankees two outs away from living up to the seemingly impossible promise Torre made to George Steinbrenner after losing Game 2. Cox pinch hit lefty Ryan Klesko for righty Andruw Jones and Torre responded by giving Klesko a free pass and putting the winning run on base. He made another unorthodox decision that had the potential to look awfully foolish if the game did not go his way.

Jermaine Dye was due up next and to that point in the postseason was hitting .163 and had only drawn one walk. Cox summoned Luis Polonia and although he had yet to reach base in the '96 playoffs, had appeared in two World Series before. Polonia fouled off six straight fastballs from Wetteland, causing first base coach Jose Cardenal to shift the defensive alignment left, on the hunch that Polonia would be unlikely to pull the ball. Wetteland delivered another fastball up in the zone which Polonia redirected into the gap in right-center. With the runners going on contact, Klesko would have likely scored from first base had the ball landed. However, due to the keen repositioning by Cardenal, O'Neill tracked down the ball just in time, and made the catch before his momentum carried him into the wall.

The only run of the game was unearned, an unfortunate occurrence that had only befallen three other teams in World Series history: the 1905 Philadelphia Athletics, the 1921 Yankees and the 1986 Mets.

Amazingly, the two biggest plays of the game took place in almost the same spot on the field, both ending up, against all odds, in favor of the Yankees. If either of those go the other way, the Yanks would have been staring down 3-2 deficit on the plane ride home and would have had to take both games at Yankee Stadium. Instead the needed to win only one of them to clinch their first Championship in 18 years.

1996 World Series: Game 1

[With the Yankees squaring off against the Braves this week, we thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at the two World Series during which they faced off in the late 90's]

With each year that passes, the exact boundaries of the Yankees' most recent dynastic era become increasingly clear. The late stretch of first round playoff exits and last year's failure to qualify for the postseason has separated the current Yankees team from the squads of the late 90's and the turn of the millennium. The only common parts between the 1996 roster (or the 2001 version, for that matter) and the current one are Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera. Buster Onley placed the end of the dynasty as the last night of it as Game 7 of the 2001 Series but even if you'd argue that it took place sometime in October of 2004, the accumulation of 4 WS Titles and 6 appearances in 8 years in the era of free agency is pretty staggering.

If the 1996 World Series had played itself out differently, the Braves could very well have been the team of the 90's that everyone still romanticizes. Who knows what rash decisions George Steinbrenner might have dictated and the implications they might have had. Surely things couldn't have turned out much better than they did for the Yanks, so pretty much any decision other than the ones that were made wouldn't have been beneficial.

Perhaps the championship glow from winning in '96 would have been the first step to immortalizing Bobby Cox instead of Joe Torre, Chipper Jones, not Derek Jeter, and Fred McGriff could have replaced Paul O'Neill. Maybe Atlanta would have been the owners of an incredible run and the Yanks would have been the ones who would only manage one title during their extended playoff appearance streak.

Midway through the 1990 season, Bobby Cox came down from his GM position with the Braves for his second stint in their dugout. This time, he took the team to the World Series in both of his first full seasons, losing to the Twins in seven games in 1991 and then to the Blue Jays in six in 1992. In the strike-shortened season of 1994, the Braves were on pace to win 96 games but were six games behind the Expos when the season was cut short. They won their only World Series of the Cox era in 1995, needing six games to knock of the Indians.

So when the Yanks and Braves ended up head to head in the 1996 WS, it was Atlanta who were the heavy favorites and the Bombers who were the up and comers, making only their second playoff appearance in 15 years. Don Mattingly had just retired and although Buck Showalter had overseen some vast improvements take place in the franchise he was replaced in a somewhat confusing maneuver.

Game 1 was originally supposed to take place on October 19th, but the first World Series rainout in ten years pushed the start of the series back and ended up eliminating the travel day that was supposed to take place after the first two games were completed in New York.

After falling behind in the NLCS to the Cardinals 3-1, the Braves had caught ablaze in the final three games, winning 14-0, 3-1 and 15-0. The Yanks on the other hand had wrapped up their 4-1 victory against the Orioles four days earlier. The rainout gave the Braves an extra day to recover from the seven game bout with the Cards, but the Yanks needed no such reprieve.

It was damp 53 degrees at game time and a 24 year old Andy Pettitte took the hill for the Yanks. Pettitte had a breakout year, notching 21 wins with a 3.87 ERA and finishing second in the Cy Young voting to Pat Hentgen. He retired the side in order in the first inning and the 1996 World Series was under way.

In the Yanks half of the first inning, Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez both worked two out walks but Cecil Fielder flew out to the gap in right field to end the frame.

Javy Lopez got aboard with a one out single in the second and remained on first until Andruw Jones came to the plate with two outs. Jones was only 19 and had played in just 31 regular season games that year, but worked a decidedly veteran at-bat against Pettitte. He worked the count full and deposited the first 3-2 pitch into the left field stands, drawing the first blood in the game. 2-0 Braves.

Paul O'Neill and Jim Leyritz worked two more walks off of John Smotlz in the second, but again failed to plate a run.

The wheels came off in the third inning for Pettitte, even though he never allowed anything worse than a single. The damage occurred as follows, single by Marquis Grissom, single by Jeff Blauser, sac bunt by Mark Lemke, then a two-run single by Chipper Jones who advanced to second on the throw home. Jones then stole third, and was driven in on a base hit by Fred McGriff. Pettitte's night was over after he walked Javy Lopez and left the game trailing 5-0. He was replaced by Brain Boehringer, who got Jermaine Dye to fly to left, but allowed another homer to Andruw Jones put the game even further out of reach. 8-0 Braves, seven of those runs charged to Pettitte in just 2 1/3 IP.

The Yankees wouldn't score until the fifth inning on a double by Wade Boggs and it would prove to be all the Yanks could muster offensively. They worked 5 walks but only 4 hits, a far cry from the 14 baserunners Atlanta was successful in creating.

Smotlz pitched a pretty smooth 6 innings of one run ball before handing it off to the bullpen, an effort which meant the Braves had given up only two runs in their last four games, all the while scoring 44.

The Yanks looked rusty and overmatched and it appeared that the Vegas oddsmakers and those who thought wrapping up their series with Baltimore early worked to their disadvantage were right.