They left The Bronx a bruised and battered team, with not even a day to recover.
Their hitters weren't hitting, their pitchers weren't pitching and their fans, at least the ones who weren't running around the bases, were booing.With all that had gone right this season for the New York Yankees, surely it wasn't supposed to end this way, was it?
Tonight, thanks to one of the more amazing turnarounds in baseball history, the Yankees will be back home, trying to win the World Series in Game 6 against the defending champion Atlanta Braves.
"We embarrassed ourselves the first two games in New York," catcher Joe Girardi said. "Whatever was written about us was well deserved because we stunk.
"Now look at us. I wouldn't say this is destiny, because I don't believe in it. But there's a purpose we're here."
Coming off three straight wins at Atlanta, the Yankees return with a 3-2 lead and will try to clinch their first championship since 1978 when Jimmy Key faces Greg Maddux of the Braves.
If the Series goes to the first Game 7 at Yankee Stadium since 1957, it would be New York's David Cone against Tom Glavine.
Atlanta overcame a 3-1 deficit against St. Louis in the NL championship series as John Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine helped hold the Cardinals to only one run in the final three games.
But the Braves, who beat Cleveland last October and now hope to become the first NL team to win consecutive titles since Cincinnati's Big Red Machine in 1975-76, realize this is a resilient bunch of Yankees.
"You look at the Yankees and you see some intangibles that you like," Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone said. "Maybe you see some positive things that you didn't see with Cleveland last year."
Maybe it's the key hits. AL championship series hero Bernie Williams is only 2-for-20 against Atlanta, although it was his RBI single in the first inning of Game 3 that gave the Yankees their first lead of the series and allowed them to relax.
Perhaps it's the pitching. Andy Pettitte and John Wetteland were
able to work around a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth Thursday night, preserving a 1-0 win.
Possibly it's the fielding. Darryl Strawberry, playing on a broken toe, ran back to catch Jeff Blauser's drive at the wall in the eighth in Game 5 and sore-legged Paul O'Neill cut over to grab Luis Polonia's bid for a winning, two-run double for the final out.
The only run scored in that game came as the result of a misplay by the Atlanta outfield, with four-time Gold Glover Marquis Grissom - who made only one error during the regular season - dropping a fly ball for a two-base error after rookie right fielder Jermaine Dye mistakenly cut in front of him.
"The World Series is different from the regular season," Strawberry said. "Marquis Grissom will probably never miss a ball like that again."
Or maybe it's the steady resolve of manager Joe Torre, who would not let his team get down when it looked like it was nearly out.
Whatever, that combination of factors has the Yankees in position to become only the third team to win the World Series after losing the first two games at home. The 1986 New York Mets and 1985 Kansas City Royals also pulled off such comebacks.
"That's why this is my favorite sporting event," Blauser said. "If fans can't enjoy this, there's something wrong. But the emotions run high for us. When you lose, it's very draining. Our assignment's tough. But we know what it is."
Not since 1979 has a team managed to win Game 6 and Game 7 on the road in the Series. That year, it was the "We Are Family" Pittsburgh Pirates who did it at Baltimore.
Atlanta will attempt to do it against a Yankees club that has enjoyed most of its postseason success away from New York. The Yankees were 8-0 on the road this October, but are only 2-4 at home.
Overall this year, the Yankees went a combined 18-0 at Atlanta, Baltimore and Cleveland against three of best home-field teams in baseball.
Hard to believe, considering the Yankees looked inept in being outscored 16-1 by the Braves in the first two games this week.
"It's funny," Cone said. "We were props in the World Series for the first two games. Now we've had two classic games back-to-back. One offensive and one defense."