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Century's best
Yankees sweep Braves, win 25th World Series title
Posted: Thursday October 28, 1999 11:42 PM
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Roger Clemens gave up four hits and struck out four in earning his first World Series ring. AP |
NEW YORK (AP) -- Roger Clemens had waited too long not to savor every moment of this glorious night.
With the final out of the World Series, he bolted for the mound and, flanked by two of his sons, grabbed manager Joe Torre in a bear hug and found it hard to let go.
Then, while his New York Yankees teammates were still dousing each other with champagne, Clemens sprinted back out to the field, climbed on the dugout roof and ran up and down, slapping every outstretched hand in the front row.
The Rocket had landed. The ring was his.
Clemens and Series MVP Mariano Rivera pitched the Yankees to their second straight World Series sweep, shutting down the Atlanta Braves 4-1 Wednesday night and ending his quest for the one and only prize that eluded him.
"This must be what it's like to be a Yankee," Clemens said. "This is what everybody said it was all about."
With raucous fans waving yellow, plastic brooms all over the ballpark and Clemens bouncing around on the mound, the Yankees won their record 25th championship and third in four seasons.
Game 4 marked New York's 12th Series victory in a row, matching the mark set by its Murderers' Row teams.
All his life, Clemens had hoped for this chance and, at last, he commanded the October stage. Showing the form that earned him five Cy Young Awards and 247 wins in 16 seasons, he shut out Atlanta into the eighth to outduel John Smoltz.
Brought to the Bronx this spring from Toronto in a trade for David Wells that many Yankees fans disliked, Clemens walked off the mound to rousing cheers, tipping his cap and holding both hands high to acknowledge the ovation.
"It seemed like a perfect setup," Torre said. "I couldn't see it not happening tonight, not with the way his career had gone."
Clemens recalled seeing his teammates get their 1998 World Series rings in April, and being a bit envious.
"I was sitting there watching them receive them. They said, 'We're going to get you one,'" he said.
They sure did.
Rivera, who had two saves and a win in the Series, was selected MVP.
"Everybody talked about last year, but this is unbelievable, back-to-back," he said.
Owner George Steinbrenner's team finished off a week in which it simply overwhelmed the club that had best record in the majors. Along the way, the Yankees also:
Became baseball's first repeat champion since Toronto in 1992-93.
Posted the first set of consecutive Series sweeps since the Yankees in 1938-39. New York beat San Diego four straight last year, capping off a record 125-win season.
Completed an incredible run in which they won 18 of 19 postseason games. The only loss came when Clemens was beaten by Pedro Martinez at Fenway Park 11 days earlier.
Overcame a year of adversity, from manager Joe Torre's prostate cancer in spring training to the death of outfielder Paul O'Neill's father early Wednesday. Scott Brosius and Luis Sojo also lost their fathers, Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio and Catfish Hunter died and Darryl Strawberry was beset by health and legal problems.
And, in the last game of the 20th century, their all-century team pitcher ended all debate about which club was most dominant this decade.
"Having to validate what we did last year, one of those freak years where you win everything and everything turns out well," Torre said, "then all of a sudden we zipped through the postseason."
For Atlanta, the loss was its record-tying eighth straight in the Series, a string that began in 1996 against the Yankees.
"I think they think in their minds that they had a tremendous year with all the ballclub went through," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "They're disappointed just like I am."
After winning the title in 1995, the Braves had "Team of the 90s" engraved on their rings. Instead, they joined the New York Giants of 1910-19 as the only teams ever to lose four World Series in a decade.
"The best team won," Smoltz said. "The Yankees are head and shoulders above most when it comes to this time of the year. We lost to the best team, simply put.
"The Yankees are a model of how to win," he said.
Clemens and the sellout crowd of 56,752 fans basked in pinstriped glory after taking an early 3-0 lead. At 37, he won his first championship -- John Elway was the same age when he won his first Super Bowl.
Featuring a fastball in the mid-90s mph, Clemens struck out four and walked two in his first World Series victory -- he got two no-decisions in 1986 when his Boston Red Sox blew it against the New York Mets.
Smoltz struck out three to avoid trouble in the second inning, but could not escape in the third. Chuck Knoblauch and Derek Jeter opened with singles and a one-out intentional walk to Bernie Williams loaded the bases.
| CNN/SI On-Site |
| It's a team that won with a lot of dignity and a lot of professionalism. Most of the credit for that goes to manager Joe Torre, who has molded this team. They go about their business every day. It was the way that they did it. You didn't hear any trash talk and there wasn't too much celebrating.
-- CNN/SI Baseball Analyst Ozzie Smith | | | |
Tino Martinez followed with a hard grounder and, perhaps screened by Williams, first baseman Ryan Klesko let the ball skip off his forearm for a two-run single. With two outs, Jorge Posada hit an RBI single.
Smoltz fanned 11 in seven innings, the most strikeouts in a Series game since Tom Seaver of the Mets had 12 in 1973.
Clemens took a two-hit shutout into the eighth, then the Braves nicked him with singles by Walt Weiss and Gerald Williams, and Jeff Nelson relieved.
After Bret Boone hit an RBI single, Rivera took over and kept the Braves from doing any more damage. He got Chipper Jones on a grounder with runners at the corners to end the inning, and pitched a scoreless ninth.
Rivera ended this season with 43 scoreless innings, and extended his postseason shutout streak to 25 2-3 innings.
As if for good measure, pinch-hitter Jim Leyritz launched a solo home run in the New York eighth off Terry Mulholland. Remember, it was Leyritz's homer off Atlanta relief ace Mark Wohlers in Game 4 in 1996 that turned the momentum in the Yankees' favor.
Never has a team overcome an 0-3 deficit in the postseason, and the Yankees made sure it did not happen this time.
Clemens, often a victim of his high emotions in big games, jogged to the mound a full minute after his teammates took the field to start the night. Brosius and Jeter came in to offer words of encouragement before the first pitch.
The fans were with Clemens the whole way, standing up after he got two strikes on leadoff man Williams. Clemens finished the job, fanning Williams, and pumped his fist after retiring Jones on a grounder to end the first.
Clemens spent the rest of the game shouting to his fielders and offering congratulations. In the eighth, he was on the receiving end.
"I just wanted to fit in with these guys," Clemens said. "I just knew we could do it with this team."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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