Hardball Hyperbole: Chapter 18

In today’s edition, after their scintillating victory over the Red Sox gave the Yankees their 39th American League pennant, everyone knew a letdown was possible in the World Series against the Florida Marlins, but no one dared to believe the Yankees wouldn’t ultimately prevail, at least until they didn’t.

Perhaps never in the history of Major League Baseball did the World Series feel more anti-climactic or more like an afterthought than in 2003 when the Marlins defeated the Yankees in six games to win their second championship.

Put aside for a moment how dramatic the Marlins’ seven-game National League Championship Series had been against the perennial loveable loser Chicago Cubs, highlighted by the unfortunate fan interference controversy starring poor Steve Bartman which many believe turned the series and cursed the Cubs at the same time.

That was fantastic theater, no doubt about it. But it could not match the incredible drama that unfolded in the ALCS between baseball’s most fierce rivals, the Yankees and Red Sox, a seven-game epic for the ages that ended with one of the most famous walk-off home runs in the sport’s history.

And then, let’s also not forget that the matchup everyone with the exception of Yankees and Marlins fans wanted in the Fall Classic was Red Sox vs. Cubs in what would have been the battle to see which team could end its World Series drought which stood at 85 and 95 years respectively. The baseball world felt let down when both teams failed in Game 7.

“The World Series ended last night,” Yankees season-ticket holder John Karcich, attending a pep rally held at City Hall Park hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, told a Newsday reporter the day after Aaron Boone’s moment of a lifetime. “With the rivalry and everything, last night was the real game.”

It’s funny because gatherings like this were usually only held with the World Series trophy present and in the Yankees’ prideful possession, but this was how much the victory over the Red Sox meant to the city and even to the players, most of whom complied when Joe Torre asked them to “put on a pair of jeans and come down.”

The whole atmosphere on this day between the end of the ALCS and the start of the World Series was just a weird vibe. The AL pennant was nice, but the Yankees hadn’t won the ultimate prize.

“I don’t know about anti-climactic,” Andy Pettitte said when asked about the upcoming World Series. “Hopefully it will make it more fun. It doesn’t get any more exciting than what we went through this last series against Boston. There won’t be any more pressure. We’ve gotten to the World Series now, that’s what we wanted to do when we got to spring training, to get a chance at another championship.”

There certainly was no pressure on the Marlins. Guppies in a shark tank were given a better chance than Florida had of making it to the World Series when the season began. The Marlins didn’t even win the NL East, losing out by 10 games to the Braves. Even after they won 91 games, no one took them seriously, but then they beat the 100-win NL West champion Giants in the divisional round and took down the NL Central champion Cubs in the NLCS and here they were, staring at the Goliath Yankees.

“Nobody gave us a chance to make it to the wild card; we did that,” manager Jack McKeon said. “No one said we could beat the Giants; we did that. We didn’t have a chance against the Cubs with Kerry Wood and Mark Prior; we accomplished that feat. Here’s the next level. They’re nice and loose and relaxed. Hey, nobody expected us to be here. Let the pressure be on somebody else. We’re going to go out there and have fun.”

Josh Beckett, who would go on to dominate the Yankees in both his starts including a series-clinching five-hit shutout in Game 6 which earned him World Series MVP honors, summed up the difference between the teams this way: “If it was all about mystique, this would already be over.”

Game 1: Marlins 3, Yankees 2

Florida made it clear that it wasn’t there to play patsy for the Yankees. The first two batters, Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo, singled off David Wells and Pierre scored on a sacrifice fly by Pudge Rodriquez.

Derek Jeter’s RBI single in the third tied it, but Pierre’s two-run single in the fifth put Florida on top for good. Bernie Williams’ solo homer in the sixth off Marlins starter Brad Penny got New York within 3-2, and then Marlins relievers Dontrelle Willis and Ugueth Urbina each survived Yankee threats in the eighth and ninth.

