|
Posted: Friday October 15, 1999 01:57 AM
BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- The quietest Yankee provided the Yankee Stadium crowd with one of its loudest moments.
Reliever Ramiro Mendoza worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning as New York edged the Boston Red Sox, 3-2, to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series.
The top of the eighth featured three pitching changes, three pinch hitters and a pair of pinch runners. Mendoza struck out pinc hitter Butch Huskey for the second out and got Jose Offerman on a flyout to end the inning.
"I love Ramiro Mendoza, there is no question," Yankees manager Joe Torre said of the unassuming Panamanian. "He has done so many good things. This year wasn't as good a year for him as we had hoped, a little inconsistent. But tonight, he's not going to pitch in a tougher situation than he was in."
Mariano Rivera worked a scoreless ninth to save the Yankees' 12th straight postseason victory, tying the major league record they established from 1927-32.
"This team goes through every regular season game playing like it's Game Seven of the World Series," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. "So we won't take anything for granted."
Rivera, who has gone 32 appearances without giving up a run, including a two-inning stint on Wednesday, allowed a pair of two-out singles but struck out Damon Buford to end it.
The defending World Series champions appear to have fate on their side as they aim for a 25th title. Twenty-seven of the 30 teams that have taken 2-0 leads in the Championship Series have reached the World Series.
Boston, which has not won the World Series since 1918, has lost 10 consecutive ALCS games. The Red Sox erased a 2-0 deficit and defeated the Cleveland Indians in the Division Series.
"Their backs were against the wall against Cleveland, and it's obvious the way they played tonight that they aren't going to quit, so we better be aware of that," New York second baseman Chuck Knoblauch said.
Knoblauch hit a go-ahead RBI double off starter Ramon Martinez (0-1) in the bottom of the seventh and ailing Paul O'Neill snapped the tie with a run-scoring single against Rheal Cormier.
David Cone (1-0) outbattled Martinez (0-1) over seven laborious innings and picked up the win, allowing a two-run homer to Nomar Garciaparra in the fifth. He tied a playoff career high with nine strikeouts.
The Yankees used six pitchers after needing only two in Wednesday night's 4-3, 10-inning victory.
Boston, which twice came within inches of home runs, left 13 on base and went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
"We probably could still be playing with a few breaks right now," Sox left fielder Troy O'Leary said. "But that's baseball, and we certainly need to capitalize on any breaks we may get a lot better than we have been doing."
Game Three is Saturday at Fenway Park, where prohibitive Cy Young Award favorite Pedro Martinez faces former Red Sox icon Roger Clemens in one of the most anticipated postseason matchups ever.
"You don't want this whole series resting on Pedro's shoulders, but it does help that he is pitching on Saturday," Sox catcher Jason Varitek said. "So we'll see what happens."
Mike Stanton replaced Cone to start the eighth and O'Leary doubled off the top of the wall in right-center field. Jeff Nelson spelled Stanton and hit dangerous former Yankee Mike Stanley on the wrist.
Jason Varitek sacrificed and Nelson went 1-0 on pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg before being replaced by Allen Watson, who threw three intentional balls to pinch-hitter Lou Merloni.
Mendoza struck out pinch-hitter Butch Huskey swinging and got the switch-hitting Offerman to fly to center to end the threat.
"I had made contact against (Mendoza) in the past, but he just got me on a couple of nasty pitches," Huskey said. "You have to tip your cap and wish that you had come through, but I didn't and now we move on."
Rivera got two quick outs in the ninth before Garciaparra singled to left and O'Leary blooped a hit to left-center. Buford, who batted .242 during the season and ran for Stanley, took two balls before swinging through three pitches.
Rivera, who led the majors with 45 saves, has gone 36 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing a run. He has three saves in this year's playoffs and 10 in his postseason career.
For the second straight night, the Yankees came back in the seventh inning. Rookie Ricky Ledee led off with a walk and went to second on Scott Brosius' sacrifice. Joe Girardi popped up, but Knoblauch tied it at 2-2 with a line drive double to left.
That chased Martinez, who threw a season-high 120 pitches in only his sixth appearance of the year. The older brother of Pedro Martinez gave up three runs and six hits over 6 2/3 innings with three walks and five strikeouts.
"I didn't want to come out in my situation in the game, but I had to come out," he said. "It was an exciting game and I wanted to keep going."
With O'Neill hitting only .190 against lefthanders this season, Red Sox manager Jimy Williams opted to bring in Cormier, a southpaw. O'Neill, still smarting from a broken rib, fell behind 1-2 but fisted a fastball to left-center, scoring Knoblauch with the go-ahead run.
"To put the ball in play and have it fall in that situation, it sure looks great in the paper," said O'Neill, who grounded out against Cormier to end the ninth on Wednesday. "But I'm as happy as anybody, believe me. That was pretty much a big break for us."
The two-out hits got Cone off the hook and gave him his seventh postseason win in 10 decisions. On 11 days' rest, he threw 128 pitches, yielded seven hits and walked three. He was 2-5 with a 4.82 ERA since throwing a perfect game on July 18.
"He was joking before the game, saying he never lost on three weeks rest," Jeter said. "But seriously, he was terrefic. He made big pitches, hit his spots, got us out of tough jams."
Cone tried wasting a slider to Garciaparra in the fifth when the star shortstop reached the left-field seats for his third homer of the postseason and sixth in 11 career playoff games, giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.
Cone worked out of trouble all night, stranding a pair of runners in the first and two more in the third. Varitek was left at second in the fourth and at third in the second, when he tripled off the top of the right-field wall with one out.
"It seemed like every inning there was runners on base and I knew they are a hot team," Cone said. "There's no outs in their lineup right now, so you can't afford a mistake."
Tino Martinez put one over the right-field wall with one out in the fourth, hitting a 1-2 fastball to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. He was 2-for-16 in the postseason before the solo shot, his fourth career playoff homer.
| 
