Giants 5, Yankees 4 (13)

I was thinking today about the play that--as much as any other--both led to and defined the Yankee dynasty of the late-90s.

Game 4, 1996 World Series, eighth inning, two outs. The Atlanta Braves had ran out a 6-0 lead (thank you, Kenny Rogers); the Yankees had cut that in half to 6-3 but were running out of outs.

Everyone knows what happened. With two men on, Jim Leyritz hit a home run off soon-t-be-former-closer Mark Wohlers (Joe Buck: "To the track, to the wall . . . we are tied!"), the Yankees went on to win not just that game but the next two, and the next 10 World Series games in a row after that, for a total of four rings in five years. The truly remarkable aspect about Leyritz's homer was how many other clutch hits were like it; this was a dynasty where comebacks such as the above were almost routine.

It is hard to remember but well to remember that the 90s Yankee dynasty almost ended before it started. In 1996, The Yankees were very fortunate they weren't swept in the ALDS by the Rangers (probably the best Rangers team ever); Games 2 and 3 of that series, both Yankee wins, were both late-inning comebacks involving about four flukey plays. And if Jeffrey Maier doesn't reach out catch Derek Jeter's fly ball, or if Rich Garcia makes the correct call on the play, New York starts the ALCS with an 0-2 deficit headed to Baltimore. And then of course there was Leyritz.

After a game like yesterday's, it is always remarkable to think back to those days, where it seemed every crucial cliffhanger fell the Yankees way. With one exception (Sandy Alomar's dinger in '97), a Yankee lead stayed a Yankee lead. A comeback--even to a tie--meant a victory. As for having a lead late, with the Hammer of God stretching in the bullpen . . . forget it.

In the 1998 World Series, there was the comeback from 5-0 in Game One, against Kevin Brown. In Game 3, Scottie Brosius's eight-inning homer off Trevor Hoffman. 1999: the late-inning magic against the Red Sox in the ALCS, followed by the erasure of two eighth-inning deficits against the Braves (and Maddux and Glavine, respectively). 2000: the seven-run, eighth-inning explosion against the Mariners, followed by David Justice's upper-deck smash in Game 6, followed by the World Series against the Mets, where in Games 1 and 5 . . .

You get the idea.

To many, the Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty (to quote Buster Olney) was that fateful Game 7 in the Desert. No elaboration needed. What always sticks out to me is Game 4 of the 2003 World Series, when, in the ninth inning, Ruben Sierra tripled home the tying runs against the Marlins. Millions--fresh from the latest Yankees-Red Sox war, with the memory of Aaron Boone still fresh--were on the same page: We got 'em. A victory, and a 3-1 Series lead, seemed inevitable. The dynasty would resume.

It didn't happen, of course, thanks to a cheap home run in the 13th, struck off a banished ex-starter while Mariano Rivera stood helplessly in the bullpen. I was upset of course, but I remember being also puzzled: Hmm. Interesting. Doesn't usually happen like this.

Nowadays, of course, it happens all to often. Tying homer in the ninth means . . . . tie game. Nothing more or less. The less comes later.