Tuesday, October 23, 2001
Yankees simply know how to win
38th World Series for New York
By Tim Sullivan
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEW YORK — It is not mystique, but memory. The New York Yankees get no runs from their ghosts, and no allowances for their tradition.
They win because they have learned how, and because the lesson bears repeating. They sometimes stagger through the regular season, but they always seem to remember what it takes at this time of year. They are at their best when the wind blows cold and throats go dry.
We should know better than to count them out. Ever.
“They play human all summer,” Seattle manager Lou Piniella marveled Monday. “And then, in post-season, they turn it up a notch. They can be beaten, (but) they have been a special bunch over there.”
Piniella's record-setting Mariners, winners of 116 regular-season games, left the big ballpark in the Bronx Monday night with their hearts shattered and their reputations smudged.
The Yankees rose up from their regular season lethargy to win another American League Championship Series, this one four games to one, this clincher an emphatic 12-3 drubbing.
“Today, (the 116 wins) mean nothing,” Mariners pitcher Aaron Sele said. “Period.”
October custom
The Yankees advanced to the World Series for the 38th time, in search of baseball supremacy for the fourth straight year. The National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks may own the home-field advantage for the Fall Classic, but the Yankees obviously own October.
“After you've won a few championships, you go into the season expecting to win it and it's a disappointment if you don't,” Yankee pitcher Andy Pettitte said. “I think even if we're down, 2-0, everyone realizes we're the world champs.”
Maybe the Yankees are slightly more sympathetic this season, their success a symbol of New York's resilience in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
“About the eighth inning, when the fans were reveling in the stands, the one thing that crossed my mind, strangely enough, is, "Boy, this city has suffered a lot and tonight they let out a lot of emotions,” Piniella said. “I felt good for them in that way. And that's a strange thought to come from a manager who is getting his (butt) kicked.”
Game over immediately
Piniella had plenty of time for contemplation Monday. The Yankees strafed Sele for four unearned runs in the third inning and it was 9-0 before the Mariners finally scored in the seventh. Pettitte, ostensibly New York's No. 3 starter, stifled the Mariners for the second time in a week and was named the series' Most Valuable Player.
The statistics are getting silly. Since Joe Torre began filling out George Steinbrenner's lineup cards in 1996, the Yankees have won 40 out of 51 post-season games. They have played the toughest teams, for the biggest stakes, at an impossible .784 pace.
“It's not going to amaze me,” Torre said. “... “Sure, it's tougher to repeat, but again in some ways, it's easier because they understand what ingredients are needed.”
Contact Tim Sullivan at 768-8456; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: tsullivan@enquirer.com.
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Yankees simply know how to win
