Yanks sweep to repeat

Ben Walker

Thursday, Oct. 28, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.

NEW YORK -- What a way to say goodbye to a century of baseball: one of the game's greatest pitchers wearing the pinstripes of its greatest team in the most storied ballpark of them all.

Roger Clemens validated his greatness. And so did the New York Yankees.

With Clemens pitching shutout ball into the eighth inning, the Yankees became the first team in 60 years to sweep consecutive World Series with a 4-1 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 Wednesday night.

"This must be what it's like to be a Yankee," said Clemens, who before the game gave a little pat to the monument honoring the most famous Yankee of them all, Babe Ruth. "This is what everybody said it was all about."

Clemens captured the only prize that had eluded him in his 16-year career as the Yankees won their record 25th championship and third in four seasons. They also won their 12th straight Series game, matching the mark set by their Murderers' Row teams.

"To do this on top of what we did last year, this is even better, I think," manager Joe Torre said. "We don't rest on our laurels. We went out and proved we belong here."

As did Clemens.

A five-time Cy Young winner with 247 lifetime victories, he had never won in the World Series. But that all changed once he arrived in the Bronx this spring in a trade for David Wells, a deal that Yankees fans disliked.

Booed at Yankee Stadium this year, Clemens went 14-10 with a 4.60 ERA and rarely showed the form that put him on the all-century team. But on a cool October night, he was in total command and, at 37 -- the same age John Elway was when he won his first Super Bowl -- earned his first ring.

Clemens walked off in the eighth to a huge ovation, tipping his hat and holding both arms high to acknowledge the cheers.

"It seemed like a perfect setup," Torre said. "I couldn't see it not happening tonight, not with the way his career had gone."

With the final out, Clemens bolted for the mound and, flanked by two of his sons, grabbed Torre in a bear hug that lasted a full minute.

Then, while his teammates were still dousing each other with champagne, Clemens sprinted back out to the field, climbed on the dugout roof and ran up and down, slapping every outstretched hand in the front row.

Clemens recalled seeing his teammates get their 1998 World Series rings in April, and being a bit envious.

"I was sitting there watching them receive them. They said, 'We're going to get you one,' " he said.

With raucous fans waving yellow, plastic brooms all over the ballpark, Clemens outdueled John Smoltz.

Mariano Rivera, who had two saves and a win in the Series, got Keith Lockhart on a fly ball to end it and was selected MVP.

"Everybody talked about last year, but this is unbelievable, back-to-back," he said.

Owner George Steinbrenner's team finished off a week in which it simply overwhelmed the club that had best record in the majors.

Along the way, the Yankees also:

* Became baseball's first repeat champion since Toronto in 1992-93.

* Posted the first set of consecutive Series sweeps since the Yankees in 1938-39. New York beat San Diego four straight last year, capping off a record 125-win season.

* Completed an incredible run in which they won 18 of 19 postseason games. The only loss came when Clemens was beaten by Pedro Martinez at Fenway Park 11 days earlier.

* Overcame a year of adversity, from Torre's prostate cancer in spring training to the death of outfielder Paul O'Neill's father early Wednesday. Scott Brosius and Luis Sojo also lost their fathers, Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio and Catfish Hunter died and Darryl Strawberry was beset by health and legal problems.

For Atlanta, the loss was its record-tying eighth straight in the Series, a string that began in 1996 against the Yankees.

"I think they think in their minds that they had a tremendous year with all the ballclub went through," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "They're disappointed just like I am."

After winning the title in 1995, the Braves had "Team of the 90s" engraved on their rings. Instead, they joined the New York Giants of 1910-19 as the only teams ever to lose four World Series in a decade.

"The best team won," Smoltz said. "The Yankees are head and shoulders above most when it comes to this time of the year. We lost to the best team, simply put.

"The Yankees are a model of how to win," he said.