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Look back at: Divisional Playoffs |
League Championship
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Wednesday, October 25
Forgotten Cook stops Yanks in their tracks
By David Schoenfield
ESPN.com
NEW YORK -- Two on, two out, tie game, top of seventh, three balls, two strikes.
These are the types of situations made for heroes and World Series champions, when the pressure is highest, the fans on their feet and the players on the top step of the dugout.
Dennis Cook stared in. Bernie Williams dug in. Derek Jeter took his lead off second, David Justice from first.
|  | | Dennis Cook pumps his fist after striking out Bernie Williams to end the Yankees' scoring threat in the seventh inning. |
And then Williams stepped out of the batter's box. Cook didn't move, still as a monument. Williams stepped back in. Cook stepped off. Cat and mouse, playing their little game on baseball's biggest stage.
Finally, Cook toed the rubber again. The veteran left-hander stared in at the All-Star center fielder, looking for the sign from the Hall of Fame catcher -- and whirled to second base. Jeter scampered back. No throw.
Turk Wendell had started the seventh for the Mets, replacing starter Rick Reed, who had been pinch-hit for. Wendell easily disposed of Orlando Hernandez and Jose Vizcaino on strikeouts. But he walked Jeter on five pitches. Manager Bobby Valentine brought in Cook to face the left-handed-hitting Justice.
He hit him with his first pitch.
This is not the scenario Valentine wanted. Cook hadn't been effective this year, with a 5.34 ERA and 63 hits and 31 walks allowed in 59 innings. However, he was actually more effective against right-handers, who had hit .243 off him.
But Valentine left him in to face the Yankees' most dangerous hitter. True, the switch-hitting Williams was slightly better against right-handed pitchers this year (.315 vs. .289 against lefties), but it was a matchup that had Yankee fans foaming at the mouth and Mets fans sitting on the edge of their seats with hands over their eyes.
The first pitch was up for ball one. Cook then delivered a nice changeup, and Williams swung and missed. Cook missed with another fastball and then missed the outside corner with a curve. It was 3-1, a hitter's dream count. But Williams took a called strike on the outside corner, running the count full and bringing the drama to a high point.
Cook, who turned 38 earlier this month, is not immune to these situations. He pitched for the 1997 World Series champion Marlins. He's been in the playoffs with the Rangers in 1996 and the Mets the past two years.
But after years as a solid middle guy, he had slumped this year and Valentine used him less and less in tight situations as the season wore on. Yet, there he was, with the game -- and possibly the Mets' season -- on the line.
Williams had not been tearing it up this postseason. He entered the game hitting .278 in 13 playoff games with just four RBI. He'd gone 0-for-3 in this game. He was due.
So Cook focused again on Williams. The runners moved with the pitch. A changeup. A beautiful changeup, dropping away right as Williams swung over the top of it. Strike three.
Dennis Cook got his man and when the Mets rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth to gain a 4-2 win in Game 3, Benny Agbayani turned into the hero. But it was Cook's changeup that produced the key out of the ballgame.
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