The Five Greatest PItching Performances in Yankees History
May 20, 2011 · Harold Friend · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are known for having some of the finest hitters in baseball history, but it has been pitching and defense that has led to most of their World Championships. Yankees pitchers have pitched some of the greatest games ever.
Who were the five pitchers that pitched the greatest games in Yankees history? Yes, it is subjective, but each selection stands on its own as one of the best pitched games ever as well as one of the Yankees most significant games
1. Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers ranks first. It is the only no-hitter and perfect game in World Series history, but it was also a game the Yankees had to win.
Brooklyn beat the Yankees in the 1955 World Series. Both teams repeated as pennant winners in 1956. It was the last time the Yankees met the Brooklyn Dodgers in the Series.
The Series was tied at two games each. Larsen started the pivotal fifth game against Brooklyn’s grizzled veteran, Sal Maglie, who had pitched a no-hitter a few weeks earlier.
In the second inning, Jackie Robinson hit a line drive that caromed off third baseman Andy Carey’s glove and bounced right to shortstop Gil McDougald, who threw out Robinson.
In the fifth inning, Mickey Mantle made what is called by Mantle fanatics as “the catch” when he backhanded a deep Gil Hodges drive in the left field alley.
The Yankees managed only a pair of runs off Maglie, whose great performance has been virtually forgotten, but the two runs he gave up were enough for a 2-0 Yankees win.
2. Andy Pettite’s phenomenal pitching against the Atlanta Braves and John Smoltz in 1996 might have been more important than even Larsen’s perfect game.
The Yankees hadn’t been World Champions since 1978, which is an eternity in the Yankees universe.
The Braves easily won the first two games of the Series at Yankee Stadium. Only the 1986 New York Mets had ever lost the first two games of the World Series at home and won it.
The Yankees scored an unearned run off Smoltz when Marquis Grissom, attempting to make a basket catch on Charlie Hayes’ fly ball messed it up, allowing Hayes to reach second base. Hayes scored when Cecil Fielder doubled.
Pettitte held the powerful Braves lineup to five hits. He was lifted in the ninth inning after Chipper Jones led off with a double and moved to third when Fred McGriff grounded out to first.
John Wettland got Javy Lopez on a ground out to third, and then Paul O’Neill made his great catch of a deep fly ball by Luis Polonia to end the game.
3. Allie Reynolds faced the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Don Newcombe in the opening game of the 1949 World Series, The Dodgers had a powerful offense that included Jackie Robinson, Gil Hodges, Duke Snider and Roy Campanella.
Neither Reynolds nor Newcombe allowed a run through the first eight innings. Reynolds pitched a scoreless ninth to complete what would be a shut out if the Yankees could score in the bottom of the ninth. They did when Tommy Henrich led off with a home run.
Reynolds allowed only two hits and struck out nine. The game set the tone for the Series, which the Yankees won in five games.
4. Johnny Kucks shut out the Brooklyn Dodgers on three singles in the seventh game of the 1956 World Series. Because of Larsen’s masterpiece in that Series and the fact that Yogi Berra hit two early home runs off Brooklyn starter Don Newcombe, Kucks’ great performance is rarely mentioned.
He faced only 31 batters and was never in serious trouble in a game the Yankees had to win.
It can be argued that once Berra hit his second two-run home run in the third inning to put the Yankees ahead 4-0, Kucks wasn’t under much pressure. There is always pressure in the seventh game of the World Series.
5. David Wells and David Cone’s perfect games are tied for the fifth spot. Both performances were probably better than Kucks’ but neither was as significant with respect to the Yankees going on to win the World Series.
Wells’ perfect game was on May 17, 1998 against the Minnesota Twins and maintained the Yankees three and one-half game lead over the Boston Red Sox.
Cone’s perfect game was pitched on July 18, 1999 against the Montreal Expos. It allowed the Yankees to maintain a four game lead over the Red Sox, which was exactly how many games ahead of the Red Sox the Yankees finished.
There were many other significant, outstandingly pitched games in Yankees history, but the above five (six) certainly rank near the top.
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