Bronx Medalists

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Oct. 27, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK —

They were too old, too slow, too tired, too thin in the rotation and bullpen, too shallow on the bench, too satisfied, too vulnerable . . . and simply too good for the rest of baseball.

Flawed in September, the New York Yankees awed in October, putting to rest any speculation their dynasty was on its deathbed with a heart-stopping 4-2 victory over the New York Mets in Game 5 of the World Series Thursday night before 55,292 in Shea Stadium to claim their third consecutive championship and fourth in five years.

Luis Sojo’s two-out grounder in the top of ninth somehow squeezed its way between Met shortstop Kurt Abbott and second baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and rolled into center field to score two runs, snap a 2-2 tie and send hard-luck losing pitcher Al Leiter to the dugout in tears.

Leiter had struck out Tino Martinez and Paul O’Neill to start the ninth, but Jorge Posada fouled off two two-strike pitches before drawing a walk, and Scott Brosius singled sharply to left, putting runners on first and second.

Sojo, who entered in the eighth, knocked Leiter’s first pitch up the middle. Center fielder Jay Payton charged and made a strong throw home, but the ball hit a sliding Posada in the thigh and caromed into the Mets’ dugout. Posada was safe, and the deflection allowed Brosius to score for a 4-2 lead.

Yankee closer Mariano Rivera then got Met slugger Mike Piazza to fly to the warning track in center with a runner on third for the final out, which center fielder Bernie Williams punctuated by putting his knee to the ground and saying a quick prayer.

With that, the Yankees stormed the field for a massive huddle and group hug behind the mound, their 4-1 edge in the best-of-seven series making them the first team to three-peat since the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics.

“Winning four World Series out of five years in this day and age when you have to come through layer after layer of postseason play, we can put our record, our dedication, our resolve up against any team that’s ever played the game of baseball in my mind,” Manager Joe Torre said. “We may not have the best players, but we certainly have had the best team.”

But a 35-year-old utility player, a supposed defensive specialist, delivering the game-winning hit in the Series clincher? Who would have thought it? Well, Sojo, for one.

“I was talking to El Duque [Orlando Hernandez] in the dugout in the ninth and said I wanted to hit with runners on base this inning,” said Sojo, the former Angel who was reacquired by the Yankees from Pittsburgh in August. “I wanted to be the hero. Look at me, talking to the media. This is the happiest day of my life.”

Few thought a month ago this day would come for the Yankees, but the same wayward souls who lost seven in a row and 15 of 18 to end the regular season found their compass in the postseason, climbing past the A’s, Seattle Mariners and the Mets to reach baseball’s summit for the 26th time in this franchise’s 97-year history.

“These were, by far, the toughest three teams we’ve faced in the playoffs in the last five years,” Yankee first baseman Tino Martinez said amid a champagne-soaked clubhouse. “We supposedly got older, people wrote us off, but we battled all the way, and here we are, champions again.”

Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, whose second homer in as many nights tied Thursday night’s game, 2-2, in the sixth, was named the series most valuable player after batting .409 (nine for 22) with two doubles, a triple and two homers in five games.

“But you could have picked the MVP out of a hat,” Jeter said. “The first game, Jose Vizcaino came up big. What Paul O’Neill did was amazing, our pitching staff, our bullpen, Rivera, Sojo today . . .

“That’s how you win; you get contributions from everyone.”

Including pitcher Andy Pettitte, who gave up two runs, both unearned, on eight hits and struck out five in seven innings Thursday night, and reliever Mike Stanton, who pitched a scoreless eighth to gain his second victory of the Series.

And Williams, who was 0 for 15 in the first four games of the series and hitless in his last 22 World Series at-bats before breaking out in a big way in the second, sending a towering fly ball to left that seemed to be caught between the moon and New York City.

When it finally came down, the ball landed in the left-field seats for a home run and a 1-0 Yankee lead that turned out to be very short-lived.

Met right fielder Bubba Trammell drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the second, and Payton singled to center. Abbott grounded to short, advancing the runners, and Leiter dropped a beautiful drag bunt between first base, second base and the mound. Martinez’s difficult flip to Pettitte covering was a little wide, and the pitcher dropped the ball.

Trammell scored on the play, which was ruled an error on Pettitte. Benny Agbayani followed with a slow roller to third that Brosius tried to bare-hand, even though he appeared to have time to field and throw.

The ball skipped off Brosius’ hand and rolled behind him, allowing Payton to score for a 2-1 Met lead.

That score remained until the sixth, when Jeter hammered a 2-0 Leiter fastball, sending it deep into the left-field bullpen for a 2-2 tie. Sojo won it in the ninth, which is fitting for a Yankee team that many thought was on its last legs.

When you break them down, piece by piece, the Yankees don’t seem that impressive, with the exception of Jeter, Williams, Posada and robo-closer Rivera.

O’Neill supposedly couldn’t catch up to a good fastball any more, left fielder David Justice was an average defender, Brosius was a shadow of the player who won 1998 World Series MVP honors, New Yorkers seem ready to ship Martinez out every year, Chuck Knoblauch couldn’t hit Keith Olbermann’s mother if she was sitting in the 10th row behind first base . . . OK, maybe he could.

Pettitte, the Yankees could rely on, but Roger Clemens couldn’t win in October, Hernandez was a sub-.500 pitcher all season, Denny Neagle slumped badly in August and September, and David Cone was done.

The bullpen wasn’t the same without injured middle man Ramiro Mendoza, and setup men Jeff Nelson and Stanton were so inconsistent they often got booed off the Yankee Stadium mound this summer.

But the sum of the parts--mixed with plenty of heart and the guiding hand of Torre--added up to so much more.

“There were a lot of questions we didn’t necessarily answer until the playoffs,” Torre said. “We stumbled to the finish line, but we stayed hungry enough to keep wanting to do this.”

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BY THE NUMBERS

16-3 Yankee record in World Series games since 1996

4 Teams that have won at least three consecutive World Series

7 World Series saves by Mariano Rivera a record

14 World Series hitting streak by MVP Derek Jeter

Title Towns

Most World

Series titles:

Yankees: 26

St. Louis: 9

Phila./Oak.: 9