Urbina did the heavy lifting as he struck out Jorge Posada with men on first and third in the eighth, and in the ninth, after walking Jason Giambi and Ruben Sierra, he struck out Alfonso Soriano and got Nick Johnson to fly out to end it.

“It’s always good for me to drive in runs and take pride in that, but just for me and Luis getting on base, hopefully that’s setting the tone for the rest of the series,” Pierre said. Unfortunately for the Yankees, it did.

Game 2: Yankees 6, Marlins 1

Once again, with his team in desperate need of a quality start, Pettitte came through. Despite pitching on short rest, he came within one out of a complete game, but after eight scoreless innings he faltered in the ninth so Torre brought in Jose Contreras to get the 27th out.

Pettitte gave up six hits and one walk, struck out seven and the only run was unearned thanks to an error by Boone. He got Rodriquez to ground into a pair of double plays including one in the first which settled Pettitte into the game.

“He was overpowering,” said Posada. “He had a little doubt in his mind on three days’ rest. That big double play in the first inning really got him calmed down, and the home run, also. When you get into the second inning and you’re winning 3-0, it’s a big difference.”

The home run came off the bat of Hideki Matsui after Soriano walked and Jason Giambi was hit by a pitch thrown by Marlins starter Mark Redman. From there Juan Rivera had an RBI single in the second and Soriano, who had been struggling throughout the postseason, hit a two-run homer in the fourth.

Game 3: Yankees 6, Marlins 1

Beckett was dominant, but he wasn’t better than Mike Mussina and he ended up taking a hard luck loss at Pro Player Stadium as the Yankees seemed to set the universe back in place by grabbing a two games to one lead.

“It was a big win for us,” Mussina said. “They had their best guy going. He pitched a great game, and we struggled with him for a long period.”

Beckett pitched into the eighth inning of a 1-1 game but when Jeter grounded a one-out double down the line in right, McKeon went to Willis with lefties Giambi and Matsui on the horizon. Giambi drew a walk, and after Williams flied out, Matsui grounded a single to left to score Jeter. Then in the ninth, all doubt about the outcome was erased as Boone led off with a homer and Williams later hit a three-run shot.

Mussina had struggled in this postseason, losing all three of his starts before his gritty three-inning relief appearance that helped the Yankees rally to win Game 7 against Boston. In this one he looked like Mussina often looked - one run on seven hits and a walk with nine strikeouts before he gave way to Mariano Rivera for an easy 23-pitch, six-out save.

“Moose was Moose,” pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre said. “He made good pitches all night and kept them off stride. He mixed his pitches about as well as you could mix them.”

Luis Sojo, who was not on the active roster meaning his career was over (he retired after the World Series) said afterward, “We’ve got the confidence now. I don’t think we’re going to blow this.”

Oh boy, ol’ Luis misfired on that one.

Game 4: Marlins 4, Yankees 3

When Sierra lined a pinch hit shot down the right-field line with two outs in the top of the ninth inning chasing home Williams and David Delucci to tie the game at 3-3, it sure felt like the Yankees were destined to make Sojo’s prediction come true.

It was yet another magnificent Yankee moment, one that stunned the sellout crowd in Miami, only this time, it did not result in another magnificent Yankee victory. The Marlins survived that lightning bolt, and they escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 11th before walking the Yankees off in the 12th when Alex Gonzalez homered off Jeff Weaver to square the series at two games apiece.

Florida’s Carl Pavano, who would become one of the worst free agent signings in Yankees history in 2005, was staked to a 3-0 lead when the Marlins attacked Roger Clemens with two outs in the first. Rodriquez singled and 20-year-old Miguel Cabrera hit a two-run homer, and then three more singles, the last by Derrek Lee, delivered the third run.

From there, Clemens was great, but Pavano yielded only a sacrifice fly to Boone in the second, leaving after eight outstanding innings, only to see Urbina cough it up in the ninth.

