Yankee Classics - Saturday, October 13, 2001

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One of the Yes Network's most aired shows are their Yankee Classics. Generally, during the regular season on off days and mornings before a game when there was none the day before, you can catch the Yankees Classics. Then they fill up a lot of the schedule with them during the off-season. As a Yankee fan, I think it's a great idea, although the ranking of some games as "Classics" can sometimes be questions.

Well, this is an attempt to log as many of the Yankee Classics that have been shown including some commentary and rankings on whether they really are classics or...not so much.

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AL Division Series vs. Oakland Athletics

Game Three : Derek Jeter's Flip

Saturday, October 13, 2001

Final Score: 1-0

Yankee Classic Rating (1 low to 10 high): 10

This is a strange type of Yankee Classic. It was an elimination game against Barry Zito, (who always gave the Yankees headaches) in Oakland. The Yankees knew they had to win three in a row to take the series with two of the games against two of Oakland's "Big Three." It was a low offense, nail biter, which was to be expected with Zito against Mike Mussina. All those ingredients combined to make this a classic nail-biter at the time.

But when you know the outcome there really isn't a whole lot to make you want to watch this game, unless you're a big fan of pitcher's duels, which I'm not. The one thing this game has going for it is not only one of the greatest clutch baseball plays of all-time, but one of the greatest and most memorable sports moments of all-time. It can easily be summed up in three words: Derek Jeter's Flip (or even "The Flip Play", both three words). That single iconic play makes this game worth watching in anticipation of the bottom of the seventh inning.

With that one play, Derek Jeter carved his legacy in stone as one of the great clutch performers of all-time and exhibited why he was THE best shortstop in baseball at the time. It wasn't the numbers, it was the intangibles. There's no reason he should have been where he was on the field, but everyone knows that Jeter is the only player in baseball that would have been there.

Jorge Posada provided all the offense with a 5th inning home run off Barry Zito, one of only two Yankee hits in the game. The other was a Shane Spencer double, also in the 5th immediately following the Posada home run. So, outside of the 5th, the Yankee offense was virtually nil. Good thing the Yankees had Derek Jeter. Oh, and Mike Mussina pitched a solid game as well, allowing 4 hits and one walk while striking out 4 over 7 innings.

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