Easy as Big Apple Pie

By JASON REID

Oct. 22, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN DIEGO —

Focusing on the present, the New York Yankees traveled west to complete a mission.

The debate about their place in history would have to wait. Take care of business, the Yankees figured, and the rest would take care of itself.

Once again, the Yankees were right.

They got the job done and solidified their place in history Wednesday night--sweeping the San Diego Padres in the World Series with a 3-0 victory in Game 4 at Qualcomm Stadium.

Yankee starter Andy Pettitte, whose thoughts have been dominated by his father’s poor health, was outstanding in the clincher. The left-hander pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and outdueled Padre ace Kevin Brown, who was working on three days’ rest for the third time, as the Yankees won their 24th World Series championship and second in three seasons before a crowd of 65,427--the largest in Padre history.

“This was what we were talking about all year, about finishing what we started,” said center fielder Bernie Williams, whose run-scoring grounder in the sixth inning was all the support Pettitte and relievers Jeff Nelson and Mariano Rivera needed. “We felt like we were a great team from the beginning, but we didn’t go around talking about it.

“We played to the end all the time, and we always believed that we could get here. We did it. We did it.”

The Yankees added two insurance runs in the eighth inning in becoming the 16th team--and seventh Yankee club--to sweep the World Series. They became the first team to win the best-of-seven series in four games since the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Oakland Athletics in 1990.

The powerful champions put the final touches on a historic season when pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney grounded to Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius--selected the most valuable player of the Series--who threw to first baseman Tino Martinez for the last out of 1998. That completed an 11-2 playoff run for the Yankees, who set an American League record with 114 regular-season victories.

Closer Rivera ended his impressive playoff performance by working out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and overcoming a leadoff single by his cousin, and former Yankee teammate, Ruben Rivera in the ninth. He nailed down his third save of the Series in the Yankees’ record-setting 125th victory.

Now, the Yankees are ready to talk history.

“I only have about 40 years of baseball history, but this is the best club I’ve ever been around,” said Manager Joe Torre, who has guided the Yankees to their last two titles in three seasons at the helm. “We won 114 games, and it would have been, in its own right, a wonderful accomplishment. Then you get into the postseason, and you know you have to get through the first round, and the second round, and say I’m going to enjoy the World Series.

“The more you win, the more everybody expects you to win. The thing that concerned me the most was not winning the World Series, and having someone look down their noses on what we’ve accomplished. So I think that’s where the pressure came from. But this team doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone in my lifetime. No one.”

They didn’t against the Padres.

The Yankees outscored the National League champions, 26-13, in the series. The Yankees batted .309 (43 for 139) to .239 (32 of 134) for the Padres.

The Yankees had a 2.75 earned-run average and the Padres finished at 5.82.

“It was really just an honor to be a part of this,” said Brosius, who batted .471 with two home runs and six runs batted in. “I’ve never been around a more professional group of guys.

“The goals were clear here and everybody contributed to making this happen. It’s just . . . it’s a great feeling.”

It wasn’t that great for the Padres, but they were impressed.

“It has just been an incredible season for them, when you look at everything they accomplished over the long haul,” San Diego Manager Bruce Bochy said of the Yankees. “They did it in the regular season, they did it in the postseason.

“It’s got to be one of the greatest seasons ever. No doubt about it, you’re probably talking about one of the greatest teams of all time.”

The numbers support that claim.

The Yankees ran away with the AL East division, winning it by 22 games while capturing their 35th pennant. New York finished with a .714 winning percentage--the fourth highest in major league history.

The 1927 edition of this storied franchise established the record of .722 while going 114-44. The present group is OK with that.

“Everybody talks about the ’27 Yankees, and that’s fine because they’re the Yankees too,” said smooth-fielding shortstop Derek Jeter, who batted .353 in the series. “I’ve never seen the ’27 Yankees, that was a different time. But there aren’t many teams that could accomplish what we did in our time.

“We played with an intensity level that I don’t think most teams could have played with. Everybody on this team, every day, did whatever it would take to keep this going.”

Pettitte was among the leaders Wednesday.

Before the series began, Pettitte left the team for two days to be with his father, Thomas, who recently underwent heart bypass surgery in Houston. The 16-game winner has been preoccupied by that situation, and he was coming off a shaky start in the championship series, giving up six runs in 4 2/3 innings in a Game 3 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

But Pettitte responded in the World Series. He gave up five hits and struck out four with three walks.

His performance was similar to his stirring outing in Game 5 of the 1996 World Series, when he defeated the Atlanta Braves’ John Smoltz, 1-0. The Yankees returned to New York and won that series in Game 6.

“The first two games [of this World Series] at Yankee Stadium, I really wasn’t even thinking about the games,” Pettitte acknowledged. “Guys were jumping up and down and getting excited, and the only thing I could think about was my father.

“I called him today and he was able to go home, and I think that helped to get my mind a lot clearer. I know it made me feel a lot better.”

The Yankees too.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NEW YORK vs. SAN DIEGO

Yankees win series, 4-0

GAME 1

New York 9, San Diego 6

GAME 2

New York 9, San Diego 3

GAME 3

New York 5, San Diego 4

GAME 4