Yankees Go Back to Ruthless Ways

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Oct. 18, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK —

New York Yankee fans nearly crucified second baseman Chuck Knoblauch on Oct. 7, booing him mercilessly after his absent-minded decision to argue with an umpire instead of retrieve a live ball cost the Yankees a playoff game against Cleveland.

And with Yankee first baseman Tino Martinez rivaling San Francisco’s Barry Bonds for postseason futility, there have been rumblings the Yankees might pursue free-agent Mo Vaughn and dump Martinez, the team’s RBI leader for the past three seasons.

But two humongous seventh-inning swings by Knoblauch and Martinez in Game 1 of the World Series on Saturday night might have swayed the public opinion of millions in New York.

Knoblauch tied the score with a three-run homer to left field, and Martinez capped a seven-run outburst with a grand slam into the upper deck in right, leading the Yankees to a 9-6 come-from-behind victory over the San Diego Padres before 56,712 in Yankee Stadium.

Both Knoblauch, who homered off reliever Donne Wall, and Martinez, who homered off reliever Mark Langston, received curtain calls from an unforgiving-turned-adoring crowd that had panned both in the playoffs.

“Tino and I had been trying to pump each other up the last few days, hitting together in the cage and working on some things,” said Knoblauch, who entered the game with a .167 postseason average. “I was probably more excited when Tino hit his homer than I was when I hit mine.”

That couldn’t have been easy. Knoblauch screamed as he crossed the plate and high-fived teammates with such force he probably bruised a few palms.

Five batters later, Martinez made fans forget he was hitting .156 (five for 32) with one RBI in the playoffs. His homer was the 17th grand slam in World Series history and the first Yankee World Series slam since Joe Pepitone’s Game 6 shot against St. Louis in 1964.

“No one likes to get booed in the playoffs because you bust your butt to get here,” Martinez said. “But we all picked up Chuck after that [ALCS] play, and it was great to get curtain calls. When he hit his homer, I ran out there as fast as I could. I was as happy for him as I was for me.”

San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy merely wanted to run for cover. He was criticized for using ace Kevin Brown in relief in Game 5 of the National League championship series--Brown gave up a three-run, game-winning homer to Atlanta’s Michael Tucker--and Saturday night Bochy was second-guessed for taking Brown out too soon.

Brown, pitching with a sinus infection and a sore left shin after getting nailed by Chili Davis’ liner in the second, gave up a one-out single to Jorge Posada in the seventh and walked No. 9 batter Ricky Ledee on four pitches, bringing his pitch count to 108.

With a 5-3 lead built on the strength of Greg Vaughn’s two-run homer in the second and back-to-back homers by Tony Gwynn (a two-run blast) and Vaughn in the fifth, Bochy summoned Wall, who was the property of four organizations during a two-month period in 1997 but resurrected his career by going 5-4 with a 2.43 earned-run average in 46 games with the Padres this season.

A jittery Wall bounced his first pitch to Knoblauch five feet in front of the plate and sent the next one over Knoblauch’s head. A good sign this was not. Wall’s third pitch was right down the middle, and Knoblauch lifted a high fly ball that cleared the wall for a game-tying, three-run homer.

Derek Jeter singled, and Bochy went to Langston instead of more seasoned reliever Randy Myers. Paul O’Neill flied out, and after Jeter took second on a wild pitch, Bernie Williams was intentionally walked.

Davis then walked to load the bases, and Martinez worked the count to 2-2 when Langston threw a middle-of-the-plate, knee-high fastball that umpire Rich Garcia ruled low. Langston, not wanting to walk the go-ahead run home, grooved a fastball that Martinez deposited into a land far, far away. Yankee right-hander Jeff Nelson relieved shaky starter David Wells to start the eighth, and Mariano Rivera added 1 1/3 scoreless innings for the save.

“I feel so good for both of those guys,” said Wells, who gave up five runs in seven innings. “They’ve been solid for us all year, then they go into a little slump and everyone writes them off.”

Some apparently have written Bochy’s bullpen off. After the game, the manager was asked if he had confidence in any reliever besides closer Trevor Hoffman.

