Buck Showalter's postseason bullpen management created the "Joe Torre Era"

It was Game 5, 1995 ALDS, Yanks-Seattle. Joel Sherman recounts in "Birth of a Dynasty," which begins with the words: "What if Buck Showalter had known?"

• "Now in a win-or-go home Game 5 at Seattle's Kingdome, (David) Cone had uncovered enough outs in the mighty Mariners' lineup to carry a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the 8th.

But the cost was 120 pitches, the strain robbing him of a few miles per hour on his fastball, the bite on his breaking stuff, and overall precision.

• YET NO ONE WAS WARMING UP IN THE YANKEE BULLPEN. NOT YET, ANYWAY. THE MANAGER TRUSTED NONE OF HIS RELIEVERS.....RANDY JOHNSON UP IN THE MARINER BULLPEN. NO ONE UP IN THE YANKEE BULLPEN.

WHAT IF BUCK SHOWALTER HAD KNOWN?"

• ...(Mariner Edgar Martinez, "torturing" Yankee pitching): "In Game 4 alone he hit a 3-run homer off Kamieniecki to erase much of that early 5-0 Yankee lead, and

he had clubbed an 8th inning GRAND SLAM TO STRAIGHTAWAY CENTER OFF JOHN WETTELAND TO BREAK A 6-6 TIE, assure a Game 5, and establish in Showalter's mind that his closer was not to be trusted in this decisive matchup.

• But, Showalter could simply have bypassed Wetteland and turned to the only reliever who had performed well in this series for the Yankees.
• He could have turned to his own freak of nature.
• Only he did not yet know that Mariano Rivera was a freak of nature.

Somebody in the ballpark did know: a 21 year old who was present in the Kingdome on a "watch, but don't talk" basis. "A lot of people didn't know that, not just Buck," Derek Jeter recalls. "But I knew it from the minor leagues. I knew what Mariano could do.""

• From "Birth of a Dynasty," by Joel Sherman, pgs. 1,3. The story of the 1996 Yankees, published in 2006 by Rodale.

P.S. Mariano appeared in 3 games in the 1995 ALDS. Game 2, where he got the Win for 3.1 scoreless extra innings; Game 3 and Game 5 appearances were not involved in decisions. His series ERA was 0.00.

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