1999 Yankees Diary, October 7: Pettitte’s brilliance gives Yanks 2-0 ALDS lead

October is an extremely special month for sports , and when it comes to baseball, there's no better time of year. Playoff baseball is special for all sorts of reasons, with games having higher stakes, and most are back-and-forth affairs or within a run or two until the very end.

The first game of the 1999 American League Division Series between the Yankees and the Texas Rangers was not one of those games—an 8-0 drubbing by the Bombers —but the next games were as close as expected.

October 7: Yankees 3, Rangers 1 (box score)

Playoffs: Up 2-0 in ALDS (100-64 overall)

ALDS Game 2 in the Bronx gave the Yankees faithful plenty to cheer (and be nervous) about. Andy Pettitte, an all-time great Yankee and left-hander, took the mound against a team he had a 3.38 ERA against that season. It had been a turbulent year for the southpaw, but he had turned it around in the second half and was trusted with the Game 2 start in the Bronx — a common occurrence throughout his 18-year career.

In the first inning, there was only one baserunner, Iván "Pudge" Rodríguez, who reached on an error by Yankees first baseman Tino Martinez. Rangers starter Rick Helling diced through the top three hitters in the Yankees lineup, Chuch Knoblauch, Derek Jeter, and Paul O'Neill. Pettitte only allowed one hit through the first third of the game, but Helling kept rolling on his own. The 27-year-old righty pitched three perfect innings frames, coolly dismissing the rest of the New York order.

With Helling dealing, the Rangers offense took advantage and quieted the home crowd in the top of the fourth inning. Well, perhaps the better way to describe it is that one Ranger quieted the crowd. The man named 1999 AL MVP (Rodríguez) grounded out to first, but into the box stepped the powerful Juan González, the reigning MVP and two-time winner of the honor. He slugged 434 homers in his career, belted 40 in five different seasons, and crushed two off Pettitte back in Game 2 of the 1996 ALDS. Sure enough, González snapped the Rangers' scoreless streak with a solo shot against the lefty, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

It turned out to be the final homer that González hit with the Rangers before being traded to Detroit. He had been with Texas since being signed out of Puerto Rico in 1986.

Helling gave up his first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth to Jeter, following a strikeout of Knoblauch in the leadoff spot. However, no damage was done following the hit to center.

Pettitte ran into trouble again in the fifth. Roberto Kelly and Lee Stevens led it off with a single and an automatic double that bounced into the left-field stands, immediately putting the southpaw on the ropes while already trailing in the ballgame. Two deep fly balls or slow grounders would give Texas a pair of much-needed insurance runs for Helling. Pettitte fell behind 3-0 to Mark McLemore before fully buckling down. A called strike, a foul, and a whiff sent McLemore back to the dugout emptyhanded, and Royce Clayton did the same on a sharp groundout to third. Rusty Greer worked the count full ... only to go down swinging.

Needless to say, Pettitte was pumped.

Helling started to show some cracks in his proverbial armor in the bottom of the fifth. Martinez led the inning off with a single to right field and didn't advance when Chili Davis and Ricky Ledée struck out. With two outs, it was Scott Brosius' turn for a second time up at the plate, and he came through, smoking a double to left field and tying the game.

The sixth inning was relatively smooth sailing for both pitchers, Helling only facing the minimum and Pettitte allowing two men to reach base but was never in any sort of jam because of a ground-ball double play between the two singles that put men on the infield dirt. Even an error in the seventh by Knoblauch at second—all-too-common in '99—was no sweat for Pettitte. He got a fly out from Clayton to preserve the 1-1 tie.

At that point, it was time for the Yankees to strike against a pitcher that had been giving them fits the entire game. Bernie Williams flew out to to start the bottom of the seventh, but after a Martinez walk and Davis single putting the Yankees first baseman at third, Ledée received his chance to do some damage, and he did with a double to center , giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

Andy Pettitte worked one out in the top of the eighth before being replaced by Jeff Nelson in the bullpen. The righty struck out the following two hitters, Rodríguez and González. Pettitte's final line: a superb 7.1 innings of one-run ball, with seven hits but no walks and five strikeouts.

Mariano Rivera was already lurking in the bullpen, but the Yankees added insurance anyway. Jeter hit a one-out single off Tim Crabtree, and when Mike Venafro swapped in for Crabtree, O'Neill greeted him with a single to left. Williams was hit by a pitch to loaded the bases with one out for Martinez. Although Texas got a force at home on a grounder, that did not phase the next man up, postseason veteran Jim Leyritz. Pinch-hitting for Clay Bellinger (who had pinch-run for Davis), the man with a career .926 OPS in October worked a five-pitch walk off Venafro to force in New York's third run.

Rivera then replaced Nelson on the mound looking for the save and yet another scoreless inning. He hadn't allowed a run since mid-July, and the future Hall of Famer continued to dazzle.

Mo faced the minimum in the top of the ninth and gave the Yankees their second win of the ALDS. For the second year in a row, they were on the verge of a three-game sweep of the mighty Rangers offense, and for the second year in a row, they had also held Texas to one run over the first couple games.