By RONALD BLUM
.c The Associated Press, October
10
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Different Hernandez. Same result.
While October is becoming the family's favorite month, the Hernandezes are becoming the family Cleveland loves to hate.
Last year, Livan had the starring role, winning the MVP of the NL championship series and World Series as Florida won the title.
This time it was his half brother Orlando, who helped the New York Yankees even the AL championship series at two games apiece by pitching three-hit ball for seven shutout innings Saturday night in a 4-0 win over the Indians.
Oh, brother.
Well, half brother.
``The biggest game that I've pitched to this date is jumping on the boat and leaving Cuba,'' Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez said before the game.
That's fine, but as George Steinbrenner would say, the past is the ancient history and what have you done for me lately?
This is what ``El Duque'' did: He just about single-handedly saved the Yankees' season.
``Gut check time,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said. ``It's what happened the whole year for us -- the starting pitching. Hernandez was spectacular for us tonight.''
With the offense in a funk -- 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position in Game 4 and 4-for-33 (.121) since the first inning of the opener -- the Yankees practically needed a shutout.
He combined with Mike Stanton and Mariano Rivera to give them just that on the day before his 29th birthday.
He got into a two-on jam in the first, but got out of it when Jim Thome flied to the warning track in right. Hernandez then retired five straight before Kenny Lofton's third-inning double, and nine in a row after that. When the Indians had two on in the sixth, he fanned both Manny Ramirez and Thome to escape.
``Everybody jumped off the bench on that one,'' Torre said of Thome's inning-ending whiff. ``That was probably THE at-bat of the night for us.''
He seemed to disrupt the Indians' timing by repeatedly stepping off the pitching rubber and throwing lots of offspeed stuff. His high leg kick makes pitches difficult to pick up and he wound up striking out six.
``He made the pitches when he had to make them,'' Indians manager Mike Hargrove said. ``He made some tough 3-2 pitches to get our big hitters out in big situations.''
Livan, who led the Marlins past Cleveland with wins in Games 1 and 5 of last year's World Series, succeeds with blazers. Heat works in Florida; guile is better in the Bronx.
``El Duque'' was back in Cuba when Livan starred last October. He fled in December and when he signed with the Yankees in March, it looked like Steinbrenner was piling on: With David Cone, David Wells, Andy Pettitte and Hideki Irabu, it almost seemed unfair for the Yankees to add another quality starter.
He hadn't pitched since Sept. 25. After the first-round sweep of Texas, it seemed a No. 4 pitcher on the Yankees was as needed as tonsils. But Hernandez kept working.
``I trained as if I was still in the five-man rotation,'' he said. ``I worked hard in the bullpen. That's the reason I was able to pitch so well.''
With the season starting to slip away into Lake Erie, Hernandez showed up as the savior, ensuring a return trip to Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.
``As everyone knows, I've played in big games before in Cuba with the national teams. We've played in world championships,'' he said. ``Obviously I haven't played in a game of this magnitude in the major leagues, but I do have experience pitching in big games.''
AP-NY-10-10-98 2337EDT
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.