“The ‘pen has done a great job this year, and Donne is one of the reasons why,” Bochy said. “He’s been in those seventh-inning situations all year, and I wanted to stay with what got us here.”

Then why didn’t he stay with the guy who really got the Padres here? Why wasn’t Brown, 2-1 with a sparkling 1.44 ERA in the post- season, given a chance to get out of that jam in the seventh?

“We said before the inning that if scuffled, we’d go get him,” Bochy said. “I think that ball of his shin--that was his landing foot right there--really affected him.”

So did his sinus infection. Brown, who pitched two World Series game with a viral infection for Florida last season, losing both, said he felt weak the whole game.

“I’ve pitched three World Series games, and I haven’t been healthy yet,” said Brown, who gave up four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings. “It would be nice to know what it would be like [to be healthy].”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Home Run Derby

Players who have hit two or more home runs in a World Series game:

THREE HOME RUNS

* Babe Ruth, New York Yankees, October 6, 1926, 2 consecutive

* Babe Ruth, New York Yankees, October 9, 1928, 2 consecutive

* Reggie Jackson, New York Yankees, October 18, 1977, consecutive

****

TWO HOME RUNS

* Pat Dougherty, Boston Red Sox, October 2, 1903

* Harry Cooper, Boston Red Sox, October 13, 1915

* Ben Kauff, New York Giants, October 11, 1917

* Babe Ruth, New York Yankees, October 11, 1923, consecutive

* Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, October 7, 1928, consecutive

* Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, October 1, 1932, consecutive

* Babe Ruth, New York Yankees, October 1, 1932

* Tony Lazzeri, New York Yankees, October 2, 1932

* Charlie Keller, New York Yankees, October 7, 1939

* Bob Elliot, Boston Braves, October 10, 1948, consecutive

* Duke Snider, Brooklyn Dodgers, October 6, 1952, consecutive

* Joe Collins, New York Yankees, September 28, 1955, consecutive

* Duke Snider, Brooklyn Dodgers, October 2, 1955, consecutive

* Yogi Berra, New York Yankees, October 10, 1956, consecutive

* Tony Kubek, New York Yankees, October 5, 1957

* Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, October 2, 1958

* Ted Kluszewski, Chicago White Sox, October 1, 1959, consecutive

* Charlie Neal, Los Angeles Dodgers, October 2, 1959, consecutive

* Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, October 6, 1960

* Carl Yastrzemski, Boston Red Sox, October 5, 1967

* Rico Petrocelli, Boston Red Sox, October 11, 1967, consecutive

* Gene Tenace, Oakland A’s, October 14, 1972, consecutive

* Tony Perez, Cincinnati Reds, October 16, 1975, consecutive

* Johnny Bench, Cincinnati Reds, October 21, 1976

* Dave Lopes, Los Angeles Dodgers, October 10, 1978, consecutive

* Willie Aikens, Kansas City, October 14, 1980

* Willie Aikens, Kansas City, October 18, 1980

* Willie McGee, St. Louis Cardinals, October 15, 1982, consecutive

* Eddie Murray, Baltimore Orioles, October 16, 1983, consecutive

* Alan Trammell, Detroit Tigers, October 13, 1984, consecutive

* Kirk Gibson, Detroit Tigers, October 14, 1984

* Gary Carter, New York Mets, October 22, 1986

* Dave Henderson, Oakland, October 27, 1989, consecutive

* Chris Sabo, Cincinnati, Oct. 19, 1990, consecutive

* Lenny Dykstra, Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1993

* Andruw Jones, Atlanta, Oct. 20, 1996, consecutive

* Greg Vaughn, San Diego, Oct. 17, 1998, consecutive

Out of His League?

Kevin Brown gave up four runs in 6 1/3 innings against the Yankees, a surprise to many. But a look at his career numbers shows he has always been a much better pitcher against National League teams than American League teams. A look at his numbers per nine innings pitched against each league:

vs. National League teams

Walks: 1.60

Strikeouts: 7.06

ERA: 2.11

****

vs. American League teams

Walks: 2.95

Strikeouts: 5.42

ERA: 3.75

Researched by Houston Mitchell