Yankees: 7 clutch playoff moments that deserve more praise

The Yankees have, time and again, had super clutch players step up in October. Remember these moments?

The New York Yankees are known for their October glory, something their fans will never stop reminding you, and something their haters have to grit their teeth and try not to respect daily.

The players who helped deliver countless times in the clutch for this franchise, no matter how well they performed in the postseason, generally get imbued with the winner’s touch; similarly, great performances in losing efforts usually get washed over (sorry, DJ LeMahieu in Houston).

Hopefully, someday soon, our beloved Bombers will return to their dynastic predilections, and this generation will have a whole new laundry list of moments they can shine a light on, as if to say, “Did you even watch along with us? Because if you had, you’d remember.”

For now, though, these modern Yankees remain on the precipice of greatness, and so we remain nostalgic for moments big and small that helped bring glory to the borough not so long ago.

Remember these? Sure, you do. But they probably deserve a little more amplification than what they’ve received.

7. A-Rod’s 2009 World Series Game 4 Double

The number of times Alex Rodriguez saved the Yankees’ bacon in 2009’s postseason can’t even really be quantified.

I mean, sure, you could count ’em up, but unless you were there and you remembered the previous five anguished postseasons featuring A-Rod’s way-too-late dingers and crucial mental boners (The Slap), then you’ll never fully understand the gravity of every quick flick of the wrist that October.

After tying up Joe Nathan and the Twins in Game 2 of the ALDS, doing the same to Brian Fuentes and the Angels in their Game 2, and initiating the first instant replay in World Series history by smacking a dinger off a camera, Rodriguez likely flipped the series again with the proceedings tied late in Game 4.

Joba Chamberlain had just blown a 4-3 lead on a Pedro Feliz dinger in the eighth, and the Phillies were close to undoing New York’s consecutive wins and bringing Cliff Lee to the mound in a pivotal Game 5.

Not so fast; enough men got on base that the human embodiment of “He’s On Fire!” got to bat again, following Johnny Damon’s two stolen bases on the same play. Rodriguez played hero again, rocketing a double into the left field corner off Brad Lidge that served as a complete and total exhale.

Lee won the next day. It never mattered. Yanks in six, at home. Thanks, Alex.

5. Raul Ibañez Ties Up ALCS Game 1, 2012

Raul Ibañez did so much in the late innings for the Yankees in 2012 that sometimes his two-out, game-tying home run gets lost by the wayside. And that’s insane.

Seemingly always there with a second-deck shot exactly when it was most needed that season, the veteran DH had his final curtain call with two outs in the ninth inning of ALCS Game 1 against the Tigers.

Down 4-0 to start the inning with Jose Valverde on the mound, Ichiro had already wrapped an improbable two-run shot around the pole in right field. With Mark Teixeira on first and two outs, Ibañez — fresh off his two miracle shots that felled Baltimore in Game 3 of the DS — lofted one into deep right that just kept going.

To echo Ernie Johnson’s call from that O’s game: “He did it again.”

Unfortunately, we know why a ridiculous game-tying blast in the Championship Series has largely gone unnoticed. Without the game being tied, we probably would’ve never seen the catastrophic ankle injury that Derek Jeter suffered a few innings later.

It was a bone bruise waiting to become a fracture, and things would’ve spiraled there eventually. We’re not saying Jeter never would’ve succumbed to injury.

But, unfortunately, the two moments are inextricably linked, throwing a dark cloud on Ibañez’s herculean effort. Let’s not let that happen.

4. Andy Pettitte Ties Up WS Game 3 All By Himself

Down 3-0 to Cole Hamels early in Game 3 of the 2009 World Series (on the road), Andy Pettitte knew there was only one man who could get his team back in it: himself.

Following Alex Rodriguez’s aforementioned camera well home run that ushered in the Instant Replay era, Pettitte found himself at the plate with Nick Swisher on second and a one-run deficit. Against all odds, his little league (and Astros) instincts kicked in, and he stayed on the ball, looped it into center, and scored Swisher, who used a hideous slide to touch the plate safely.

For some reason, there isn’t a massive framed photograph of this moment hanging on the exterior door of every Yankee fans’ garage. Yes, this happened.

