30 years ago, Pettitte got redemption with World Series masterpiece

Thirty years ago today – Oct. 24, 1996 – Andy Pettitte pitched one of the greatest games in Yankees history, outdueling John Smoltz and beating the Braves, 1-0, in Game 5 of the 1996 World Series at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. It gave New York a 3-2 series lead and put it on the doorstep of its first World Series championship in nearly two decades.

The funny thing is that it came just four days after Pettitte pitched one of the worst games in Yankees history. Pettitte was shelled in Game 1, coughing up seven runs over 2 1/3 innings of a 12-1 loss to the Braves, who were seeking their second straight championship.

“It crushed me,” Pettitte, now 54, told MLB.com in a phone interview. “Just feeling like I had just lost the World Series for us in Game 1.”

Pettitte found out he was starting the first game of the World Series on the plane ride home from Baltimore, where Pettitte started and won the American League Championship Series clincher, 6-4 over the Orioles on Oct. 13.

It was a big vote of confidence from manager Joe Torre. But Pettitte, in just his second big league season, couldn’t keep the moment from overcoming him.

With almost a week between the ALCS and the World Series, Pettitte’s mind raced with imaginary expectations, like throwing a shutout in front of the rowdy New York fans. Instead of remembering what got him there, his perceived responsibility ran him to a far-off place.

“I just didn’t do a great job of separating, checking my emotions on it,” Pettitte said. “I just made the World Series out to be more than what I should have. My thought process was all messed up, and it was literally just like the whole game got sped up on me.”

When Greg Maddux and the Braves shut out the Yankees, 4-0, in Game 2, Pettitte’s heart sank even deeper.

But as the Yankees began to claw back into the series, Pettitte readied himself for redemption.

A bounceback 5-2 Yankees win in Game 3 was followed by an epic 8-6, 10-inning comeback win in Game 4 that was highlighted by Jim Leyritz’s momentum-shifting home run in the eighth off Mark Wohlers. With the series knotted at 2-2, the ball once again went to Pettitte, who was determined not to have a repeat performance.

“This time, I was just more prepared,” Pettitte said. “All I was asking for was another chance. This can’t be how my season ends after the year that I had. All that drove me to be ultra motivated and ready to pitch this game and not allow it to get away from me emotionally again.”

Pettitte knew in the minutes leading up to Game 5 that he was in a much better head space than he was four days earlier.

“I just remember from the get-go, I had such a great calmness about me and such great peace,” Pettitte recalled. “It was one of those games when I got into a rhythm and I was able to just slow the whole game down.”

Pettitte and Smoltz traded zeros for the first three innings before the Yankees scored an unearned run in the fourth when Cecil Fielder doubled in Charlie Hayes to take a 1-0 lead.

From the second inning on, the Braves put a runner on base in every frame, but Pettitte snuffed out the rally each time. His trademark look of focus – his steely eyes peering through that tiny slit between the top of his glove and the brim of his cap – made it clear this outing was different than the last.

In the sixth inning, the Braves put their first two men on base only to have Pettitte foil them by barehanding Mark Lemke’s sacrifice bunt attempt and forcing out Smoltz at third base. Pettitte then got Chipper Jones on a comebacker for an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play.

“Everything was just syncing up and moving well,” Pettitte said. “It was just one of those nights where you felt like you weren’t going to give anything up, and it’s obviously a really good feeling.”

After eight scoreless innings, Torre let the 6-foot-5 left-hander bat for himself in the top of the ninth. Standing in the on-deck circle, Pettitte kept peeking over his shoulder for the pinch-hitter that never came.

“Then I’m like, ‘They’re going to let me finish this thing,’” Pettitte laughed.

After flying out to end the inning, Pettitte went to work in the bottom of the ninth, clinging to that 1-0 lead. The first two batters set to face him were Jones and Fred McGriff.

Braves owner Ted Turner, sitting in his field box, flipped his Braves hat on its side, and the rally cap worked right away as Jones roped a double to left to lead things off, then moved to third when McGriff grounded out. With the tying run 90 feet away, Torre went to closer John Wetteland.

Wetteland worked around an intentional walk to get the final two outs. Right fielder Paul O’Neill, nursing a sore hamstring, raced into the gap to spear Luis Polonia's long drive for the final out, smacking the outfield wall in celebration.

Just four days after thinking he’d cost his team the World Series, Pettitte earned the win with 8 1/3 scoreless innings. Two days later, New York won Game 6, 3-2, at Yankee Stadium to capture its first championship since 1978.

For Pettitte – who would go on to help the Yankees win World Series titles in 1998, ‘99, 2000 and ‘09 – the personal redemption is something he would remember forever.

“Game 5 for me was the hallmark of my career, because I could always go back to that,” Pettitte said. “I gave up seven runs and got booed off the mound in Game 1. You couldn't feel any worse, you couldn’t do any worse. And then to know that I could always pull it back together and deliver in the next outing, I carried that with me the rest of my career.”