Steinbrenner was in love with sluggers. After a dry patch, Yankees under Torre had opportunistic hitters and rediscovered small ball. They had good pitchers. The home run offense is often a desert in playoffs.
From 96:
''As far as hitting, we've got five or six guys batting around .300. It's not so much about hitting home runs, but getting the key hits at the right time.''
Never has that been more true than the last eight games. Yes, the Yankees won some by blowouts. But the tense games they won, also, with one exception in Canada. And guaranteed, it is the latter sort of game that is bound to put a smile on Joe Torre's face.
''The baseball the last week or so has been very, very good baseball -- baseball with a lot of energy, baseball with a lot of resourcefulness, just a very gutty brand of baseball,'' the Yankees manager said.
It is better than what the Yankees dreamed of in a grim August when the waiting for three-run homers by Strawberry and Cecil Fielder was as futile as it was endless. ''A lot of times when you wait on home runs, you wait too much, and if they don't come, you're pretty much in trouble,'' Raines said.
''We didn't sit back as much as we had been, waiting on a big shot,'' Raines said. ''It's important. A lot of times you put pressure on the defense by not trying to hit the ball out of the ball park.''
It is the kind of baseball that is so well embodied in the play of young Jeter, the heady Joe Girardi, the revived Williams -- whose single in the ninth capped a tying rally that began with Paul O'Neill and Fielder drawing walks off the Orioles' stopper, Randy Myers.
''This really helps our whole approach,'' Torre said.
Yankees' Small Ball Wins in a Big Way
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/19/sports/yankees-small-ball-wins-in-a-big-way.html
