This Time Around, It's Unheralded Hairston Jr. Casting Yankee Magic Spell

NEW YORK -- For all the money the Yankees spent on free agents and a new stadium, somewhere they acquired a big sack of karma.

(Just what they needed, right?)

There is so much late-inning magic floating around the Yankees it can rub off on anyone. Even Alex Rodriguez. Even Jerry Hairston Jr.

After waiting around for five hours, Hairston became the ALCS-record 21st player used by the Yankees in Saturday's Game 2 against the Angels. And he scored the winning run.

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"I've been on teams where we hoped to win," said Hairston, who came over from the Reds in a July 31 trade. "Here we expect to win. And that's a big difference."

Maybe that explains Rodriguez's game-tying, 11th-inning homer on an awful 0-2 pitch from Brian Fuentes. And how Hairston came off the bench to single off Ervin Santana and, after going to second on a bunt, scored when Angels second baseman Maicer Izturis threw wildly to second on a force attempt.

Hairston has bloodlines, but he doesn't have the paycheck stubs of Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira. And he doesn't have the postseason experience of Mariano Rivera or Derek Jeter.

In fact, Hairston finished the regular season with the 12th-most career games of any active player not to reach the playoffs. His brother Scott (of the A's) has also never reached the postseason, nor did his grandfather Sammy (who played for the 1951 White Sox after a Negro Leagues career). Jerry Hairston Sr. got three ALCS at-bats for the 1983 White Sox.

"I grew up in Chicago," Jerry Jr. said, dabs of whipped cream still on his jersey from A.J. Burnett's traditional walk-off pie in the face. "I saw Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen always celebrating. I saw the Bears celebrating. I always wanted to do that."

Instead he went from the Orioles to the Cubs to the Rangers to the Reds, and the closest he got to the playoffs was working for various media outlets as an October analyst.

This year, as the Yankees were on their way to remarkable totals of 15 walk-off and 50 come-from-behind wins, Hairston was watching from Cincinnati.

"Man, you guys have a lot of fun," he would think.

He would get his chance to join in.

In the 11th inning of Game 2, Hairston was swinging a bat in the stairwell leading from the Yankees dugout to the clubhouse, ready to pinch hit for Freddy Guzman if Rodriguez didn't reach leading off the inning.

Then A-Rod ripped his opposite-field homer, and Hairston was back on the bench.


Because he can play infield and outfield, he knew that in case of injury, "I'd be the last guy."

His chance came leading off in the bottom of the 13th. Hairston had already taken about 50 practice swings, going to the indoor batting cage in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth innings.

"The facilities we've got here, it's pretty easy to stay warm," said Hairston, a career .154 pinch hitter.

And before he lined Santana's 1-1 pitch to center, he thought about his family.

"I've been waiting for this my whole life," Hairston said. "My grandfather never got this opportunity, and I told myself, I'm just going to enjoy it. What would he say to me right now? He'd say, 'Hit the ball hard somewhere.'

"My father was a great pinch hitter the latter part of his career. One thing he always stressed was try to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard somewhere. And if you do that, your job's done."

After Brett Gardner's bunt and an intentional walk of Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera hit a grounder to Izturis. He decided to go for the double play, but his quick throw to shortstop Erick Aybar was wide of the bag.

Hairston had rounded third and stopped when he saw the ball get past Aybar and took off for home. Third baseman Chone Figgins might have had a shot to throw out Hairston at the plate, but -- keeping with the Angels' inept play this series -- he fumbled the ball trying to pick it up.

"I've been waiting for this my whole life. My grandfather never got this opportunity, and I told myself, I'm just going to enjoy it. What would he say to me right now? He'd say, 'Hit the ball hard somewhere.' "
-- Jerry Hairston Jr. He didn't bother throwing home, but Hairston had no way of knowing.

"It seemed I'd never got to home plate," Hairston said.

The heroics of Hairston and Rodriguez -- who hit the third extra-inning, game-tying homer in postseason history, joining Billy Hatcher (1986 NLCS) and Albert Belle (1985 ALDS) -- made up for three errors and 10 walks by Yankee pitchers and an 0-for-8 performance with men in scoring position.

"When Al hit that game-tying home run," Hairston said, "we knew something special was going to happen."

But who would make it happen?

Well, in the 12th inning, Yankees assistant video coordinator Anthony Flynn looked at Hairston and invoked the name of a Yankees utility man who once came through with a big postseason hit.

"Luis Sojo."

Hairston just smiled.

"When I came up with the Orioles," Hairston said, "I saw the great Yankees teams. Obviously you had superstars, but it was the Scott Brosiuses, Jim Leyritz -- those type of guys. Enrique Wilson. Luis Sojo.

"Those are the type of guys that made positive [contributions] and helped win championships. Fortunately I got an opportunity tonight, and it was fun."

In the locker next to Hairston's, across the large Yankees clubhouse from the A-Rod/Jeter/Posada high-rent district, is Dave Robertson. He was the eighth Yankees pitcher, and he got the win by surviving 1 1/3 innings in which he stranded four runners (the Angels left 16 total). "Just get three outs and give your [offensive] guys a chance," Robertson said. "With this lineup, you really don't know who it's going to be.

"It turned out Jerry got it today."