Yankees: 5 Forgotten Heroes From New York’s ’90s Dynasty

4. Jose Vizcaino

Jose Vizcaino, of all people, changed the Yankees momentum in the Subway Series.

With the Yankees and Mets deadlocked late into the night in Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, momentum was ever-so-silently creeping to the visitors.

After all, once a game passes a certain hour threshold, and hundreds of chances have been blown, the underdog has an excellent chance to sneak through the widening hole in the champion’s armor.

With two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning, Jose Vizcaino took a look at the assembled narratives and said, “Nah, actually we’re good.”

The Mets won seven more games than the Yankees in 2000, but New York was still the king, waiting to be dethroned at home. After tying the game in the bottom of the ninth on a Chuck Knoblauch sac fly, though, they put runners at second and third without a single out in the bottom of the 10th, and stranded them, staying silent until the bespectacled Vizcaino sliced one into left for the win.

In the oddity battle of Vizcaino’s goggles vs. Turk Wendell’s shark teeth, the veteran infielder won, polishing off a 4-for-6 day for the ages.

The 32-year-old hit .276 that season (.270 career), and came up big during the Houston Astros’ 2005 run to the NL pennant, too. But raise your hand if you expected him to be an automatic base hit and a walk-off hero in the Yankees’ most important tone-setting World Series game of the era.