Athletics ousted by Yankee's experience

The Yankees, tired of being eulogized as over-the-hill champions, broke out of their offensive malaise for a half-inning and then barely held on to defeat the Oakland Athletics 7-5 in a decisive Game 5 of their AL division series.

The Yankees, trying to become the first team to win three straight World Series titles since the 1972-74 A's, wrapped up their series hours after the New York Mets completed their ouster of the San Francisco Giants in an NL division series.

"A lot of people were trying to say that our run was over, but you're not going to beat us that easily," Derek Jeter said. "We're still the champs until someone beats us."

Chuck Knoblauch's return to the lineup sparked a six-run first inning, and the maligned New York bullpen came through with 5 1-3 scoreless innings, leading the Yankees to victory and completing a Big Apple playoff sweep of the Bay Area.

Mike Stanton strolled through the Yankees' clubhouse minutes later, dripping with champagne and waving a bottle of bubbly in his left hand.

"Who said we're too old? We're just old enough!" yelled Stanton, who got the win with two innings of scoreless relief.

After Mariano Rivera got Eric Chavez to loop a foul pop to first baseman Tino Martinez for the final out, the emotionally drained Yankees congratulated each other on the field and then headed quickly into their clubhouse for champagne showers.

There was a huge sense of relief for New York, especially after two weeks of being written off as fallen champions.

"That's just playing in New York," Martinez said. "Obituaries are written every day if you have a bad day, so you just learn to not pay attention to it."

The Yankees, forced to fly across the country early Sunday morning to finish the series with the A's, headed back to New York late Sunday night.

They open the AL championship series Tuesday night, starting Denny Neagle against John Halama of the wild card Seattle Mariners, who were 6-4 against the Yankees this year.

Yankees starter Andy Pettitte was pulled after 3 2-3 innings, but the New York bullpen picked him up. Playing for keeps, manager Joe Torre even brought in Orlando Hernandez for his first pro relief appearance.

Rivera got the final five outs for his 16th postseason save, breaking the record he had shared with Dennis Eckersley since Friday night.

"We let them get a running start on us tonight, that's the difference in the ballgame," A's manager Art Howe said. "We battled back, got within two."

After ending the regular season with seven straight defeats, the Yankees were written off when they started this series with a loss at Oakland. An embarrassing 11-1 loss at home in Game 4 led to more condolences.

It took a half-inning, lasting 26 minutes, to lift the gloom.

Knoblauch, back in his accustomed leadoff spot after being benched for three games, had two singles, a stolen base, an RBI and a run scored in the inning. The big blow was a three-run double by Martinez off the center-field wall that Terrence Long broke in on.

"The sun was bad, but I dropped the ball," Long said. "I tried to get a bead on the ball and it carried. I pulled up at the end, I couldn't get to it. I just ran out of room."

Both teams had gotten to bed about 4 a.m. -- 13 hours before gametime -- but the aging Yankees were buoyant and the youthful A's were wiping sleep from their eyes.

"It takes a lot out of you being six runs down," Chavez said. "At least we made this game competitive."

Oakland finally woke up in the second inning, getting Randy Velarde's two-run single. An RBI double by Chavez in the third pulled the A's within three runs.

David Justice homered in the fourth to give New York a 7-3 lead, but Oakland got two more in the fourth on sacrifice flies by Jason Giambi and Olmedo Saenz -- knocking out Pettitte, the winner in New York's 4-0 victory in Game 2 but ineffective Sunday on three days' rest.

The A's had the tying runs on base in the fourth and the tying run at the plate in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings, but failed to score off a New York bullpen that struggled the second half of the season.

"It's about pride and will," said the Yankees' Paul O'Neill. "We're got something good going, and we don't want to give it away."

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