MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / November 1, 2000

Ho, hum, another World Series, another New York Yankees championship.

New York’s 4-2 victory over their cross-town rival Mets was the Yankees’ third straight, fourth in five years and 26th overall. But even though theYankees dispatched the Mets in five games, this year’s version of the Subway Series made for some good baseball.

Three games were decided by one run, the other two by two runs. Threegames – one, three and five – were decided in the winning team’s last at-bat.

The biggest lead by either team was six runs by the Yankees in game two and they had to hold off a five-run ninth by the Mets. Game one went 12 inningsand was the longest game time wise in Series history.

There was clutch hitting by the unlikeliest of players, outstanding starting and relief pitching and some key defensive plays. There were also a numberof baserunning blunders and controversy, even though the incident involving Mike Piazza and Roger Clemens was blown way out of proportion.

And it was a Series that did not end until Bernie Williams tracked down Piazza’s deep fly ball to center to end game five.

It all started in game one as the Yankees needed a sacrifice fly by Chuck Knoblauch in the ninth inning to send the game into extra innings. In the 12th,it was Jose Vizcaino, a surprise starter at second base in place of Knoblauch, dropping a single over third base to drive in the winning run. It was Vizcaino’sfourth hit of the game.

This was a game that saw Todd Zeile miss a go-ahead home run by inches in the sixth inning, a play that ended with Timo Perez being thrown out at the plate for the third out. Mariano Rivera, who showed why he is the bestreliever in the game in the Series, pitched out of a jam in the ninth to give the Yankees a chance.

The second game saw the Piazza-Clemens controversy and the Yankees take a 6-0 lead only to have the Mets pull to within one on home runs by Piazza and Jay Payton in the ninth. Rivera again closed out the win.Game three saw the Series switch to Shea Stadium. This time, it was theMets scoring late to cut the deficit in half. Benny Agbayani was the unluckyhero, doubling in the go-ahead run in the eighth off Orlando Hernandez, one of the best big-game pitchers in the game.

The Yankees took command of the Series in game four. The heros wereDerek Jeter, who homered on the first pitch of the game, and the Yankees bullpen which pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of starter Denny Neagle.

Thursday’s heros were much more unlikely. They were Jorge Posada, whoworked an obvious tiring Al Leiter for a walk with two outs in the top of the ninth. Scott Brosius, who followed with a single to send Posada to second.And Luis Sojo, who hit a seeing-eye single up the middle to drive in Posada and Brosius with the winning runs.

The Yankees won because they showed what being a team is all about. Jeterhad a hit in all three games and was the Series MVP. Paul O’Neill had fivestraight hits at one point. Williams overcame an 0-for-16 slump to homer ingame five. And Rivera closed out three of the Yankees wins. But in the end, itprovided to be the bottom of the Yankees’ lineup – Posada, Brosius and Sojo – that came up with the pivotal at-bats.

But the Yankees also won because of manager Joe Torre, who pulled almost all the right strings in the Series, from starting Vizcaino in game one to sticking with Williams to staying with Andy Pettitte in game five. Thechampionship was Torre’s fourth in the last five years.

Once again, it was shown that solid teamwork and leadership equals a championship.

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