Rogers Still Doesn’t Pay for Yankees

Game 2 was long over. The New York Yankees were down 0-2 in the 1996 World Series. The clubhouse was almost empty, the players hustling to the buses for the charter flight to Georgia.

The Boss appeared at the door, looked around, walked to the locker where Kenny Rogers was fixing his tie.

George Steinbrenner, thinking ahead, tapped his $20-million left-hander on the shoulder and said:

“I’ve heard enough talk. Now I want to see something.” The pitcher nodded and replied: “You will.”

Promises, promises.

What Steinbrenner saw in Game 4 Wednesday night was more than he could have imagined.

It started with Rogers, who has delivered only at the bank, turning in his third bust performance of the postseason, putting his team in a 0-5 hole after two-plus innings.

It ended with the Yankees rallying from a 6-0 deficit to defeat the Atlanta Braves, 8-6, in 10 innings, tying the Series at two games each and insuring a Game 6 Saturday night at Yankee Stadium.

The remarkable rally was highlighted by Jim Leyritz’s three-run, game-tying homer off relief ace Mark Wohlers in the eighth and Wade Boggs’ pinch-hit, bases-loaded walk to break the tie in the 10th.

It was an improbable comeback that took Rogers off the loser’s hook. If he remains in the owner’s doghouse with a 14.14 earned-run average for the 11 innings of his three postseason starts, no one was coming with a leash.

The Yankees, now 7-0 on the road in the postseason, were too excited, too exhilarated.

And Leyritz, the backup catcher, was the most excited, most exhilarated, although he has provided dramatics before.

He powered a 15th-inning homer that beat the Seattle Mariners in Game 2 of the American League championship series last year, a two-run shot that is often shown on the Yankee Stadium video board and, he said laughing, on the TV in his den.

“I never thought I’d have a chance to do something like that again, let alone in the World Series,” he said. “This has to be the biggest event in my career.”

With two on and one out in the eighth, Leyritz connected on a 2-and-2 slider from Wohlers, generally one of the National League’s hardest throwers.

“I was looking for a heater all the way,” he said. “I was guessing fastball and prepared to adjust to the slider. Fortunately he hung it.”

The biggest hit of Leyritz’s career was followed by what Boggs called “the biggest walk of my 15-year career.”

The Yankees had runners at first and second with two out against Steve Avery in the 10th when Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox ordered an intentional walk to torrid Bernie Williams, putting the potential tie-breaking run at third.

Andy Fox, a late-game insert at third base, was scheduled next, but the Yankees countered with Boggs, their last non-pitcher.

“I’ve gotten more accustomed to pinch-hitting in the last couple of years,” Boggs said. “It’s a matter of clearing your mind, staying focused. I’ve always been a hitter confident enough to go deep in the count.”

Boggs took Avery to 3 and 2, then walked.

“A big at-bat,” he said, “but I wouldn’t have gotten to the plate if Leyritz hadn’t hit that three-run homer off a guy who throws 100 miles per hour.”

Wohlers arrived without his usual heat in this one, but who could have predicted that? Cox called on him an inning earlier than usual because he has privately lost faith in setup men Greg McMichael, a victim of a two-run homer by Williams in the eighth inning Tuesday night, and Brad Clontz.

As renowned as the Braves’ Big Three of Greg Maddux, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine are, when Cox has to find a way to get to Wohlers, there’s a significant disparity between his and the Yankee bullpen. Manager Joe Torre’s relievers shut it down after Rogers failed again, providing a foundation for the Yankee comeback.

Said Charlie Hayes, the New York third baseman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates most of the year: “I told these guys that if you can get their starters out of the game, you have a chance to win. As bad as the Pirates were, we even had some success against their bullpen.”

Said Leyritz: “Our scouting reports indicated that the bullpen was their weak link.”

It now comes back to Game 1 starters Smoltz and Andy Pettitte. At some point, the Yankee bullpen needs some distance from a starter. The New York rotation has a 9.37 ERA for the Series. Can the Yankees win with that?

“Can we? We’re going to find out,” Torre said. “But stats in a short series don’t mean a hell of a lot. You win with wins.”

Overcoming another doomed effort by the high-priced Rogers, the Yankees now have as many as the Braves.