11. Alex Rodriguez - 2009 ALCS Game Two
The Yankees led the Angels 1-0 in the series, but trailed the second game 3-2 in the bottom of the 11th. Alex Rodriguez tied the second game of the Division Series with a homer off Joe Nathan. Could lightning strike twice?
His homer on an 0-2 pitch made it 3-3 and the Yanks would win on an error in the 13th. New York won the pennant in six games before dispatching the Phillies in six to win the World Series.
10. Gil McDougald - 1958 World Series Game Six
The defending champion Milwaukee Braves led this series 3-1 and were one win away from beating the Yanks for the second year in a row. Bob Turley's five-hit shutout kept the Yanks alive and sent the series back to Wisconsin.
A Whitey Ford - Warren Spahn matchup didn't live up to the billing in Game Six. Ford quickly trailed 2-1 and loaded the bases in the second inning before Casey Stengel yanked him in favor of Art Ditmar. The reliever got out of trouble and teamed up with Ryne Duren for seven and two-thirds innings of scoreless ball through the ninth.
The score was tied 2-2 as Spahn pitched into the tenth. McDougald started the frame with a home run to push New York ahead. They'd tack on an insurance run that turned out to be a necessary one. Hank Aaron singled in a run off Duren with two outs in the bottom of the tenth to cut the lead to 4-3. Stengel brought back Turley to get the last out. With the tying run on third and the series-winning run at first, Frank Torre lined out to McDougald at second base to end the game.
When Don Larsen got into trouble in Game Seven, Turley came back again and pitched the last six and two-thirds innings of a 6-2 win to take the title. The '58 Yanks joined the 1925 Pirates as teams to come back from 3-1 down to win the World Series (The 1968 Tigers and 1985 Royals would also do it).
9. Joe DiMaggio - 1950 World Series Game Two
Vic Raschi outdueled N.L. Cy winner Jim Konstanty 1-0 in the opener and the next day produced another great duel between Allie Reynolds and Robin Roberts. The game was 1-1 until DiMaggio led off the top of the tenth inning with a home run that provided the winning margin. The Yanks swept the Whiz Kids with 3-2 and 5-2 wins in New York.
8. Mark Teixeira - 2009 ALDS Game Two
Alex Rodriguez's game-tying homer off Joe Nathan made our ninth-inning list. David Robertson escaped a bases-loaded no-out jam in the top of the 11th to set the stage for Teixeira.
The Yankees swept the series to begin their run to their 27th championship.
7. Bernie Williams - 1999 ALCS Game One
The first-ever postseason meeting between the Yankees and Red Sox was a great one. Boston jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Scott Brosius hit a two-run homer in the second inning to pull New York back into it. Brosius also keyed the tying rally in the seventh when he led off with a single off Derek Lowe, moved up on Chuck Knoblauch's bunt, then scored on Derek Jeter's single.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the tenth inning, when Bernie Williams rocked Rod Beck's second pitch over the center-field wall to win it.
The Yankees won the pennant in five games before sweeping the Braves in the World Series.
6. Bernie Williams - 1996 ALCS Game One
Before the homer off Beck, Williams ended another ALCS opener in extra innings with a home run. This was after Derek Jeter's game-tying fan-assisted home run (ranked high on our eighth-inning list).
Williams was the first batter of the inning for this walk-off as well, albeit one frame later in the 11th.
As it did three years later, this one kick-started a five-game ALCS victory and a championship. Williams and David Ortiz are the only players to hit two postseason game-ending homers.
5. Jim Leyritz - 1995 ALDS Game Two
The back-and-forth game saw both the Mariners and Yankees score a run in the 12th inning to keep it going. Leyritz finally ended it in the 15th.
It was only the second playoff game of 15 or more innings (Game Six of the 1986 NLCS went 16). Later, the fifth game of 1999 NLCS would go 15 as well and Game Four of the 2005 NLDS passed them all, going 18.
The Yanks took a 2-0 lead to Seattle, but the M's won three straight to win their first playoff series and save baseball in the Pacific Northwest.
4. Raul Ibanez - 2012 ALDS Game Three
The Yankees were two outs away from falling in a 2-1 hole in the ALDS against the Orioles until Raul pinch hit for A-Rod and tied the game. Raul so cool. When his turn came back around to start the 12th inning, he wasted no time in crushing this ball on the first pitch.
New York won the set in five games before getting swept by the Tigers in the next round.
3. Chad Curtis - 1999 World Series Game Three
The Yankees won the first two games in Atlanta, but the Braves jumped on Andy Pettitte at the Stadium in the third game. Trailing 5-1, Curtis homered in the fifth and Tino Martinez went deep in the seventh to cut it to 5-3. Chuck Knoblauch added a third homer off Tom Glavine, a two-run shot in the eighth to tie it.
Mariano Rivera worked a scoreless ninth and tenth before Curtis led off the bottom of the tenth with this:
Curtis then refused to talk to NBC reporter Jim Gray after Gray badgered Pete Rose during the All-Century Team ceremony two days prior. The only video I could find of Curtis' postgame snub was from the next night's Daily Show.
Anyway, New York finished the sweep the next night to win the second of three straight titles.
2. Derek Jeter - 2001 World Series Game Four
About to go down 3-1 in the series, Tino Martinez saved the Yankees with a tying homer with two outs in the ninth. Byung-Hyun Kim was still in the game in the tenth for his third inning of work. The clock struck midnight and we had November baseball for the first time. Jeter quickly won the game and tied the series on Kim's 61st pitch.
The magic continued the next night, with Scott Brosius hitting another tying two-out dinger in the ninth before Alfonso Soriano won it with a single in the 12th. Arizona won Games Six and Seven in Phoenix to win the series.
1. Aaron Boone - 2003 ALCS Game Seven
The Yankees and Red Sox played 19 games in the regular season, with New York going 10-9. They split the first three games of the ALCS to set up an epic winner-take-all battle in the Bronx. Roger Clemens put the Yanks in a 4-0 hole, but Mike Mussina bailed him out and kept the game close. Jason Giambi hit two solo homers off an otherwise flawless Pedro Martinez, but Boston still led 5-2 with one out in the eighth. Then this happened:
Four straight hits, all with two strikes (Jeter and Matsui on 0-2!), and all of a sudden it was 5-5. Mariano Rivera posted three zeroes in the ninth, tenth and 11th.
And Aaron Boone led off the 11th.
The Marlins won the World Series in six games, but it doesn't diminish one of the greatest games in baseball history.
Monday, September 30: First Inning
Tuesday, October 1: Second Inning
Wednesday, October 2: Third Inning
Thursday, October 3: Fourth Inning
Friday, October 4: Fifth Inning
Monday, October 7: Sixth Inning
Tuesday, October 8: Seventh Inning
Wednesday, October 9: Eighth Inning
Thursday, October 10: Ninth Inning
Friday, October 11: Extra Innings
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