Wrong Call Is All Right to Yankees

NEW YORK — He was Chuck Brainlauch in the 1998 American League championship series, his mental gaffe in Game 2 when he decided to argue with an umpire instead of retrieve an errant throw leading to a New York Yankee loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Wednesday night, he was Chuck Knobluck.

A crucial play that should have been ruled an error on Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch in the top of the 10th inning was ruled a forceout instead, and three pitches later, Bernie Williams homered in the bottom of the 10th to lift New York to a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the 1999 AL championship series.

A Yankee Stadium crowd of 57,181 saw second-base umpire Rick Reed turn a potential two-on, no-out threat for the Red Sox into a one-out, one-on situation when he called Jose Offerman out at second, even though third baseman Scott Brosius’ relay throw on John Valentin’s grounder clanked off Knoblauch’s glove and to the ground.

Brian Daubach grounded into an inning-ending double play on the next pitch, and Williams, who came close to signing with the Red Sox as a free agent last winter, drove an 0-1 Rod Beck pitch over the wall in center for the sudden-death victory, the Yankees’ 11th consecutive postseason win.

Boston Manager Jimy Williams and several Red Sox players said they didn’t believe Knoblauch had possession of the ball in the top of the 10th, and guess what? They were right. In a stunning postgame development, Reed issued a statement admitting he was wrong.

“I thought he had possession before he dropped the ball, but after we went in and looked at the tape, we decided that wasn’t the case,” Reed said. “As an umpire it was my job to get it right. I didn’t. You feel bad about it. I feel awful.”

Had Reed made the correct call, the Red Sox would have had runners on first and second with none out against Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, who hasn’t given up a run since July 21, a span covering 35 2/3 innings. Daubach and cleanup batter Nomar Garciaparra, Boston’s best hitter, were to follow.

“That changed the whole format of that inning, but what can you do?” Boston center fielder Darren Lewis said. “You hope to get those calls, but everyone knows umpires make mistakes. You have to shrug your shoulders and forget about it as soon as possible.”

The Red Sox didn’t have much time to dwell on the play, because within minutes, they had a loss to dwell on in this much anticipated championship series featuring two of baseball’s most heated--and hated--rivals.

Williams, who had six runs batted in in the Yankees’ division series sweep of Texas, tore into a Beck fastball, “but I didn’t think it was going to be gone,” he said. “[Lewis] had his back to me, and I figured he’d play it off the wall. When it went over, I was so surprised.”

So was Lewis.

“Once it got over my head it started taking off like a golf ball,” Lewis said. “I don’t know if the wind got it, or what. I think it did.”

Great, just what the Red Sox and their angst-filled fans needed, another wind-aided home run leading to a loss to the Yankees in a big game. Wasn’t Bucky Dent’s lazy fly ball that landed in the screen above Fenway Park’s Green Monster for a three-run homer in that one-game playoff to determine the 1978 AL East champion enough?

Apparently not. Ever since the Yankees got Babe Ruth from the Red Sox in 1920 they have tormented them on the field, winning most of their showdowns with the Old Towne team.

On this rain-soaked Wednesday night, they did it by erasing a three-run deficit, Scott Brosius hitting a two-run homer in the second to pull the Yankees to within 3-2 and Derek Jeter atoning for an earlier miscue with a game-tying RBI single in the seventh.

Brosius, who has had a much more modest 1999 (.247, 71 RBIs) than 1998 (.300, 98 RBIs, World Series most valuable player), opened the seventh with a sharp single to left off reliever Derek Lowe.

Knoblauch bunted Brosius to second, and Jeter, whose first-inning error cost the Yankees two runs, fought off an inside pitch with a bloop single to right.

Red Sox outfielder Trot Nixon charged and fired a one-hop throw that was about eight feet up the third-base line and in time to catch Brosius. But catcher Jason Varitek dropped the ball just before Brosius crashed into him, and Brosius scrambled to the plate for the tying run.

“When Jeter hit that ball, I didn’t think there was going to be a play at the plate,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “You have to give credit to Nixon.

“He charged it real well and got rid of it very well and made a good throw to the plate. For sure, the ball beat him. We were lucky to score.”

Rivera got the victory in relief of Cuban right-hander Orlando Hernandez, who survived a rocky start (three runs in the first two innings) to blank the Red Sox on three hits from the third through eighth.

Offerman led off the game with a single and Valentin ripped a grounder to the shortstop hole. Jeter gloved it with a back-hand stab, leaped, turned in the air and threw to second, but the ball bounced wide of Knoblauch and to the right-field line, allowing Offerman to score and Valentin to take third.

Daubach followed with an RBI single to right for a 2-0 lead, and Offerman’s RBI infield single in the third made it 3-0.

New York got two back in the second when Shane Spencer, who was added to the ALCS roster after missing the division series, singled and Brosius homered.

But Garciaparra, showing he has NBA-caliber verticality to go with his lethal bat and whip of a throwing arm, leaped high to snag Chili Davis’ liner with runners on second and third to end the first and even higher to grab Tino Martinez’s liner to end the third with runners on first and third, saving at least three runs.

For Boston, it was all downhill from there.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

GAME 2

Tonight, 5 PDT

Yankee Stadium, New York

Channel 11

Boston

(Ramon Martinez 2-1, 3.05 ERA)

at

New York

(David Cone 12-9, 3.44 ERA)

A REAL HOMER

Game-winning homer is no surprise for Bernie Williams, who also set the tone for Yankees in division series opener. Page 6

Yankee Manager Joe Torre is going with a surprise starter in Game 2: David Cone, who hasn’t pitched in 11 days. Page 6