New Yorkers Have Seen It Before

The New York Yankees’ latest phenomenal postseason run has not been a daily joy ride for them.

Sure, the Yankees have dominated opponents in winning four of the last five World Series, including three in a row to close the millennium and reaffirm their status as baseball’s team of the 20th century.

But the road has been bumpy at times, and it was again Saturday night in a 9-1 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1 before 49,646 at Bank One Ballpark.

The Yankees appeared uncomfortable on a familiar stage and the Diamondbacks quickly stole the show, chasing starter and loser Mike Mussina after three innings and taking a 9-1 lead in the fourth.

Arizona starter Curt Schilling continued to bolster his growing reputation as another Mr. October, pitching seven strong innings and winning for the fourth time in four playoff starts.

The Diamondbacks lead the Series, 1-0; three-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson is scheduled to start tonight; and Schilling, after a smooth 102-pitch outing, is expected to start Game 4 on three days rest.

Things seemingly couldn’t be better for the Diamondbacks in their first Series or worse for the Yankees in their record 38th, but the New Yorkers have escaped similar jams before.

In situations not unlike these, the Yankees have often come up with their best performances, so maybe the Diamondbacks shouldn’t party yet.

“It’s one game,” said Yankee all-star shortstop Derek Jeter, who scored New York’s only run but had his Series hitting streak ended at 14 games. “You have to keep things in perspective. It’s not the Super Bowl, where you come out and you play one game and it’s over with.

“It’s a seven-game series. You have to win four games before you lose four. Win or lose, you have to forget about it and come out and play the next day.”

The Yankees are accustomed to accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative in October.

They overcame a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-five division series against the Oakland Athletics after dropping the first two games at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees rallied for three victories and then defeated the Seattle Mariners, 4-1, in the American League championship series.

“You never expect to sweep a ballclub,” said right fielder David Justice, whose error in the third led to two unearned runs. “We didn’t come in here thinking we would sweep them. It’s a race to four victories. That’s the way we view it.”

The Atlanta Braves can attest.

Justice was with the Braves when they took a 2-0 lead in the 1996 Series against the Yankees.

The Braves routed the Yankees, 12-1, in the opener at the Bronx, and the city that never sleeps was especially restless.

But the Yankees won three in a row in Atlanta and closed out the Series in Game 6 at New York.

Is another Yankee playoff rally on the horizon?

“You feel as though you can do it again,” Jeter said. “This isn’t a team that panics, especially after the first game of a four-game series.”

The Yankees face another formidable task tonight against the Big Unit.

The 6-foot-10 left-hander is 2-1 with a 1.88 earned-run average in the playoffs, and he could give Arizona a commanding 2-0 lead. Still, the Yankees don’t appear shaken.

“You have to play well in order to win, regardless of who you’re facing,” Jeter said. “It doesn’t make a difference who’s pitching for them. If we don’t play well, we’re going to lose.

“If we play well, we think we’re capable of winning. In order to win the championship, you have to beat quality pitchers regardless of how many times you face them.”

The Yankees won’t go quietly.

“Schilling was chilling, no doubt about it, and we didn’t play well,” catcher Jorge Posada said. “They’ve got another tough pitcher on the mound [tonight], we all know that, but we’ve got to come back.”

That’s what the Yankees do best.