The greatest Yankee game of my life.

On October 9th, 2009, I turned 19 years old. It also happened to be the night the Yankees played the most glorious game of baseball I'd ever witnessed. I had followed them intensely all summer. Every year I listened to the games religiously, but this team was different. They were clutch, and they were more fun and less uptight than the former Yankee teams that had dominated the regular season and then fizzled out in the first round of the playoff's. I felt deep down that this team was going to win the world series, but after witnessing the collapse of 2004 and how it had ruined the team mentally in every postseason going forward, I was bracing myself for another early exit. CC Sabathia didn't let me down in game one. He dominated through 7 innings. There was the usual clutch hit from Derek Jeter. Alex Rodriguez, my favorite player, drove in two runs and began the process of getting the postseason RISP monkey off his back. The great Mariano closed it out. It was a breezy 7-2 win. I felt on top of the world, like I had just witnessed a classic October ball game in the Bronx. What I experienced that night would be nothing compared to the chaos that was about to take place two nights later.
As I said earlier, it was my birthday, a fact I wasn't happy about. My mind was on the game all day. My family had made arrangements to go out to dinner. I tried to get them to reconsider but they insisted. We headed out just as the game was starting. The place we were headed had just installed tv's in it's dining room. I hated this. There's nothing I hate more than watching a big game I care about around anyone except my dad. We ended up staying through the first 3 innings, and they were all scoreless. I'd take it. "Just get me out of here as quickly as possible", I thought to myself. I wanted to be home, on the deck, listening to John Sterling call the action.
AJ Burnett surrendered a run in the 6th and it was 1-0 Minnesota. Already I was ready to throw in the towel. I'm a pessimistic sports fan. It's in my blood. There's nothing I can do about it. In the bottom half of the inning Jeter responded with a one out double. Up came Johnny Damon. I waited for Sterlings call. "LINED DOWN THE LINE IT IS AAAAAA...FOUL BALL!!!". John Sterling, despite being a hero of mine, messes up an amazing amount of calls every year. Usually I could laugh it off but in this case there was no excuse. I paced back and forth on the deck as my dad tried to calm me down. "I THOUGHT HE HAD TIED THE GAME. JESUS JOHN. DO YOU HAVE EYES?!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!". Damon eventually worked a walk. Mark Teixeira followed and did nothing, so it was up to my favorite player, the always controversial ARod. This time John got it right. "hit on the ground....THROUGH FOR THE BASE HIT. HERE COMES JETER, HE'LL SCORE AND THE GAME IS TIED AT 1!!" All hell broke lose on a deck in the middle of Westminster, Maryland. My guy had come through. He was officially clutch. That euphoria didn't last long.
The Yankees gave up two two out runs in the 8th. It was 3-1 Twins. I was done. They did nothing in the 8th inning, the series was going to Minnesota tied 1-1. They would lose the next two in the metrodome and the dream season would be over, I told myself. I walked in to the living room where my mom was watching tv and sat down deflated. "They lost". "It's over?!" "No, it's the 9th inning, they have no chance of coming back." I walked out on to the deck and gathered enough strength to turn the radio back on and listen to my teams slow death. Then I was given hope. "Heres the 1-0...LINED in to center field theres a base hit for Teixeira." I started pacing. "Stop. Don't get your hopes hope. They aren't going to do it." Here came my hero Alex Rodriguez. The count went to 3-1 on him. "Take a walk", was my thinking at the time. What happened next is, without question, the greatest single sports moment of my life. I paced and paced and waited for the call. "It'll be a 3-1 to ARod.....SWUNG ON AND HIT HIGH IN THE AIR TO RIGHT CENTER AND DEEP. IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT ISSSSSSS GONE!!! HE'S DONE IT!!! ALEX RODRIGUEZ HAS HIT A GAME TYING TWO RUN HOME RUN IN THE 9TH INNING. AN UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC HOME RUN AN THE GAME IS TIED AT 3!!!". My dad had given up and gone to bed, I was too shocked to say anything, I threw something of the deck and in to the yard, I sprinted through the kitchen and in to the bed room. I said something that didn't quite make sense. Maybe a little like this: "GONE....AROD....HE DID IT. TIE GAME AROD WAS UP WITH A MAN ON IN THE 9TH AND HIT IT OUT. THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME. COME ON YANKEES!!!!" I would later read a New York sports writer say he never felt old or new Yankee stadium shake the way the new place did after that home run. I can say without question that it was the most emotional home run I ever have or will ever witness as a Yankee fan. There have been bigger home runs in bigger games, but this one meant something more to me.
The game was far from over. The Yankees went down without making any more noise in the 9th. In the top of the tenth, Alfredo Aceves put men on second and third with two out and got out of it. In the bottom of the 10th I thought we had the game won. First and third one out for Johnny Damon. "Heres the pitch..SWUNG ON AND LINED RIGHT TO CABRERA HE THROWS TO THIRD DOUBLE PLAY." I was sick to my stomach. I threw off my Yankees hat and lied down face first in the couch. My dad tried to calm me down yet again. "Just leave me alone...I need a minute to deal with this." I was overreacting, obviously, but that's the way it is when you're a fan of a team. Logic doesn't apply in any situation. In the top of the 11th, it looked like the Twins had the game won when they loaded the bases with nobody out. My dad's quote was perfect, "it's no longer IF they score, it's how many." I was emotionally exhausted at that point, and quite frankly resigned. I sat slumped in the chair outside. "LINED RIGHT TO TEIXEIRA. What a break. One away." Moments later, "HIT ON THE GROUND RIGHT TO TEIXEIRA. THROWS HOME, OUT. LOOKS TO FIRST THATS ALL THEY'LL GET." I was now out of the chair and pacing once again. Could this really happen. Could David Robertson, a guy that had trouble holding 5 run 9th inning leads this summer, get out of a bases loaded no one out jam. "HIT IN THE AIR TO RIGHT WE'RE GONNA GET OUT OF IT. GARNDER IS THERE HE...MAKES THE CATCH TO END THE INNING." This night had been a wild roller coaster. I tasted victory. The heart of the order was due up in the bottom half. Teixeira stepped to the plate and worked the count to 2-1 in his favor. Then I would receiver the greatest birthday present I've ever gotten. "SWUNG ON LINED DOWN THE LEFT FIELD LINE IT IS...." For a moment my dad and I stood still, waiting to here either "fair, base hit" or "foul". I was shocked by what I heard coming through the radio. "GONE.......GONE!!!! IT'S A WALK OFF!!!!!!". I can't really describe the way I reacted, because I'm still not really sure what I did. I started crying. did a combination of dancing/shaking, and in general lost my mind like never before. I'll never forget that night and I'll forever be thankful to that team for the experience they gave me all spring/summer/fall. They went on to win the world series, there would be more memorable games along the way. Nothing like that night in the Bronx on October 9th, 2009. The night the 250 million dollar man finally became a legend. The night a 24 year old drafted in the 17th round by the Yankees got out of the biggest jam of his life in the most famous stadium in all of sports. David Robertson will never be an all star, but someday when he's an old man he can remind himself, that he played for the 2009 Yankees. A team that gave me more pure joy than any other sports team ever has. A team that got the job done despite overwhelming expectations. The 2009 Yankees weren't the 1927 Yankees, or the 76 Reds, but there's not a team that ever existed that I wouldn't bet on them to find a way to beat.