Yankees Sink Into Hudson

By PAUL SULLIVAN

Oct. 12, 2001 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

NEW YORK —

The riot police stood still along the foul lines of Yankee Stadium late Thursday night as the strains of “New York, New York” wafted over the public address system.

It was the look and sound of a dynasty in distress.

Oakland right-hander Tim Hudson shut out the three-time defending champion Yankees for eight innings, leading the A’s to a 2-0 victory and a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five division series.

“Coming into this stadium and winning any game isn’t an easy feat,” Hudson said. “To take two from these guys ... we didn’t expect it. We’d have been very happy splitting the two games.”

The A’s were 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and are 0 for 18 in the series in that category.

The only stat that matters now is the Yankees are one game from ending their season.

Game 3 is Saturday afternoon in the Oakland Coliseum with A’s left-hander Barry Zito facing Mike Mussina.

The A’s take a 17-game home win streak into the potential clincher.

“This is the best we could ever expect,” A’s Manager Art Howe said. “But we know they’re not going to quit. They’re champions for a reason.”

Hudson and Yankee left-hander Andy Pettitte staged a made-for-October duel under the stars, but Hudson was mistake-free while Pettitte’s sole mistake cost him the game.

Ron Gant’s homer leading off the fourth gave the A’s a 1-0 lead, and Scott Brosius’ ninth-inning error after Johnny Damon’s triple off Mariano Rivera brought home the insurance run.

After eight shutout innings by Hudson, Howe brought in closer Jason Isringhausen for the ninth.

Bernie Williams led off with a double down the left-field line, before Isringhausen walked Tino Martinez on five pitches, bringing the crowd of 56,684 to its feet.

But as quickly as he got into trouble, Isringhausen wriggled out of it. He caught Jorge Posada looking at a called third strike, then induced David Justice and Brosius to pop out, stranding the tying runs.

Are the brash young A’s making Yankees looking old and in the way?

“I don’t know about old, but they’re certainly making us eat some dust right now,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said. “I don’t believe teams get old overnight.”

Pettitte said that the emotions of the evening affected him adversely.

The game was delayed a half-hour by President Bush’s prime-time news conference on the war against terrorism, which was televised on the scoreboard as the entire stadium watched in silence.

“It was weird to warm up and watch the president give his speech on the big screen,” Pettitte said. “It was a weird night to go out under those type of circumstances.”

Perhaps the play that epitomized the Yankees’ offensive struggles occurred in the first when Williams came to the plate with a man on first and two out. Williams pulled an inside pitch and watched it bounce foul down the first-base line.

But as Williams stood at the plate, the ball somehow caromed off the lip of the grass and angled back into fair territory.

A’s second baseman Frank Menechino threw out Williams as he made a last-ditch attempt to run, and Yankee fans booed lustily.

After recording two quick outs in the sixth, Hudson found himself in trouble for the first time, yielding an infield hit to Chuck Knoblauch and a sharp single to right to Derek Jeter, with Knoblauch holding at second.

When Paul O’Neill coaxed a 3-2 count, the A’s held their breath.

“That’s usually when the Yankee magic comes out,” Hudson said.

Not this time. O’Neill lofted a routine fly to center, ending the threat.

The Yankees put runners on the corners with two out in the seventh, before Hudson retired Brosius on a force at second.

Nothing has worked for the Yankees thus far. In the first two games, Mark Mulder and Hudson have held them to one run in 142/3 combined innings.

The Yankees are on the mat and gasping for air, and even Torre conceded it’s an uphill climb.

“Considering it’s a five-game series,” Torre said. “In ’96 we had a seven-game series going and we’re down 2-0 going into Atlanta [before winning four in a row]. We have to do what we’ve done before, go on a three-game win streak.

“We have to go out there and win and hope the momentum changes.”

Paul Sullivan is a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

AL PLAYOFFS

Division series, best of five

OAKLAND VS. N.Y. YANKEES

Game 2

Oakland 2, New York 0

Athletics lead series, 2-0

Game 3--Saturday

at Oakland, 4:45 p.m.,

Channel 11