Jeter Cuts A's Off With Pass

By MIKE DiGIOVANNA

Oct. 14, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND —

It looked like a play a bunch of kids could have scratched out in the dirt on a sandlot, but the New York Yankees swear they practice it in spring training.

Still, as Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius admitted after shortstop Derek Jeter turned Game 3 of the American League division series into Saturday Night at the Improv, “You don’t practice the ol’ run toward the dugout and make a backhand flip to the catcher all the time.”

Jeter’s eye-popping defensive effort, which was as much a head gem as it was a web gem, kept a wobbly dynasty alive, as the Yankees staved off elimination with a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics before a record crowd of 55,861 in Network Associates Coliseum.

Mike Mussina threw seven shutout innings to outduel A’s lefty Barry Zito, and catcher Jorge Posada homered in the fifth inning, as the three-time defending World Series-champion Yankees, despite mustering only two hits, pulled to within a game in the best-of-five series. The Yankees’ Orlando Hernandez will oppose Oakland right-hander Cory Lidle in Game 4 today.

“This keeps us alive,” Brosius said. “It was the mustest of must-win situations. We needed a great performance from Moose, and he gave it to us.”

Mussina was brilliant, giving up four hits, striking out four and walking one to increase his playoff scoreless-innings streak to 15. Closer Mariano Rivera threw a two-inning save, and Posada was clutch, ripping a Zito fastball over the wall in left field to give the Yankees their first lead against the A’s in 80 innings.

But the reason New York is playing today is Jeter, who may not have a Gold Glove on his resume but deserves one after Saturday night.

With the A’s trailing, 1-0, in the seventh, designated hitter Jeremy Giambi singled with two outs, and Terrence Long doubled past diving first baseman Tino Martinez and into the right-field corner. Giambi, who is no Ichiro Suzuki on the basepaths, lumbered toward third and got the green light from coach Ron Washington.

Right fielder Shane Spencer fielded the ball cleanly and unleashed a long throw that cleared the gloves of not one but two cutoff men, second baseman Alfonso Soriano and Martinez.

But Jeter drifted from the area around the mound toward the first-base line, fielded Spencer’s throw on one hop and, looking like an option quarterback, made a 20-foot, backhand flip to Posada.

Posada was unable to block the plate with his left foot, but he may have caught a break when Giambi did not slide. Posada swiped a tag on Giambi’s calf just before Giambi’s foot touched the plate, and umpire Kerwin Danley called him out.

“It was more of a reaction,” Jeter said. “All you can do is make that play in one motion. If I would have spun around, he would have been safe. I had to make the quickest play possible.”

Spencer said a perfect throw would have hit Soriano, who was in shallow right field, “but the ball just took off on me,” Spencer said. “As soon as it went over Soriano’s head, my heart started pumping.”

And Jeter’s mind started churning. Jeter’s job on such a play is to be the cutoff man for a possible play at third or a backup relay man for a possible play at the plate. He hovered around the mound, and once he saw Washington waving Giambi home, Jeter moved toward the first-base line.

“It was my cutoff too,” said Martinez, who was trailing Soriano. “I gave Soriano some room in case he air-mailed Soriano, and he air-mailed me too.”

But Jeter delivered the goods with a play that was so stunning, the official scorer originally ruled it a 9-3-2 putout, thinking Martinez had made the final assist. It was Jeter, however, who was mobbed by teammates afterward.

“He was in the proper position, but he still had to react and make a great play,” Brosius said. “He made a great flip, and he stuck his throw on the money. That’s not an easy thing to do. He may not have the offensive numbers some of these great shortstops have, but those are the plays he’s capable of making.”

Jeter’s play was one of several fine defensive efforts by the Yankees. Left fielder Chuck Knoblauch made a diving catch of Jason Giambi’s foul ball in the sixth inning and sprinted into the gap in left-center to make a basket catch of Miguel Tejada’s wicked liner in the eighth.

Brosius also made a nice leaping grab of Johnny Damon’s liner in the sixth. Damon, the red-hot leadoff batter who had six hits in nine at-bats in the first two games, went 0 for 4 Saturday, and that made a huge difference for the Yankees.

“Everyone may have felt we were dead,” Jeter said, referring to Oakland’s two-game sweep in Yankee Stadium, “but no one in here thought we were dead.”

AL PLAYOFFS

Division series; best of five

OAKLAND VS. NEW YORK

Oakland leads series, 2-1

Game 3

New York 1, Oakland 0

Game 4--Today

at Oakland, 1 p.m., Ch. 11

CLEVELAND VS. SEATTLE

Cleveland leads series, 2-1

Game 3

Cleveland 17, Seattle 2