Bronx, N.Y., October 6, 2004 — Although the numbers are spread a bit, both the 2004 AL Central Champion Minnesota Twins and the Yankees, winners in the East, relied on two bullpen stalwarts to carry them this season. Uncharacteristically, three of the four stumbled in Wednesday’s ALDS Game Two in Yankee Stadium.

The Yankee duo of Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera allowed the Twins to score two in the eighth inning to forge a 5-5 tie, a rally that started with one down when Jacque Jones struck out but reached on a very wild pitch. Later, the two-run Yankee 12th-inning uprising that closed it had its incarnation with two one-out walks off tiring closer Joe Nathan. The former Giants starter who switched not only leagues but pitching job descriptions in 2004 (to spectacular effect) appeared to be out of the game after two dominant innings, but Manager Ron Gardenhire rolled the dice and chose to stick with him over inexperience once the Twins grabbed the lead behind one-man wrecking crew Torii Hunter’s 12th-inning home run.

This instant classic took four hours and 20 minutes and nine pitchers to complete, but it started with good offensive signs for both teams, and shaky pitching. Yankee fans have become accustomed to Jon Lieber and his tendency to throw lots of strikes, some fatter than others. But they were still taken aback when Minnesota tallied three on four hits in the first two frames, the day after the Yanks scored no runs over nine complete. But number two Twins starter Brad Radke was having an up-and-down start too, and home runs by Derek Jeter (into the black seats in dead center on Radke’s third pitch of the game) and Gary Sheffield tied things at three after three innings.

But the night’s first Yankee star goes to Lieber. We’ve seen it before. One minute everything is a hit, then you look up and it’s three innings later, and the opposition bats have been quieted. Fans were concerned when the Shannon Stewart fielder’s choice that closed the second was just the second ground ball he coaxed in 10 batters. But 10 of the next 14 outs were recorded by infielders, with another three on strike outs. In the meantime, the Yanks had taken a 4-3 lead on Alex Rodriguez’s fifth inning homer to left, and they tore a page from the Minnesota book to add another off Radke in the seventh, as Cairo worked a leadoff walk, Jeter bunted him over, and A-Rod delivered Miguel with an 0-1 single.

But then the worm turned. Tom Gordon had retired pinch hitter Jose Offerman to close the seventh, but only on a well timed search-and-destroy grab on his soft liner over second by Cairo, as Christian Guzman made for home from his perch on second base. Stewart took eight pitches from Tom before lining to right to start the eighth, but the killer was the third-strike wild pitch to Jones. Hunter (three hits, three runs scored, solid “D”) singled to chase Flash, and rookie Morneau blooped a broken-bat single to short right off Rivera, scoring Jones and placing Hunter at third with the tying run. On the one hand, Rivera appeared to have Koskie struck out on a 1-2 pitch; on the other New York was lucky that his ensuing double reached the crowd in the left field corner, holding the go-ahead run at third. Mo stiffened and escaped further damage, and added a one-two-three ninth.

After failing to touch setup man Rincon over two, the Yanks trotted out Tanyon Sturtze and Minnesota chose Joe Nathan to pitch the 10th. Both dominated over two (though Sturtze had some trouble throwing strikes); both failed in the 12th.

The Yankees welcomed back some old friends from very recent vintage on Tuesday. West Point provided both the National Anthem and the giant flag unfurling in the outfield, and Paul O’Neill came on to throw the ceremonial first pitch to John Flaherty. God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch was sung by tenor Ronan Tynan. His version is plaintive and stirring, as many have come to know.

In the field Hunter did his thing, flagging down an Olerud fourth-inning double that nine of 10 in his position would have retrieved only once it rebounded to them from the outfield wall. Gary Sheffield’s momentary bobble of Morneau’s first inning double allowed the first Twins tally, but his quick recovery allowed a Posada throw to third to nip young Morneau, and later Gary flagged down two hard liners to right from Stewart. Cairo made the great play on Offerman to close the seventh, and the Yankee infield dominated the middle innings with their crisp play.

Lieber’s numbers were good, with the 26/52, balls/strikes ratio breaking down to a solid (and exact) 1/2. He threw 16 of 26 first-pitch strikes, allowed seven hits and three earned runs, while whiffing four with one lonely walk. Gordon and Rivera were more unlucky than bad, and although he was almost tagged with the loss, Sturtze continued to be the missing link the Yanks have just found of late. His most interesting number: The number of tosses it took him to get eight outs until Quantrill was brought in to retire Kubel and earn the win: Tanyon threw the number on his back, 56.

At bat, the Yanks picked up where they left off the night before when they smacked nine hits off Santana, although then they could score none. Jeter got the crowd into it with his first inning bomb, and his sac bunt and play in the field were exemplary. Sheffield homered for the tie in the third after blasting longer balls well foul in the first. Miguel Cairo kicked in with two huge walks. And although Matsui started the festivities with a walk and then a single, his game-winning sac fly followed the three easy outs on which he was retired through the 10th.

But the game ball goes to the superstar Alex Rodriguez. Much maligned all year for failing to come through in the clutch both with men in scoring position, and with the game on the line, he emerged as a Yankee star in this, his second postseason game in Pinstripes. After smacking two of nine Yankee hits Tuesday, his unsuccessful first inning soft liner over second Wednesday was followed by two hard singles sandwiched around a long home run. He scored ahead of Sheffield on the home run that tied matters in the third, gave the Yanks the lead with his homer in the fifth, and doubled that lead with his seventh-inning single. And then with the Yanks in danger of falling to 0-2 in this best of five, he followed the 12th-inning back-to-back, one-out walks to Cairo and Jeter with a booming double into the left center field gap that tied the game, and should have won it, but the ball bounced high and over the fence.

The Twins had little choice, with Jeter standing on third as the winning run with one down. They walked Sheffield and brought in southpaw J.C. Romero to face Matsui with the sacks filled. Hideki was merciful to both the fans and the Twins, finishing them on Romero’s first pitch, on a sac fly liner to right.

The late Janet Gaynor would have turned 98 the day of this game. A successful screen actress both before and after sound was added to movies, Gaynor was nominated for an Academy Award for her starring role in the original film, A Star Is Born, nine years after having already won the Oscar in silent pictures. Alex Rodriguez was a star in his own right too, before he began plying his skills in Pinstripes this year. He earned the league’s Most Valuable Player Award just last year.

But if this game is any indication of what we in the Bronx have in store for the next several years, we have just witnessed something truly special.

A Star Is (Re)Born

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!