Gonzales had been hitless in four at bats and was 5-for-53 (.094) in the postseason when he sent a line drive just barely over the wall in left. “I had a feeling,” Gonzalez said. “When I hit the ball, I said, ‘Get up ball, get up ball.’”

It did, and now it was a best-of-three.

Game 5: Marlins 6, Yankees 4

If ever there was a night when a Penny was worth more than gold, this was it. The Marlins starter pitched in and out of trouble for seven innings as the Yankees had eight hits and two walks against him, but they went just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on the bases during a maddening night.

“It’s a dream to pitch in the World Series, to beat a team like that,” said Penny, who now counted two victories in this series against the Yankees. “You can’t explain it.”

And while Penny was maneuvering through all that traffic, he found time in the second inning to deliver a killer two-run single off Contreras that capped a three-run inning, and the Marlins never looked back in taking command of the series. Contreras was in the game because Wells’ nagging back forced him out after one inning and he was awful - four runs on five hits and three walks in three innings.

The Yankees also started the game without Giambi due to a sore knee, though he hit a pinch hit homer in the ninth. And Torre benched the struggling Soriano in favor of Enrique Wilson who actually came through with two hits including an RBI double in the ninth when the Yankees tried to rally but fell short.

“We feel very confident that we have Andy Pettitte in a situation that he’s been in many times, where we need a win,” Torre said. “And then Moose will pitch Sunday. So, going into a sixth and seventh game, I’d rather be up 3-2 than down 3-2, but I feel good about who we have pitching.”

Mussina never saw the light of day.

Game 6: Marlins 2, Yankees 0

Pettitte wasn’t great, but his seven-inning performance might have been good enough if not for the fact that they were obliterated by Beckett’s five-hit, nine-strikeout shutout game.

This was the night when the $183 million that George Steinbrenner paid for the 2003 Yankees wasn’t worth a plugged nickel against the magic of the Marlins, and the right arm of Beckett.

“This guy is special, I told you that,” McKeon crowed of Beckett, who in 2006 would join the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry and win a total of 14 games against New York, his most against any other opponent. “He’s very tough. I knew he had the confidence to do the job tonight.”

The series could not have ended more feebly for the Yankees as they never had a runner reach third base against Beckett and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The only time they had two men on at the same time was the third, but Williams grounded into a double play.

“When I walked in from the bullpen, I just didn’t think we’d lose,” Pettitte said. “I had good stuff. I didn’t think Josh Beckett could do what he did. I thought we’d pull off some late-inning magic, like we always do.”

Pettitte didn’t blink until the fifth when consecutive two-out singles by Gonzalez, Pierre and Castillo plated a run, and then the last run came in the sixth when an error by Jeter, a walk and a sacrifice led to Juan Encarnacion’s sacrifice fly.

The Yankees stirred in the seventh when Posada led off with a double but then never moved, and again in the eighth when Soriano singled but was erased on a double play grounder by Nick Johnson. In the ninth, Beckett needed only eight pitches to retire Williams, Matsui and Posada as the Yankee Stadium crowd stood in disbelief, trying to process a World Series loss to the Florida Friggin’ Marlins, two years after having lost to the Arizona Friggin’ Diamondbacks.

“We did something by beating them,” said Beckett. “They are who they are. They’ve won 26 championships. That’s who we wanted to play. If you’re going to beat somebody, you want to beat the best.”

After all the Yankees had gone through in 2003 in dealing with the resurgent Red Sox, rekindling a rivalry that had softened in recent years, to fall flat like this was certainly a blow no one expected.

“It makes you sick,” Jeter said. “How else can you put it? If it doesn’t make you sick, you shouldn’t be competing.”

NEXT WEDNESDAY: With the 2003 season in the books, all eyes shifted to the always interesting offseason, especially those in the George Steinbrenner years when the Yankees weren’t the defending world champion.