Game 5

Joe Torre at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 25, 2001 | Art or Photo Credit: Getty Images

The fifth game of the 2022 American League Division Series has just been rained out. They waited nearly three hours before deciding that there was no window to play the game tonight.

The Yankees and Cleveland will play tomorrow at 4:07 p.m. The winner goes to Houston to open the American League Championship Series on Wednesday.

The teams wanted to play tonight but it wasn't meant to be.

Game 5 in this round is the equivalent of Game 7 in other rounds. It's a winner-moves-on and loser-goes-home game.

It reminded me that I once got to go to a Game 5.

It was 2001 and, well, I don't need to tell you what we were all feeling in Oct of that year.

I went to Game 1 of the same series. It was the first time that I'd been in New York City following the events of September 11, 2001. It just felt weird. As I drove through Yonkers, at a crest on the New York State Thruway near Yonkers Raceway that afforded a view of the NYC skyline, I saw for the first time the absence of the towers.

The Stadium was hopeful but it felt different that night. That extended to the field where the Yankees felt flat, losing to the Oakland Athletics, 5-3. They would lose again the next night to go down two games to none.

The next two games were in Oakland and the Yankees had zero margin for error. In Game 3, Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera scattered six hits. The Yankees had just two hits but one was a home run by Jorge Posada. 

Final score: Yankees 1, A's 0. Oh yeah, Derek Jeter also completed "The Flip Play."

Game 4 went much smoother as Bernie Williams drove in five runs in a 9-2 victory. Thus, Game 5 was set for Monday, Oct 15 at Yankee Stadium.

I had no intention to be there but I was offered two tickets from WGCH and I couldn't say no. My friend Mike joined me and we made our way to upper deck seats near the right field corner.

The energy simply felt different from Game 1 but the atmosphere was tense. New Yorkers are known for being tough and resilient and the crowd was ready.

Then Johnny Damon led off with a double. Pretty soon, it was 1-0 Oakland.

The A's tacked on a second-inning run to take a 2-0 lead.

The Yankees struck back in the last of the seconds, stringing together hits to tie the game. Alfonso Soriano singled to knot it up.

The Yankees added single digits in the third and fourth to open up a 4-2 lead but Oakland cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fifth, spelling the end of the night for Roger Clemens. A David Justice pinch-hit home run in the sixth opened a two-run lead again.

Of course, Jeter (the guy with the bad defense, am I right?) made a diving catch into the crowd.

The crowd felt like a big community. While it's always that way among Yankees fans, it was different that night. Given the circumstances of where we all were emotionally in the fall of 2001, it felt like everyone was on even better behavior than usual.

In short, we all sort of wanted that victory really bad.

Still, it was tense.

The Yankees bullpen helped ease that as Mike Stanton led to Ramiro Mendoza. 

In the eighth inning, the bullpen door opened, and Mariano Rivera emerged.

While he's human and had failures, they didn't happen very often.

He allowed a leadoff hit in the 8th to Jason Giambi but made quick work of the next three hitters.

The Yankees went quietly in their half of the stanza. Three out remained.

By now, we were all on our feet. Strangers nervously and hopefully it could be closed out by the great Mariano.

Olmedo Saenz grounded to second.

Greg Myers was caught looking.

Pinch hitter Eric Byrnes was the last hope for Athletics, winners of 102 games that season.

Byrnes worked the count to two balls and two strikes. The crowd, as is custom, was clapping rhythmically. The anticipation of wrapping this series up was palpable.

Mariano dealt a belt-high cutter.

Byrnes swung.

And missed.

Game over. Series over.

With that, Rivera spun around like a top on the mound. Posada held the ball triumphantly high.

There was a cathartic release of noise. High fives in the crowd. New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (let's ignore who and what he is now) hugged those around him.

On the field, the triumphant Yankees were business-like. Though this wasn't a Friday night in May, it also wasn't a crazy dogpile either. We still didn't quite know how to act in those days following September 11. Most celebrations in sports were restrained.

Yankees manager Joe Torre -- recognizing the significance in this New York moment -- went and brought Giuliani from his seat onto the field to join the moment.

I just remember a lot of smiles. This one felt different.

Frank Sinatra's "Theme from New York, New York" was sung by 56,000 with zest.

Just about a month earlier, Mike Piazza had hit a home run that made Shea Stadium explode. 

The Yankees hadn't had that moment yet. I'm not sure this was it either but it was a start.

Oh, they'd get there. They'd beat Seattle to advance to the World Series and, if you know how it all played out, then you'll recall the series of events.

President Bush threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the World Series in New York.

Derek Jeter became "Mr. November" to end Game 4.

Scott Brosius tied Game 5 dramatically. The place shook. I was there.

And, in fairness, the Arizona Diamondbacks scuffed the great Mariano in Game 7 to win the World Series.

Game 5 with the Yankees and Cleveland will happen tomorrow and the tension will be felt throughout Yankee Stadium.

I'll feel it as well.

From my seat at home.