Awesome game last night, awesome game. All the Yankees need is tonight and we could be looking at the end of the historic 2000 New York Subway Series. It has been fun.
Fall guys
It's October, so the Yankees must be winning
Oct 26, 2000 1:51 a.m. ET
BY DAVE VAN DYCK
FOXSports.com
NEW YORK — Joe Torre says he likes to take his team's temperature.
No need to.
It's pretty easy to figure out.
Hot in October. Always hot in October.
Cold in September? It doesn't matter.
The Yankees lost their last seven games of Septemebr and look where they are on Oct. 26.
Right where they were last October and the one before that. And two Octobers before that one.
Mark Lennihan/AP
Derek Jeter stole the show Wednesday with a lead-off homer and a triple
This is where they are: One victory away from their third straight World Series championship and fourth in five seasons, thanks to Wednesday's 3-2 victory over the Mets.
Their third and fourth hitters are a combined 2-for-30, their untouchable closer has already given up two runs, their leadoff hitter can't play in Shea Stadium because he's a DH. . .and still they win.
You'd like to call it luck, except no streak lasts this long.
You'd like to say that George Steinbrenner has sold his soul to the devil, except even the devil would have tired of him by now.
This must be something more.
Torre bats his second-place hitter in the leadoff spot Wednesday. And guess what Derek Jeter does with the first pitch Wednesday? He hits it over the wall.
Torre brings in David Cone, who has pitched one inning since the last week of September, to face Mike Piazza in a game-tying situation. Guess what happens? Piazza pops up a pitch.
"Golden touch" doesn't even qualify here.
What this is is just downright amazing, including Wednesday's dramatic victory after a heartbreaking loss the night before.
"They don't amaze me," Torre said. "I think you just sort of take the temperature of the team and just have a sense of how they are. I had a good, confident feel."
He should have. It is October. And by now you know how the temperature is. Hot.
By now, you would think Torre would quit worrying about walking through the clubhouse with that thermometer. When he passes Jeter's cubicle, a brain scan might be more in order.
Surely, this guy can't be human. This doesn't happen to humans.
Jeter is 26 years old, dates the prettiest women, still calls the manager "Mr. Torre" and is about to get fitted for his fourth World Series ring.
On Wednesday, he hit the leadoff homer and then started the third inning with a triple, scoring the third run that would ultimately be the difference.
In his charmed life, he has played 60 post-season games and reached base in 55 of them. In his World Series games alone, he is hitting .347
. Hot chicks, hot bat, hot times.
"He makes things happen," Torre said. "He's a kid who's only been around five years and he's got all the qualities of someone who takes charge and leads by example, as opposed to telling anybody that he is the leader."
This is a club where no one claims leadership, where they shred egos and put them on the October fire.
"This is the time of year," outfielder Paul O'Neill said, "where individual things are set aside, because obviously it's just a race to four [victories]."
It looks like this race will be won by these Yankees, again.
One night after they had an historic 14-game World Series winning streak broken, they came back to start a new one.
Torre admitted he was somewhat worried about the attitude he might find before Wednesday's game, whether they were looking backward or focused on the present.
So he took his walk through the clubhouse, thermometer in hand.
"The players I normally go do to check the temperature of the team didn't feel there was anything that needed to be said," Torre said. "Everybody seemed to be aware of what's going on."
Sure, they did. They know it's October and the temperature is rising.