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Look back at: Divisional Playoffs |
League Championship
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Friday, October 27
Game 5 at-bat of the night
By David Kull
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- Luis Sojo entered the game as a defensive replacement and finished it as the author of the Yankees' World Series-clinching hit.
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Thurs., Oct. 26
Coming out of spring training, the Yankees coaches were very concerned that they didn't have a deep bench. In the past they had Darryl Strawberry, Chili Davis, Chad Curtis, Joe Girardi and Luis Sojo. But they didn't have any of those players at the start of the season. They kept their eye on Sojo and once Pittsburgh's record fell under .500, the Yankees made a bid to go get him. And what a pickup he turned out to be. |
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The usual cast of Yankee characters -- Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera -- filled their parts with expected precision Thursday. But Sojo, the ultimate supporting player, made everything sing. His tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning was the difference in the Yankees' 4-2 Game 5 victory.
The Yankees, in their typical patient manner, toiled and scraped to muster any kind of offense against Al Leiter. The Mets starter continually bedeviled the Yankees hitters with big pitches, snuffing out mild threats with equal parts stuff and moxie.
Even in the ninth inning, with the score tied 2-2, Leiter commanded the game even as his pitch count grew. To start the inning, he fanned Tino Martinez on three pitches and Paul O'Neill on five to stretch his strikeout total to 10.
But then Jorge Posada battled Leiter for nine pitches, fouling off four of them, before taking a walk. Scott Brosius followed with a hard single to left field on a 1-1-1 pitch to put runners on first and second base with two outs.
Up stepped Sojo, in a position to make another Joe Torre decision look divinely ordained. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Sojo was inserted in the game as part of a double switch with reliever Mike Stanton and was placed in the pitcher's spot in the order.
"I said to El Duque, 'I want to hit with a man on base,' " Sojo said. "I saw (first-base coach) Lee Mazzilli. He told me to 'stay back, trust your hands, try to hit the ball up the middle.'
"All my career, I don't hit Al Leiter good. He told me to hit the pitch down the middle and everything would work out for us."
Consider another Yankee prophecy fulfilled. Sojo saw one pitch, the 142nd and final pitch of Leiter's almost-brilliant outing. The Yankee utilityman grounded a single past the pitcher's mound and into center field.
Jay Payton charged the ball, fielded it and came up throwing, trying to nail Posada at home plate. But Payton's throw glanced off Posada's right hip and into the Mets dugout, allowing Brosius to score all the way from first base for a 4-2 Yankee lead.
The two-run cushion was more than enough for sure-thing reliever Mariano Rivera to secure the Yankees' third straight title. But Sojo was the hero, the player whose name the vocal, euphoric Yankees contingent chanted after the game as the media masses engulfed him.
Not bad for a player the Yankees had released after the 1999 season. Sojo, a member of the Yankees' previous three championship teams since 1996, signed with Pittsburgh in the offseason. The Yankees were searching for infield depth when Chuck Knoblauch's injuries and throwing problems at second base required a move for a steady, veteran replacement.
While Sojo was hitting a solid .284 for the Pirates, the Yankees found out he was available and were more than happy to acquire him on Aug. 7 for minor-league pitcher Chris Spurling.
That feeling became elation Thursday when the Yankees were hoisting another championship trophy. While much was made of the deals for David Justice, Denny Neagle, Glenallen Hill and Jose Vizcaino, the deal for Sojo turned out to be another masterful stroke -- much like his championship-winning hit.
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