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M's in command; Yanks get even

Dazzling work by Andy Pettitte, clutch hitting by revamped lineup key New York's 4-0 victory.

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 5, 2000

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Andy Pettitte's nearly flawless pitching and a radically revamped lineup allowed the New York Yankees to delay obituaries for the two-time defending World Series champions.

Pettitte allowed five hits in 72/3 scoreless innings and the Yankees defeated the Athletics 4-0 Wednesday night to tie their best-of-five American League division series at 1.

The Yankees, who were being derided by critics as over-the-hill champions, snapped an eight-game losing streak and a 10-game road losing streak.

"We've been down. We've been on a terrible skid," Pettitte said. "I hope this will get us going. This is a big game for us, obviously. We've really been struggling."

The series moves to New York for Game 3 on Friday night, with Oakland's Tim Hudson (20-6), the first pitcher since 1991 to win 20 games in his first full major-league season, scheduled to face Orlando Hernandez (12-13).

Glenallen Hill, in the lineup as part of New York manager Joe Torre's effort to shake up a moribund offense, broke a scoreless tie with a run-scoring single, and Luis Sojo followed with a two-run double as the Yankees scored three in the sixth.

With one out in the inning, Bernie Williams turned on Kevin Appier's inside pitch and smashed a liner down the rightfield line for a double. Tino Martinez struck out.

Oakland manager Art Howe ambled to the mound to discuss the options. Paul O'Neill, a left-hander, was due to bat; he was hitless in 17 at-bats dating to Sept. 27 and hadn't had an extra-base hit since Sept. 6. The right-handed hitting Hill was on deck, coming off the worst at-bat of any player in this series: Appier, a righty, had closed out the fourth by throwing three sliders to Hill, who had swung and missed badly on all of them.

Whether it was Howe's decision or Appier's, the Athletics decided to intentionally walk O'Neill.

"O'Neill's been there so many times in the past and come up with big hits for them," Howe said. "We knew he'd been struggling, but we didn't want to let him beat us. Glenallen did."

On the second pitch, Hill smacked a bounding single through the middle, scoring Williams. Several of the Yankees burst from their dugout, shouting, Derek Jeter clapping as he greeted Williams. Sojo then hacked a grounder past diving first baseman Jason Giambi, driving in O'Neill and Hill.

Torre demoted O'Neill from the No. 3 spot in the batting order to No. 6 for the first time all season. He dropped usual leadoff man Chuck Knoblauch from the starting lineup, moved Jeter up a spot to leadoff and moved Jorge Posada up from No. 7 to No. 2. Hill took Knoblauch's spot at designated hitter.

Pettitte, whom Yankees owner George Steinbrenner wanted to trade to Philadelphia in July 1999 before being talked out of it by Torre, has had some of his best performances in the post-season the past few years.

He beat Atlanta's John Smoltz 1-0 in the pivotal Game 5 of the 1996 World Series, and he pitched shutout ball in the 1998 Series clincher against San Diego.

Pettitte was helped by double plays in the first and seventh innings. In the seventh, the A's had men on first and second with one out when Ben Grieve grounded into a double play.

And he survived a strange eighth-inning play that almost allowed the A's back in the game. With two outs, a runner on second and the A's down 3-0, Terrence Long hit a routine grounder to second baseman Sojo, who fielded the ball, then stepped on his foot as he started to throw and fell without releasing the ball.

"This can't be happening," Pettitte said he thought to himself.

That left runners on first and third, and Mariano Rivera replaced Pettitte. Rivera got Randy Velarde to hit a tricky-hop grounder that third baseman Scott Brosius was able to barehand in time to throw out Velarde.

Clay Bellinger hit a run-scoring double in the ninth, and Rivera finished for his 14th post-season save.

Appier, making his first post-season appearance in 12 seasons, allowed three runs on six hits in 61/3 innings and took the loss. He struck out seven.

Both starters survived jams in the first inning, then settled down.

The Yankees loaded the bases with two outs off Appier, but O'Neill flied to right to end the threat. Appier then allowed one hit in the next four innings, striking out the side in the fifth.

The A's had men on first and third with one out in their half, but Pettitte got Olmedo Saenz to ground into an inning-ending double play. He retired the next 12 batters.

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