Yankees Delay Vacation

This was supposed to be the weekend the torch was passed from the New York Yankees to the Oakland Athletics, from the House That Ruth Built to Animal House, from the Bronx Bombers to the Bay City Rollers.

One problem: : Someone forgot to tell the Yankees, who maintained a grip on that torch and kept the embers of their dynasty burning with a 9-2 American League division series Game 4 victory over the A’s before 43,681 in Network Associates Coliseum on Sunday.

The Yankees evened the series at two games apiece and will try to become the first team in baseball history to win a five-game series after losing the first two games at home when right-hander Roger Clemens opposes A’s left-hander Mark Mulder in decisive Game 5 tonight in Yankee Stadium. The winner moves on to the AL championship series.

“You guys can write all your great stories about how we’re back in it, but we can’t take a breath or pat ourselves on the back until we win it,” Yankee right fielder Paul O’Neill said after Sunday’s 4-hour 13-minute marathon. “No one is giggling or laughing in here. We haven’t accomplished anything yet.”

They made some progress. A Yankee offense that hit .194 in the first three games busted out for 11 hits, including two doubles, a single and five runs batted in by center fielder Bernie Williams.

And right-hander Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez survived a shaky start, escaping a first-and-third, no-out jam in the first inning to throw 52/3 innings of two-run, eight-hit ball, a subpar effort by his standards but one that improved his postseason record to 9-1.

The A’s made the least of 11 hits, going one for 11 with runners in scoring position; they are one for 34 with runners in scoring position for the series.

Second baseman F.P. Santangelo’s error opened the door for two Yankee runs in the second, center fielder Johnny Damon misplayed Williams’ fly ball into a two-run double in the third, starting pitcher Cory Lidle looked timid and tentative in his first playoff start, getting rocked for six runs--four earned--and five hits and walking three in 31/3 innings, and that wasn’t even the worst of it for Oakland.

The A’s suffered their biggest loss in the third inning when Jermaine Dye, their right fielder and cleanup batter, a player several A’s have credited as the key to their second-half surge, suffered a broken left tibia when he fouled a ball off his shin. He is out for the rest of the playoffs.

“I don’t think our spirits are down,” Oakland first baseman Jason Giambi said. “We pitched two great games [in New York] and they came back with two great games [in Oakland]. Now we’re down to a rubber game, a rematch of Game 1. Hopefully the results [a 5-3 A’s victory] will be the same.”

Mulder gave up one run and seven hits in 62/3 innings of Game 1, and the A’s will probably need a similar effort tonight to advance.

“He was tough, very tough,” Williams said. “We have to make sure we capitalize on the mistakes that he makes. I don’t think he’s going to make too many.”

The A’s made plenty Sunday, essentially handing the Yankees their first four runs. With runners on first and second and one out in the second, Santangelo, subbing for the slumping Frank Menechino, booted O’Neill’s potential double-play grounder up the middle, allowing one run to score. Scott Brosius’ RBI groundout made it 2-0.

The Yankees had two on again in the third, and Williams lifted a fly ball to center that was deep but playable. Damon misjudged it, breaking in before heading back, and the ball sailed over his head for a two-run double and a 4-0 lead.

Oakland cut it to 4-2 in the third when Miguel Tejada doubled, Giambi walked and Terrence Long hit an RBI single to right, ending the A’s 0-for-27 streak with runners in scoring position.

Jeremy Giambi grounded out for another RBI, but the Yankees added three more runs in the fourth, a rally that was capped by Williams’ two-run single off reliever Mike Magnante, to make the score 7-2.

The tone for the game was set in the bottom of the first. After Damon and Tejada singled, Hernandez got Jason Giambi to pop to third, Dye to pop to short, walked Long to load the bases and got Jeremy Giambi to pop to first.

“That was huge,” Yankee designated hitter David Justice said. “If they scored, that could have changed the momentum. We may not have overcome that.”

Few thought the Yankees would overcome a 2-0 deficit in this series. And now, after flying most of Sunday night, they will have a chance to advance to the next round.

“People may have counted us out, but we never did,” Yankee reliever Mike Stanton said. “We knew we had to take it one game, one inning, one at-bat, one pitch at a time. We had to take small steps before taking giant steps.”