Cleveland 000 050 000--5 8 3 New York 213 003 00x--9 11 1COMPLETE BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (Oct 13, 1998 - 23:56 EDT) -- Revenge complete. The American League pennant has returned to the Bronx.
Yankee Stadium rocked long and hard Tuesday night, as New York reached the World Series for a record 35th time by beating the Cleveland Indians 9-5 to win the AL championship series in six games.
It was a little strange, and a little sloppy.
Scott Brosius seemed to finish Cleveland off with a three-run homer for a 6-0 lead in the third inning. But David Cone nearly gave it all back, allowing a grand slam to Jim Thome that pulled the Indians within a run.
Derek Jeter then restored the safety margin with a two-run triple in the sixth, a drive to right that Manny Ramirez tried to snag with a leap at the top of the wall -- only the ball landed on a hop at his feet.
New York, which opens the World Series at home Saturday night against Atlanta or San Diego, won an AL title at home for the first time since the Reggie Jackson-Thurman Munson-Ron Guidry team in 1978.
Cleveland, which beat the Yankees in the first round last year and came within two outs of winning its first World Series since 1948, failed to force a seventh game because it allowed five unearned runs.
Other game highlights: another controversial umpiring call, a line drive that hit an umpire on the backside and a pumped-up crowd that took every opportunity to make up for the taunts David Wells endured in Cleveland last week.
After going 114-48 during the regular season and sweeping Texas in the first round, the Yankees felt pressure to reach the Series, which they won in 1996.
Cleveland felt pressure, too, after losing Game 7 of the World Series to Florida last October. But after falling behind two games to one, New York turned it around at Jacobs Field behind strong pitching from Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez in Game 4 and by Wells in Game 5.
By the eighth inning, fans were taunting the Indians with chants of "1948." Responding to a remark by Cleveland's David Justice that the only way Yankees fans could get tougher would be if they brought Uzis to the ballpark, one fan hung pictures of a machine gun from the upper deck for each strikeout by Cone, who fanned eight.
Umpires again were in the center of controversy. Ted Hendry, the second-base umpire, appeared to blow a call in the third inning, ruling New York's Chili Davis safe on a force play, claiming Omar Vizquel was pulled off the base by the throw. Two outs later, Brosius' homer made it 6-0.
Brosius' homer came after Williams' leadoff single and the controversial call by Hendry. Davis grounded to second and Enrique Wilson's throw to second for the force was wide to the shortstop side. While Vizquel appeared to keep a foot on the bag, Hendry called Davis safe.
Cleveland starter Charles Nagy, who took the loss, quickly got in trouble, and Cleveland fell behind on consecutive one-out singles in the first by Jeter, Paul O'Neill and Williams. Davis followed with a sacrifice fly.
New York made it 3-0 in the second on an error by left fielder Brian Giles. Joe Girardi singled with one out, Chuck Knoblauch doubled into the left-field corner and Giles, after picking up the ball, let it fall out of his glove.
Cone took a shutout into the fifth. After singles by Wilson and Kenny Lofton put runners on first and third, Vizquel hit a liner up the middle that hit Hendry in the rear end. Lofton remained on third instead of scoring and a walk to Justice forced in a run. After fanning Ramirez, Cone gave up the grand slam to Thome, who set an AL championship series record with his fourth homer.
Ramiro Mendoza came in to start the sixth and allowed a hit in three shutout innings. Mariano Rivera finished up.
Notes: The Yankees are 11-2 in series when they take a 3-2 lead into Game 6, losing only in the 1921 World Series (to the Giants) and in the 1926 World Series (to the Cardinals). ... Thome's homer was his 12th in the postseason, tying Yogi Berra for 12th on the career list. He tied Bob Robertson (1971), Lenny Dykstra (1993), Ken Griffey Jr. (1995) and Williams (1996) for the single-year record with six. ... After being forced to sit out Game 5 with a stiff back, Cleveland catcher Sandy Alomar was back in the starting lineup and went 0-for-3. Alomar stayed behind for treatment when the team left for New York on Sunday night and didn't arrive until late Monday.
