Curses! Boston Is Foiled Again

You can’t see his eyes. And when you can see his eyes, you can’t see his eyes.

The irony of this heart-flapping, emotion-splattered American League championship series is that the important strings are being pulled by the guy huddled on a bench underneath a blue jacket and cap, peering out from behind a permanent shadow.

You can barely see him even when you can see him, but Joe Torre seems to like it that way.

“The part of the game I enjoy most,” he said with an exhausted sigh early Friday morning here, “is the chess match.”

From behind a dramatic checkmate he emerged after managing the New York Yankees to a second consecutive bit of midnight madness, a 3-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox to take a two-games-to-none lead that seems insurmountable.

Wincing Paul O’Neill won the game for the Yankees with a two-strike, bloop, run-scoring single in the seventh inning.

Huffing Ramiro Mendoza saved the game by retiring two Red Sox with the bases loaded in the eighth.

Straining Mariano Rivera finished it with another ninth inning during which the Red Sox again danced the coulda-shoulda-woulda.

But Torre may have been the biggest hero for directing it all, much like he has directed a record-tying 12 consecutive postseason victories by the Yankees.

If they defeat the Red Sox Saturday in Boston in Game 3, they will be officially anointed as the most consistently prolific big-game team in baseball history.

In later years, if students of the game study the record and wonder how, Thursday’s game can double as the manual.

Spectacular performances by pressure players. And a thick but steady hand to guide them.

That the Yankees have defeated the Red Sox on consecutive nights after trailing through six innings is not just talent or luck or both.

“Tonight was two good managers doing everything they could . . . it was fun to watch,” O’Neill said.

But just as O’Neill beat Rheal Cormier in the seventh inning, it was Torre who beat this year’s probable manager-of-the-year candidate Jimy Williams at every turn.

Beat him with baseball sense, and common sense.

“This is the stuff, when you are sitting at home watching the game, you are saying, ‘Do this, do this, do this,’ ” Torre said. “Only, you’re in the middle of it, and you really have to do it.”

Start with the seventh, with the Red Sox leading, 2-1.

Ramon Martinez, the former Dodger who has pitched seven full innings only once in the last 16 months because of shoulder surgery, began the inning by throwing three consecutive balls before walking Ricky Ledee.

A couple of batters later, he faced Chuck Knoblauch while having already thrown 117 pitches.

Williams could have removed him. But, not trusting his bullpen, he desperately wanted to coax one more batter out of him.

Knoblauch doubled to left, tying the score.

“We pushed him,” Williams admitted later of Martinez.

Williams had blown it, and one batter later, Torre trumped him by leaving O’Neill in the game to face the left-handed Cormier even though O’Neill was struggling with sore ribs and batted just .190 this season against left-handers.

It is well known that Torre loves O’Neill’s grittiness as much as he loves similar traits in David Cone, who just happened to reward the boss with seven strong innings Thursday.

“Joe really has confidence in his players, he sticks by us,” Derek Jeter said.

O’Neill repaid him with the single, which gave the Yankees the lead, which set up Torre’s finest hour in the eighth.

“A great inning,” Cone said. “Benches emptied, bullpens emptied, everybody going for it.”

But one man clearly in control.

After Troy O’Leary started the eighth with a double to center, Mike Stanley was hit by reliever Jeff Nelson.

That put runners on first and second with none out--Damon Buford was running for the sore-wristed Stanley--and hot Jason Varitek at the plate.

He is one of the two hitters who missed homers by inches earlier in the game.

But Williams ordered Varitek to bunt the runners to second and third. A textbook move, but not in this chapter. This gave Torre an open first base to work with. It was all he needed.

Torre thought his best matchup would be Mendoza against big swinging, right-handed hitting Butch Huskey, who could strike out or hit into a double play.

So he threw out the bait by bringing in left-hander Allen Watson to face pinch-hitter Scott Hatteburg.

Williams didn’t bite, instead subbing Lou Merloni for Hatteburg.

Fine, said Torre. He promptly intentionally walked the light-hitting Merloni, meaning left-handed hitting Trot Nixon would now have to face Watson.

So Williams called up Huskey to bat for Nixon and face Watson.

Checkmate.

Torre immediately brought in Mendoza, who struck out Huskey and then retired Jose Offerman on a fly ball to end the inning.

“I love Ramiro Mendoza,” said Torre, smiling. “I love it when it’s one manager going against the other manager. You have to make decisions, and make them right then, and then see what happens. It’s great.”

Or, maybe not so great.

“I thought we had the right people up in the right situations,” Williams said, his voice even raspier than usual. “We gave it a shot. Tomorrow is another day.”

A day in which, as Thursday proved once again, the Yankees will still be the Yankees, the Red Sox will still be the Red Sox, and Joe Torre will be the one who makes sure we can all tell the difference.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.