2001 New York Yankees season

The 2001 New York Yankees season was the 99th season for the Yankees. The team finished with a record of 95–65 finishing 13.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. New York was managed by Joe Torre. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium. Roger Clemens had sixteen straight wins, tying an American League mark shared by Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, Schoolboy Rowe, and Smoky Joe Wood. Clemens would finish the season with the AL Cy Young Award and become the first pitcher to win six Cy Young Awards.
Another chapter was written in the story of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry when, on September 2, 2001, Mike Mussina came within one strike of a perfect game before surrendering a bloop single to Carl Everett. This was Mussina's third time taking a perfect game to or beyond the 8th inning. Coincidentally, it would have been the 3rd perfect game in for the Yankees in a span of 4 seasons and could have been the 4th perfect game in franchise history.
In the emotional times of the fall of 2001 in New York City, following the September 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center, the Yankees defeated the Oakland A's three games to two in the ALDS, and then the Seattle Mariners, who had won 116 games, four games to one in the ALCS. By winning the pennant for a fourth straight year, the 1998–2001 Yankees joined the 1921–1924 New York Giants, and the Yankee teams of 1936–1939, 1949–1953, 1955–1958 and 1960–1964 as the only dynasties to reach at least four straight pennants. The Yankees had now won eleven consecutive postseason series over a four-year period. However, the Yankees lost the World Series in a dramatic 7-game series to the Arizona Diamondbacks, when Yankees star closer Mariano Rivera uncharacteristically lost the lead – and the Series – in the bottom of the ninth inning of the final game. With the loss, this marked the second time in five years that a team lost the World Series after taking a lead into the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7.
Despite the loss in the series, Derek Jeter provided one bright spot. Despite a very poor series overall, batting under.200, he got the nickname, "Mr. November", for his walk-off home run in Game 4, though it began October 31, as the game ended in the first minutes of November 1. In calling the home run, Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay said "See ya! See ya! See ya! A home run for Derek Jeter! He is Mr. November! Oh what a home run by Derek Jeter!" He said this after noticing a fan's sign that said "Mr. November".
Also, during the emotional times following the attacks, Yankee Stadium played host to a memorial service, just before the Yankees played their first home game following the attacks. The service was titled "Prayer for America".

Offseason

November 21, 2000: Joe Oliver was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
November 30, 2000: Mike Mussina was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
December 7, 2000: Dwight Gooden signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
December 7, 2000: Luis Sojo was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
December 11, 2000: Brandon Knight was drafted by the Minnesota Twins from the New York Yankees in the 2000 rule 5 draft.
February 15, 2001: Henry Rodriguez was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
March 21, 2001: Drew Henson was traded by the Cincinnati Reds with Michael Coleman to the New York Yankees for Wily Mo Pena.
March 28, 2001: Glenallen Hill was traded by the New York Yankees to the Anaheim Angels for Darren Blakely.
March 28, 2001: Brandon Knight was returned by the Minnesota Twins to the New York Yankees.
March 30, 2001: Brandon Knight was released by the New York Yankees.

Notable transactions

April 1, 2001: Brandon Knight was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
June 5, 2001: John Ford Griffin was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1st round of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 14, 2001.
June 5, 2001: Bronson Sardinha was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1st round of the 2001 amateur draft. Player signed June 13, 2001.
June 19, 2001: Henry Rodríguez was released by the New York Yankees.
June 20, 2001: Joe Oliver was released by the New York Yankees.
July 4, 2001: Bobby Estalella was traded by the San Francisco Giants with Joe Smith to the New York Yankees for Brian Boehringer.
July 30, 2001: Sterling Hitchcock was traded by the San Diego Padres to the New York Yankees for Brett Jodie and Darren Blakely.
August 31, 2001: Randy Velarde was traded by the Texas Rangers to the New York Yankees for players to be named later. The New York Yankees sent Randy Flores and Rosman Garcia to the Texas Rangers to complete the trade.

Season summary

Detailed records

Month	Games	Won	Lost	Win %
April	26	14	12		131	116
May	25	15	10		120	99
June	27	16	11		147	125
July	28	19	9		158	132
August	29	15	14		141	141
September	18	12	6		83	77
October	7	4	3		24	23
Total	160	95	65		804	713

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos.	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
C	Jorge Posada	138	484	59	134	22	95	.277	2
1B	Tino Martinez	154	589	89	165	34	113	.280	1
2B	Alfonso Soriano	158	574	77	154	18	73	.268	43
3B	Scott Brosius	120	428	57	123	13	49	.287	3
SS	Derek Jeter	150	614	110	191	21	74	.311	27
LF	Chuck Knoblauch	137	521	66	130	9	44	.250	38
CF	Bernie Williams	146	540	102	166	26	94	.307	11
RF	Paul O'Neill	137	510	77	136	21	70	.267	22
DH	David Justice	111	381	58	92	18	51	.241	1

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	SB
Erick Almonte	8	4	0	2	0	0	.500	2
Clay Bellinger	51	81	12	13	5	12	.160	1
Darren Bragg	5	4	1	1	0	0	.250	0
Michael Coleman	12	38	5	8	1	7	.211	0
Bobby Estalella	3	4	1	0	0	0	.000	0
Todd Greene	35	96	9	20	1	11	.208	0
Nick Johnson	23	67	6	13	2	8	.194	0
Donzell McDonald	5	3	0	1	0	0	.333	0
Joe Oliver	12	36	3	9	1	2	.250	0
Robert Pérez	6	15	1	4	0	0	.267	0
Juan Rivera	3	4	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Henry Rodríguez	5	8	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Scott Seabol	1	1	0	0	0	0	.000	0
Luis Sojo	39	79	5	13	0	9	.165	1
Shane Spencer	80	283	40	73	10	46	.258	4
Randy Velarde	15	46	4	7	0	1	.152	2
Gerald Williams	38	47	12	8	0	2	.170	3
Enrique Wilson	48	99	10	24	1	12	.242	0

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; CG = Complete games; SO = Strikeouts; BB = Walks allowed

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	CG	SO	BB
Mike Mussina	34	228.2	17	11	3.15	4	214	42
Roger Clemens	33	220.1	20	3	3.51	0	213	72
Andy Pettitte	31	200.2	15	10	3.99	2	164	41
Ted Lilly	26	120.2	5	6	5.37	0	112	51
Orlando Hernández	17	94.2	4	7	4.85	0	77	42
Randy Keisler	10	50.2	1	2	6.22	0	36	34
Sterling Hitchcock	10	51.1	4	4	6.49	1	28	18
Christian Parker	1	3.0	0	1	21.00	0	1	1
Brett Jodie	1	2.0	0	1	27.00	0	0	1

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Adrián Hernández	6	22.0	0	3	3.68	10

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts; BB = Walks allowed

Player	G	IP	W	L	SV	ERA	SO	BB
Mariano Rivera	71	80.2	4	6	50	2.34	83	12
Mike Stanton	76	80.1	9	4	0	2.58	78	29
Ramiro Mendoza	56	100.2	8	4	6	3.75	70	23
Randy Choate	37	48.1	3	1	0	3.35	35	27
Jay Witasick	32	40.1	3	0	0	4.69	53	18
Mark Wohlers	31	35.2	1	0	0	4.54	33	18
Brian Boehringer	22	34.2	0	1	1	3.12	33	12
Todd Williams	15	15.1	1	0	0	4.70	13	9
Carlos Almanzar	10	10.2	0	1	0	3.38	6	2
Brandon Knight	4	10.2	0	0	0	10.13	7	3