The Yankees went on to run away and hide in this one, no doubt buoyed by Pettitte’s smack and weird, puffy jacket (pitcher chic!).

New York took the pivotal third game 8-5, running the lead to 5-3 in that fifth inning when a Johnny Damon double scored a chugging Pettitte and Derek Jeter at the same time, ushering in one of the strangest images of the Core Four era. Did Jeter ever think he’d meet his favorite crafty lefty at home plate in the World Series?

Doubtful. Let’s give Pettitte the props he deserves for making it happen. Like many pivotal moments, this one was entirely unanticipated.

3. Orlando Hernandez Pushes the ’98 Indians Back

Another one of the great Yankees teams on the brink, and another heroic act to stem the tide.

This time, the silencing was done on the mound, as Orlando Hernandez took the first step in establishing himself as one of the quietest October dominators of his era.

When El Duque took the mound in Cleveland, he was entering quite possibly baseball’s most hostile environment down 2-1 in a series the 114-win Yankees could not stomach losing. The Cuban import strode to the mound in the same building in which the 1997 Yankees had let the ALDS slip away.

He was about to work in front of yet another in an endless line of sellouts at The Jake (remember that?). He was carrying the baggage of the Chuck Knoblauch Brain Launch down the first base line — and, oh yeah, the immense emotional turmoil that comes with fleeing for your life to play the game you love.

Calmly, coolly, and with a heart that beat steady, Hernandez tamed the Indians offense with a series of whispers. Seven innings, three hits, two walks, six strikeouts, not a single run.

The Yankees took this one 4-0 and ran with the series, scoring five and nine in the final two contests. From this point on, the ’98 Yankees didn’t take a single additional blemish in the postseason.

You can thank Hernandez’s ridiculous leg kick for blocking all semblance of impending disaster out of sight. He posted a 4.13 career regular season ERA and a 2.55 mark in 106 career postseason innings. Enough said, quietly.

2. David Cone Gets Mike Piazza, 2000 World Series

Midway through Game 4 of the 2000 World Series, Joe Torre didn’t ask if David Cone still had it. He didn’t worry about how long he could stretch his former ace, the man who was perfect just one year prior.

He simply wanted to know if Cone had enough in the tank to make one, final perfect pitch to cut a Yankees enemy down at the waist. Cone answered the bell.

Locked in a 3-2 game in the fifth inning of World Series Game 4, Torre ruthlessly took the ball from midseason acquisition Denny Neagle, one out short of the ability to earn a World Series victory, and handed it to Cone, whose stuff had shaken him over the past year, but whose self-confidence never wavered.

Torre’s faith in him never dipped, either. You’ve got to be a little crazy to manage in this city.

Cone finished that season with a 6.91 ERA, and even went to Boston the next season in an attempt to reclaim an ending on his own terms (it worked; Cone went 9-7, 4.31).

But ignore that mark. He entered the World Series with one job (the hardest, arguably, of anyone in the ballpark that night), and wrapped up the gig with a 0.00 mark. Doesn’t matter how many batters were involved.

He only needed one.

1. Paul O’Neill’s ’96 World Series Catch Ends Game 5

It’s important to note that Paul O’Neill was battling a hamstring injury during the team’s run to the 1996 title, but it’s also kind of … not important? After all, O’Neill was seemingly always battling something, and never let it affect his play one iota.

Healthy or not, the “get up and go” was always turned to the maximum for O’Neill, and of course the final out of a 1-0 World Series game on the road found his mitt — but only after a severely strenuous effort, even for a non-hobbled man.

With the tying run on third and the go-ahead man on first, Luis Polonia torched a liner into the gap that probably should’ve undone the Yanks’ miraculous 0-2 three-game comeback in Atlanta.

But then O’Neill lumbered into the picture. He sprinted, to the best of his ability. And he thwapped his glove in the air at the furthest point it could possibly travel to corral the baseball that would send New York on the happiest flight of their lives.

Two days later, O’Neill was rolling over the top of a championship dogpile, his hamstrings now a complete non-issue.

They’d given all they had to give, after all. You’ll never see a more clutch job of tracking a fly ball to completion.

Yankees: 3 Forgotten Moments of 2009 World Series Run

The New York Yankees won an incredible World Series in 2009, replete with memorable moments -- and a few you likely forgot.