'97 Bombers have a bit "Mo" than the '80 Dodgers over 5 games.

Game 1 (Dodger Stadium)

New York  1  Los Angeles 2 (10 inn)

WP Castillo  (1-0)

LP  Rivera    (0-1)

 

An excellent pitchers dual between Andy Pettitte and Don Sutton. Sutton's only mistake was giving up a HR to Tino Martinez in the 5th inning and it looked like that would be the deciding run as Pettitte was spectacular through 8 innings of scoreless ball, giving up only 3 hits and 1 walk. Then the fateful decision of manager Mike Hill to bring in "The Sandman" Mariano Rivera to close it out proved costly. After breezing through the first two batters in the ninth, he gives up a single to Reggie Smith, then walks Ron Cey and blows the save by giving up another single to Davey Lopes that scores Smith with the tying run. In the 10th, it was the same scenario of a single, walk and single that brought in the winning run for LA.

 

Game 2 (Dodger Stadium)

New York 5  Los Angeles 2

WP Cone    (1-0)

LP  Hooton  (0-1)

SV  Rivera   (1)

 

The Yanks tie the series thanks to another excellent pitching performance. This time it was David Cone going 6 innings only giving up 3 hits and 1 run. Mo Rivera redeems himself by closing this one out for his first save. 2B Rey Sanchez was MVP driving in 3 runs in support of Coney. The series now shifts to Yankee Stadium for game 3.

 

Game 3 (Yankee Stadium)

Los Angeles 7  New York 0

WP Welch (1-0)

LP  Wells   (0-1)

 

The Dodgers strike back at the Yankees with a dominant performance led by Bob Welch's 8 shutout innings and Pedro Guerrerro's HR and 3 RBI. Yankee pitcher David Wells didn't last long only going 4 innings and gave up 7 runs (3 earned). The Dodgers blew it open in the 4th with 4 runs and added 2 more in the 5th to make it a 7-0 score that held up the rest of the way.

 

Game 4 (Yankee Stadium)

Los Angeles 2  New York 3 (11 inn)

WP Rivera (1-1)

LP  Howe   (0-1)

 

The series' second extra inning game was another nail biter. The Yankees in a "win or go home" situation decided to bring back Andy Pettitte on short rest to keep their hopes alive. Pettitte answered with 6 strong innings of 2 run ball. He was facing Dodger's lefty Jerry Reuss.

The Dodgers jumped on top in the 3rd with a HR from Pedro Guerrerro, his second of the series. The Yanks answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on a double by Tino Martinez, scoring Paul O'Neill, then added another run in the 4th on a ground ball single between third and short by Tim Raines, scoring Chad Curtis to go up 2-1. LA tied it in the 7th on a single by Steve Garvey, however, the Yankees won it in the bottom of the 11th on a Derek Jeter single scoring Luis Sojo sending the series back to Chavez Ravine for the deciding 5th game.

 

Game 5 (Dodger Stadium)

New York 6  Los Angeles 4

WP Mendoza (1-0)

LP   Sutton     (0-1)

SV  Rivera      (2)

 

David Cone coming back on short rest to face Dodger ace Don Sutton for game 5. It was all hands on deck for the Yankees as Cone could only go 2.2 innings as he threw an unbelievable 90 pitches in those few innings. It turned out not to hurt as the Yankee bats woke up with 12 hits in the game including homers by Jeter, O'Neill and Tino Martinez' 3rd of the series. The Yankees jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third and 6 relievers combined to make the lead hold up, culminating with Rivera's 2nd save of the series as New  York defeats Los Angeles in another classic Yankee-Dodger match up.

 

Excellent job managing, Keith. It was a fun series.

 

Mike Hill

'97 NY Yankees