Team of DestiNY?

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Nov. 2, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK —

Arizona Manager Bob Brenly brought the tee to home plate Thursday night, and closer Byung-Hyun Kim essentially stuck the World Series championship on top of it, nice and neat, for the New York Yankees. Knowing a gift when they see one, the Yankees took a healthy hack at it, and the result was almost predictable:

Scott Brosius hit a game-tying, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off Kim, and Alfonso Soriano’s RBI single in the bottom of the 12th off Albie Lopez gave the Yankees a pulsating 3-2 victory over the Diamondbacks in Game 5 of the World Series, New York’s second astonishing comeback in as many nights.

A Yankee Stadium crowd of 56,018 saw the three-time defending-champion Yankees take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series, which heads back to Phoenix for Game 6 Saturday and Game 7 Sunday if necessary.

The Yankees, who have won their last seven World Series extra-inning games, a streak dating to 1964, will have to beat either left-hander Randy Johnson on Saturday or right-hander Curt Schilling on Sunday to win their fourth consecutive title and fifth in the past six years.

After what happened in Yankee Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday night, anything seems possible. Tino Martinez’s two-run home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth tied Game 4, and Derek Jeter’s homer in the 10th off Kim won it.

The Yankees were down to their last out again Thursday night when Brosius homered to left to tie it, 2-2. Chuck Knoblauch, who entered as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning, started the game-winning rally in the 12th when he led off with a single to center, snapping an 0-for-13 World Series skid.

Brosius bunted Knoblauch to second, and Soriano flared a single to right field. Arizona outfielder Reggie Sanders’ throw one-hopped catcher Rod Barajas, and the ball went off his glove as Knoblauch slid home with the winning run.

“It’s pretty amazing; you can’t draw up two better innings, and to have this situation two nights in a row is pretty unbelievable,” Brosius said. “I don’t know why we never give up. One of our strengths is we play hard for 27 outs. You certainly don’t want to make a living waiting until the 26th out, but it just worked out for us.”

The Yankees dropped the first two games of the series in Phoenix but came back to win the next three in New York, all by one run and the last two in dramatic fashion.

“It’s Groundhog Day,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “I don’t know what’s going on. You’re sitting there, you have another breath left and Brosius hits the ball out of the park. I mean, you shake your head ... This is the most incredible couple of games I’ve ever managed, obviously.”Left-hander Greg Swindell had bailed the Diamondbacks out of a first-and-third, two-out jam in the eighth inning, relieving starter Miguel Batista and retiring Martinez on a lazy fly ball to left field to preserve a 2-0 lead.

But instead of leaving Swindell in to at least start the ninth, a move that would have forced switch-hitting Jorge Posada to bat from the right side, Brenly inexplicably went to Kim, the 22-year-old Korean right-hander who, just 24 hours earlier, gave up the homers to Martinez and Jeter.

Posada doubled to left to open the inning. Shane Spencer grounded out, and Kim struck out Knoblauch, but he grooved a 1-0, waist-high slider to Brosius, who lofted a long fly ball over the left-field wall, sending the stadium into pandemonium for the second night in a row.

“Kim is our closer; I talked to him at length this afternoon, called down to the bullpen coach, Glenn Sherlock, asked him how he was warming up, and he said his stuff was electric,” Brenly said. “He’s our closer, he wanted the ball in that situation and made a bad pitch that hung over the inside of the plate to Brosius.”

Brenly yanked Kim in favor of Mike Morgan, the veteran right-hander who came on to retire Soriano on a fly ball to left to end the inning and retired the side in order in the 10th and 11th innings.

The Diamondbacks, who failed to score after putting a runner on third base with no outs in the eighth inning, failed to capitalize on another opportunity in the 11th when they loaded the bases with one out off Yankee closer Mariano Rivera.

Danny Bautista singled to open the inning, Erubiel Durazo blooped a single to center, Matt Williams advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Steve Finley, who homered in the fifth inning and singled in each of the seventh and ninth innings, was intentionally walked.

Sanders smoked a liner toward the middle, but second baseman Soriano made a back-hand diving catch. Mark Grace then grounded to third, Brosius scooping the ball and tagging the bag to end the inning.

Wasted by the Diamondbacks was an outstanding performance by their starting pitcher, Batista, the 30-year-old journeyman from the Dominican Republic who writes poetry and is working on a novel.

Batista shut out the Yankees for 72/3 innings, giving up five hits, striking out six and walking five in a gutty, 126-pitch effort

Also wasted were fifth-inning home runs by Finley and catcher Barajas, who was in the lineup only because starting catcher Damian Miller (strained right calf) was scratched shortly before the game.

Yankee starter Mike Mussina had breezed through the first four innings, striking out six and giving up only one hit, Barajas’ single to center in the third inning. Unlike his Game 1 startMussina got ahead of hitters with his fastball and put them away with his knuckle-curve Thursday night.

But that formula backfired in the fifth inning. Mussina jumped ahead of Finley, 1-2, and threw a curve that didn’t bite.Finley pounced on the hanging pitch, knocking it into the right-field seats for his first career postseason home run and a 1-0 lead.

Two outs later, Mussina got ahead of Barajas by the same 1-2 count. Again, Mussina went to the curve, and again the ball wound up in the outfield seats, as Barajas, who hit .160 with three homers and nine RBIs in 51 games this season, drove the pitch over the left-field wall for a home run that made it 2-0 Diamondbacks.

But even after Arizona built its two-run lead, there was this odd feeling in the stadium, one of anticipation for the Yankees and of impending doom for the Diamondbacks. After New York’s comeback the night before, it was as if everyone was waiting for the other three-run home run to drop.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Comeback to Comeback

A LOOK AT THE YANKEE COMEBACKS IN GAMES 4 AND 5 OF THE WORLD SERIES

GAME 4

NINTH INNING: With one out and trailing, 3-1, Paul O’Neill singles to left off Byung-Hyun Kim. Bernie Williams strikes out swinging. Tino Martinez crushes a first-pitch fastball over the center-field fence, tying the score with his first hit of the Series. Score tied, 3-3.

10TH INNING: With two out and Kim still pitching, Derek Jeter deposits a fastball just inside the right-field foul pole for the game-winning homer. Yankees win, 4-3

GAME 5

NINTH INNING: Kim pitching. Trailing, 2-0, Jorge Posada doubles to left. Shane Spencer grounds to third. Chuck Knoblauch strikes out looking. Brosius homers to left on a 1-and-0 count to tie the score, 2-2.

12TH INNING: Albie Lopez pitching. Knoblauch singles to center. Brosius sacrifices. Alfonso Soriano singles to right, scoring Knoblauch. Yankees win, 3-2

WORLD SERIES

Best of seven;

*-if necessary

GAME 1

Arizona 9,

New York 1

GAME 2

Arizona 4,

New York 0

GAME 3

New York 2,

Arizona 1