Once More, With Feeling While Yankees Relive Emotional Victory, M’S Prepare For Game 3

The longest game in American League playoff history brought out all sorts of emotions.

George Steinbrenner complained loudly and publicly about the umpires. A sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium mocked them too, cheering wildly at every routine call.

It went into extra innings tied 4-4, and Ken Griffey Jr. hit a homer in the 12th. In the bottom of the inning, Seattle went with Tim Belcher, who was supposed to start Game 3. With two on and two outs, Ruben Sierra doubled off the top of the outfield wall. The tying run scored, but the winning run was thrown out at the plate.

Catcher Jim Leyritz, who vowed retaliation after he was hit in he face by a Randy Johnson fastball in May, won it for the Yankees with a two-run homer in the 15th inning. Final score: New York 7, Seattle 5 in the longest game - by time and innings - in A.L. playoff history.

After the game, Belcher cursed cameramen on his way to the locker room and even knocked a hand-held camera to the floor.

“The emotions were unbelievable,” said Pat Kelly, who was on base when Leyritz homered. “I’ve never felt anything like that. I got a look at his face as he rounded the bases and it looked like he had no idea what was going on.”

With Leyritz’s swing, the Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series that resumes tonight at the Kingdome, where the Mariners were 6-1 against New York this season.

Leyritz’s teammates mobbed him at home plate and the remainder of a sellout crowd of 57,126 stood and screamed for several minutes as a steady rain fell.

“When I saw the ball clear the fence, you can’t describe how elated and exhausted I was. I could have floated around the bases,” Leyritz said.

For fans who hadn’t seen the Yankees in a playoff game in 14 years, the victory was especially exciting. A large crowd gathered near the team bus as it left for the airport at 2:40 a.m. and chanted “Sweep!, Sweep!” with their fists in the air.

Some of the players returned the salute. The Mariners, meanwhile, weren’t about to give up.

“This team is not out of it. Just because we’re down 2-0 doesn’t mean we won’t sweep the next three at home,” Griffey said.

Seattle will have Johnson pitching against Jack McDowell in Game 3 at the Kingdome, where the Mariners were 46-27 this season - third best in the A.L. Even more encouraging is their 27-3 record when Johnson pitches.

“We play the Yankees tough in our place,” pitcher Jeff Nelson said. “We play everybody tough in our place.”

Leyritz had a sub-par year and did not get to play in Game 1, but he’s the regular catcher for Andy Pettitte and got his chance to face his least-favorite team in his biggest game.

After Sierra and Don Mattingly hit consecutive homers in the sixth, Leyritz was hit by a pitch from Bill Risley.

“Two years ago they did the same thing, and I came back and hit a grand slam off them in the next game,” he said.

When Johnson hit him on May 31, he vowed: “He just better hope that he doesn’t see me out anywhere. We’ll take care of him one way or the other. He’s got to go out in public somewhere. There’s a time and place for everything.”

That time came at 1:19 a.m. when Leyritz did what he said he would.