1999 Yankees Diary, September 30: Doubleheader split enough for division crown

Any baseball season is a spectacularly long journey, one that starts on a backfield in Florida or Arizona and extends from winter into spring and through the dog days of summer. By the time the leaves turn and fall arrives, every MLB player and team has run a marathon hardly any of us on the outside can comprehend, a grind as punishing mentally as it is physically.

To survive such a season is an achievement, but to finish the gauntlet as a champion is truly special. Twenty-five years ago today, the Yankees at last put the finishing touches on their AL East title. It was but the first step on their World Series championship defense, but it was the longest and most arduous step in that process, one that required several months and nearly 159 games. Needing just one win in Baltimore to clinch the AL East, the Yankees got the job done, popped some bubbly , and went to bed as division champs.

"It's important to celebrate," said Scott Brosius, "and to recognize what we accomplished."

September 30: Yankees 0, Orioles 5 (box score), Yankees 12, Orioles 5 (box score)

Record: 96-63, .604 (1st, 5.0 GA)

Rain the prior day meant the Yankees and Orioles would play a day-night doubleheader, with the Yankees eyeing an AL East title and the Orioles eyeing the links. The afternoon contest provided a stellar pitching matchup, between Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, this was Mussina's day. The future Yankee dazzled over the course of seven shutout, striking out ten and walking none. He showcased his deep repertoire, and of course his excellent command:

On the other end, Clemens labored. Though he struck out nine, he fought control problems all day, walking five and hitting a batter.

The worst of it came in the bottom of the third. Trailing 1-0, Clemens walked the first three batters of the inning to load the bases with none out. He struck out Calvin Pickering, but allowed an RBI single to Charles Johnson to make it 2-0. Clemens then hit Jerry Hairston with a pitch to force in a run, and a sac fly by Ryan Minor made it 4-0. The Orioles nary hit a ball hard, but Clemens' futile attempts to find the zone handed the Orioles a sizeable advantage.

It was too much to overcome on a day where Mussina was in total command. Mussina at one point retired 16 straight Yankees, with New York only ever threatening in the sixth. A Joe Girardi double and Derek Jeter single put two on with one out, but Mussina promptly induced an double play ball from Paul O'Neill to end the inning.

Clemens yielded an RBI double from Mike Bordick in the sixth to make it 5-0, and would ultimately finish with five runs charged to his name over six innings. It was not the kind of the start the Yankees hoped to see from their nominal ace heading into October. Clemens finished a disappointing debut season in pinstripes with a 4.60 ERA, just about league average. He went 14-10 over 30 starts and 187.2 innings.

Mussina, on the other hand, earned the win to end his 1999 campaign at 18-7. He'd earned All-Star honors earlier in the season, and would finish second Cy Young voting. It was a vintage Mussina season, one that would convince the Yankees to hand him an eight-year contract after the 2000 season.

After a sleepy afternoon, the Yankees turned to the nightcap to take another shot at a clinching win. This time, with Orlando Hernández on the mound, they wouldn't falter.

El Duque got off to a very inauspicious start, taking the mound in the bottom of the first with a 1-0 lead but yielding hits to the first three batters he faced. Gene Kingsale singled, Hairston doubled, and B.J. Surhoff singled, and suddenly it was 2-1 Baltimore.

But Hernández settled in from there, and the Yankee lineup pounded out a steady drumbeat of hits against Orioles pitching. They failed to score in the second and third innings, the Yankees threatened, and finally broke through in the fourth. Shane Spencer and Scott Brosius each hit a solo homer off Matt Riley, chasing the Baltimore starter and giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

The Orioles struck back with a game-tying solo shot from Derrick May in the bottom half, but the Yankee offense had hit its full stride. In the top of the fifth, consecutive singles from Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, and Chili Davis put the Yankees ahead 4-3. In the sixth, an RBI single from Williams extended the lead, while Davis walked with the bases loaded to make it 6-3.

And in the eighth, the Yankees made it a laugher, at last removing all doubt about who would finish atop the AL East in 1999. Jeter and Williams walked, while Martinez was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no out. O'Neill cleared the bases, with his three-run double making it 9-3.

A Jorge Posada single put two on, and allowed Brosius to put the finishing touches on the division crown:

Brosius' second dinger of the game had the Yankees up 12-3 and ensured that champagne would flow that night at Camden Yards. While Jeff Nelson and Allen Watson each gave up a solo homer in relief of Hernandez, the Yankees' lead was unsurmountable, and they'd ease to a 12-5 win in Baltimore.

Brosius would finish 3-for-4 with four driven in, while Jeter reached base four times on the night. Williams was on base three times, and Chad Curtis notched three hits. Hernández earned the win for his seven innings of work, ending the year at 17-9.

Even as they celebrated, the Yankees did actually have work remaining to do. They stood at 96-63 with three games to play, one game behind Cleveland for the top seed in the American League. That work could wait, though, as they toasted another fine season, the second straight that had resulted in a division title. They'd have to stay locked in for one more month in order to ensure they could make it back-to-back championships.