Game Five

By David Marasco

Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run... but no explanation of, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant... We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave... So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look west, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark -- that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back. - Hunter S. Thompson

The good Dr. Gonzo was describing the 1970s aftermath of the San Francisco counter-culture movement, but as opposite as the two are, you can't help but think the same words might apply to the New York Yankees. In Game Four they said goodbye to Roger Clemens, and saw the Series evened at two games a piece. Last night in Game Five they sent David Wells, he of the magnificent playoff record, to the mound. He was gone after the first, victim of back spasms. Scratched also from the lineup were Jason Giambi, with a bad knee, and Alfonso Soriano, with a big hole in his swing. Some might think it is merely a slight wobble in the Yankee Post-Season Machine. Others, looking at the youth of both the Marlins and their NLCS opponents the Cubs, see a passing of the torch. Did we enter a new age of baseball when Miguel Cabrera took Clemens deep in Game Four?

Only time will give the answer to big questions like that. But in the short run the Yankees looked pretty shaky in Game Five and dug themselves into a 3-2 hole (or, perhaps in a future perspective, the Marlins dug the hole for them). The Yankees started off with a run in the first, getting some help from a Marlins defense that has been amazing during the playoffs. When Jose Contreras came in to relieve Wells' bad back in the second, the roof caved in on the New Yorkers. They got two out quickly, but then a pair of walks brought Alex Gonzalez to the plate, and a ground-rules double tied up the game. No problem, Brad Penny at the plate. Easy out, right? Penny smashed one to right for another pair of runs, and the Marlins never looked back.

Well almost. The Marlins bullpen again made things exciting in the ninth inning. Brad Looper entered the frame with a 6-2 lead, but gave up a one-out dinger to Giambi. Derek Jeter, who is having a great Series, singled, and when Enrique Wilson plated him on a double, the call went out to Uggie Urbina. In a game that had been out of reach, the tying runner was at bat. The Marlins' closer quickly dispatched Bernie Williams and Hideki Matsui to send the Series back to New York.