October 3-8, 2000 Sorry, I didnt have the highlights for Game 2 The Yankees defeat the Athletics in 5 games to advance to the ALCS against the Mariners Thanks @espn
Unlike their 1998 & '99 postseason appearances, the 2000 New York Yankees looked rather vulnerable, entering the postseason on a 7-GAME losing streak at the end of the regular season( despite that, they'd already clinched the AL East Division anyway ). They had their hands full with the exciting A's team in this series, but, ultimately, the Yankees' veteran players came through when they needed it. The Yankees held off the pesky A's to advance on to the ALCS once again. This loss would really be a harbinger of things to come for the A's, who would suffer a whole string of gut-wrenching Game 5 losses in Division Series play over the next couple of decades.
One team finished the season well with 18 wins in 22 games. That's the Oakland A's, who went 91-70 to win the AL West on the final day of the year. The other team finished the year terrible with 15 losses in 18 games. That's the Yankees, who took the AL East with an 87-74 clip, 2 1/2 ahead of the Red Sox. But both teams started the playoffs even and the Yankees had the Game 1 edge in Oakland with Roger Clemens on the mound, while the A's went with Gil Heredia, because Hudson pitched the clincher on Sunday. After trailing 2-0 in the 5th, my A"s jumped on Clemens for three runs in the fifth, then two more in the 6th to win Game 1, 5-3. It was also the Yankees' 8th straight loss overall. Come Game 2, my father, brother and I went to the Coliseum to see if we could take a 2-0 lead in the series. But Andy Pettitte had other ideas. He stopped the Yanks' bleeding and the A's offense with 7 shutout frames. 6th inning two out RBI hits by Glenallen Hill and Luis Sojo gave the Yankees all the offense they'd need in a 4-0 shutout to tie the series at 1. The scene shifted to the Bronx for Game 3. Our 20 game winner Tim Hudson went the distance, but our defense faltered in key spots. In contrast, the Yanks' defense shined at critical points as El Duque raised his playoff record to 6-0 lifetime and 6 Mariano Rivera outs sealed the 4-2 Yankees' win. Now, we're a loss away from seeing our season end. The Yankees were eager to end the series at home. Olmedo Saenz changed those thoughts early with a three-run first inning blast off the Rocket. Our offense piled on the runs and cruised to an 11-1 thumping. Barry Zito went 5 2/3 innings allowing only run as my A's evened the series at two games each. The shellacking in Game 4 had emboldened us A's.....too enthusiastically. In a pre-game press conference, our 3B Eric Chavez stated the Yankees are finished and it was time for another team to take over. That awoke the Yanks, as they jumped in Gil Heredia (WHY DID WE START HIM AND NOT APPIER ON THREE DAYS' REST?) for 6 first inning runs. We did chip away at Pettitte and by the end of the 4th, we were only down 7-5. Trouble is, that's how the game and the series ended. The Yankees were headed to another ALCS and the clock struck midnight for my beloved Green and Gold in 2000.
The goofy schedule made the Heredia decision look worse. If game 5 was on Monday, maybe you roll the dice with an extra day of rest. (This was in the era of no travel days between games 4-5)
The A's should be ashamed of themselves for the way they hit in games 2 and 3, and for their performance in the first inning in game 5. They had a chance to end the "dynasty" but NOPE. Tim Hudson and Barry Zito doing their thing in games 3 and 4 in Yankee Stadium but the offense just disappeared in game 3 for Hudson.
The Yankees may be old as heck, but they still know how to win. They may be aging, but they simply don't know how to lose. A handful of bad innings against Cleveland in October 1997- literally other than that, Torre's pinstripes basically do not lose when it matters most.
MLB did a poor job with scheduling for the division series back then. I remember in 1999 the D-Backs and Mets played two games at 11pm EST. Cross country travel for a game five 24 hours after playing a game four is nuts.
The game not shown here (game 2), the Yankees won thanks to a gem by Andy Pettitte. And that was a huge win, since it stopped the Yankees horrible losing streak since late September and give them a boost
Athletics-Rays-Royals made a 3-team-trade after the 2000 season ended: Royals traded Johnny Damon to the Athletics. Royals traded Mark Ellis to the Athletics. Rays traded Roberto Hernandez to the Royals. Rays traded Cory Lidle to the Athletics Athletics traded Ben Grieve to the Rays. Athletics traded AJ Hinch to the Royals. Athletics traded Angel Berroa to the Royals. Also, this was Matt Stairs final season with the Athletics, as he was traded to the Cubs in the offseason
I dont think I ever saw Joe Torre use a Yankee starter on three days rest, specially in the postseason. Torre always went with four starters. The fact that Torre went with Clemens on 3 days rest with a 2-1 lead was very surprising. In my opinion, Torre just didnt thrust Clemens in 2000, mainly since Clemens was horrible in September 2000 and Clemens also got hit his game 1 start in Oakland, and because of all this, he didnt want Clemens in the decisive game 5 back in Oakland. Torre wanted Pettite in the decisive game 5 on three days rest, mainly since Pettite pitched amazingly in game 2. No wonder Torre went with Clemens in game 4 against Seattle in the 2000 ALCS instead of game 3, so that Clemens would have had to start only once in that series and not start game 7 if it went there.
He was going to use a 3 man rotation in the 96 WS, but a rain out caused the games getting pushed back so they wouldn't have an off day between games 2 and 3. Thus he was forced to start Kenny Rogers in game 4. As for this series, David Cone was horrible that year so I guess he trusted Clemens at least for game 4, over him and Denny Neagle (who pitched twice in the ALCS and not good)
I always wondered how the Braves' fortunes during the '90s would've changed had they kept David Justice - considering how he always turned it up in the post-season.
I have thought about this half of my life. He WAS our Mr. October. The Braves choked in 1996 and stupid Scheurholz felt he had to do something. They also didn’t think Justice shoulder would get better. And if he never got hurt in the first place - we would have won in 96.
Holy crap terrance long got hurt in game 3 in 2000 and if i recall correctly in the 2001 alds he fouled a ball on his shin and missed the rest of the 01 alds vs the yankees
I don't understand why baseball only does a 5 game series in the ALDS. Not only is it hell for traveling if the series goes 5 games (especially when they used this STUPID format) but, MLB only had 2 rounds before the World Series up until 2012 or so. Why not just make it a 7 game series? Idk if the A's would've done any better but, I'd like to think maybe one time those extra games could've helped. I think it's inevitable that the ALDS becomes a 7 game series someday eventually. Just don't get the logic behind why it wasn't that way from the jump. Better for travel and more money to be made.
What really ticks me off about the A's in 2000, 2001, and 2002, is that if they had held on, they would have faced the Mariners and the Angels in the ALCS in a nice division rival series. But nope, they failed.
