One Down, One to Go

It was a super-stressful summer for New York Yankee Manager Joe Torre, whose team enjoyed a 12-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles on July 28, only to have it dwindle to 2 1/2 games on Sept. 9.

But after the Yankees wrapped up their 34th American League pennant with a 6-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 5 of the championship series at Camden Yards on Sunday, Torre could reflect on the near-colossal collapse as the defining 1996 moment for his team.

“The best thing that ever happened to us was going from 12 games up to 2 1/2 up,” said Torre, whose 31-year World Series drought--17 as a player, 14 as a manager--finally came to an end, thanks to Andy Pettitte’s pitching, a crucial Roberto Alomar error and three Yankee homers.

“If the lead had stayed at 10 games all the way through, I’m not sure we would have seen what this team is made of. I thought that made us a better club at the time, and I knew that would eventually help us in the playoffs. . . . I thought the players showed their true colors.”

So did Torre when Sunday’s game ended, shedding tears during a long embrace with former Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson in the dugout and hugging his players as they came off the field following their 4-1 series victory.

For as much adversity as his team faced in 1996, Torre endured even more. Fired as the St. Louis Cardinals’ manager in 1995, Torre thought his baseball career was over when Yankee owner George Steinbrenner called.

Little did he know what he was getting into. There was the spring-training spat with $20-million pitcher Kenny Rogers, the aneurysm that took ace David Cone out of the rotation for four months, an early July elbow injury that threatened Pettitte’s season, and a groin injury that sidelined closer John Wetteland for three weeks in August.

Then there was personal tragedy. Torre’s brother, Rocco, died of a heart attack between games of a day-night doubleheader sweep at Cleveland on June 21, and another brother, Frank, has spent the last several months in a New York hospital awaiting a heart transplant.

“I hope Joe got the game ball,” said Wetteland, who gave up Bobby Bonilla’s two-run homer in the ninth before closing out the Orioles. “Knowing what he’s been through, this is a special moment in his life. He gave me a hug and there were tears in his eyes. The man doesn’t have to say a lot.”

Torre said his thoughts after Cal Ripken’s game-ending groundout were with his family--his wife, two sisters and brother, “who probably wanted this more than I did,” Torre said.

“When I got fired I figured I’d go back into broadcasting, but my wife said I couldn’t give up on my dream. I thought the window for reaching the World Series was gone, especially looking at the mountain you have to climb to get there.”

The Yankees reached the peak Sunday barely ahead of the Orioles, the team that chased them through August and September and almost treated 48,718 in Camden Yards to another dramatic comeback in Game 5.

Jim Leyritz’s solo homer off Oriole starter Scott Erickson gave New York a 1-0 lead in the third inning, and the Yankees tacked on five unearned runs in the third after Alomar, Baltimore’s Gold Glove second baseman, let Bernie Williams’ potential double-play grounder skip through his legs.

Erickson, who has been known to become unnerved after defensive lapses, simply fell apart, throwing two bad pitches that resulted in Cecil Fielder’s three-run home run and Darryl Strawberry’s solo homer, a 448-foot blast into the Yankee bullpen well beyond the left-center field fence.

“You never see Robbie miss a ground ball like that,” said Strawberry, who hit three homers in the last two games. “He’ll make that play just about every time.”

Pettitte cruised through five innings, giving up one hit and one walk, but Todd Zeile hit a solo homer in the sixth and Eddie Murray added a solo homer in the eighth.

Wetteland walked Zeile to start the ninth and, after Alomar’s fielder’s choice, Bobby Bonilla homered to left--his first hit in 20 championship series at-bats--to trim the lead to 6-4.

“I said a little prayer for John,” said Pettitte, who paced the dugout during the ninth. “I was a little nervous for him out there.”

Ripken then grounded to the shortstop hole, and Derek Jeter threw low to first, but Tino Martinez made a nice scoop moments before Ripken dove headfirst into the bag, and the Yankees had won the pennant.

Pettitte went eight innings, giving up only three hits, as New York improved to 9-0 in Camden Yards and 14-4 against the Orioles this year. Outside of the two homers, no other Oriole reached second base against Pettitte.

“He’s amazing, he’s been amazing all year,” Wetteland said of Pettitte, who went 21-8 during the regular season. “He never gave in. You could tell he was really miffed after Zeile’s homer--you knew then that it didn’t matter if we were up, 50-0, he didn’t want to give up another run. We were in great shape. . . . We just needed me to tack on a few runs at the end.”

There was some grumbling in the Oriole clubhouse afterward, the residue of a controversial Game 1 loss, when a 12-year-old fan turned a potential flyout into a Yankee homer, and a string of frustration against the Yankees.

“There’s no way in the world they’re better than us,” Oriole pitcher David Wells said. “Look at some of the calls that happened, and all that other controversial crap. They’re no better than we are. At worst, the series should be 3-2 now.”

New York had a superior bullpen, outstanding starting pitching, a more versatile offense and a deeper bench.

“They can’t chase us now,” Jeter said. “They have a great team, they played us hard all year . . . but their season is over.”

* POWER PACK FALTERS: The Baltimore Orioles lived, and eventually died, by the homer-fueled big inning. C10