Yanks Win Classic Torre-esque Game...With Torre In The Other Dugout

If any three things epitomized the Joe Torre era with the New York Yankees, they were clutch starting pitching, brilliant relief pitching, and gritty hitting. Andy Pettitte failed to provide the first of those two elements last night and Joba Chamberlain turned in another shaky outing, but the Yankees' win last night could easily be categorized as a Torre orchestrated victory...except for the fact that Torre was in other dugout.

In a ninth inning reminiscent of so many that we had seen before during the last Yankee Dynasty (see 2000 World Series games 1 and 5, 1996 World Series Game 4, etc), the Yankees were able to manufacture four runs in the ninth inning against one of the premiere closers in the National League. Once the big hitters loaded the bases, it was two relatively unknown rookies who gave the Yankees a chance for their biggest win of the year.

Like so many games that the Yankees won under Joe Torre, the team put their faith in Chad Huffman and Colin Curtis, two players with less than a handful of at bats between the two of them. Huffman has bounced around the minors for a few years and Curtis, in a much larger battle than his at bat against Jonathan Broxton last night, defeated the demons of testicular cancer. With the bases loaded, Huffman drove in two runs with an RBI single (his third career hit), putting runners on first and third with one out with Curtis coming to the plate.

Curtis, who had only been called up earlier this week, had an a bat that would make you think he had played the game for over a decade. Much like Paul O'Neill's at bat off of Armando Benitez in game one of the 2000 World Series, Curtis fouled off pitch after pitch from the flame throwing Broxton. Finally, on the tenth pitch, he hit grounder to first base. James Loney, normally an excellent fielding first baseman, stepped on first and instead of throwing to second base for a potential game ending double-play, he threw home to try to catch the speedy Curtis Granderson. Granderson, who took off on contact, beat the wide throw to the plate to tie the game.

After being down by four runs and one out in the top of the ninth and in a game where the Yankees had been made to look silly by a series of slow hit ground balls and bunts earlier in the game, the gritty, gutsy Bronx Bombers tied a game in a way that would have made Joe Torre proud, had he been managing them and not their opponent. It wasn't pretty, but it was certainly well earned. If this part of the game was the main dessert, than the rest of the game was just the icing on the cake.

Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth and in the top of the tenth, Robinson Cano, who in his career was 0-11 off of Dodgers' reliever George Sherill, drilled a two-run homer to left-field to give the Yankees the lead. Rivera came back out for the tenth and once again proved why at age 40, he's still the best there is and probably the best ever. However, I doubt Joe Torre was surprised. As much as Joe says that he's put the Yankee years behind him him and is focusing on the present, I can guarantee you that after last night's game, if there's one thing that he misses, it's the tune of Enter Sandman come the ninth inning and the brilliant relief pitching of The Great Mariano.

Photo from Yankees.com