Game 5: Yankees 3, Diamondbacks 2
If you're a Diamondback, you may have just played in the greatest back-to-back World Series games ever. You look around as you board the charter home knowing Miguel Batista pitched out his soul, that Rod Barajas threw out a runner and homered, that Craig Counsell made four great plays at second, and that Mike Morgan -- who is older than the Organization of American States -- came in and pitched brilliantly for two innings.

You know it should be over.

But you know one of those helicopters circling the Bronx must have Frank Sinatra aboard, that he is always hovering for that moment that never sleeps. Wednesday, two out, one on, 3-1 ... Tino Martinez off Byung-Hyun Kim.

Thursday, after Mike Mussina got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the eighth and Greg Swindell got out of the bottom of the inning, Kim warmed again to finish off Batista's 2-0 shutout. As he warmed up, Yankee fans near the bullpen held up signs that read, "Kim For MVP."

And these fans just never stopped dancing. Talk about soul. There was the World Series, and there was the last home game for a man who -- Okay, if Lou Gehrig was The Pride of the Yankees -- Paul O'Neill is The Soul of these Yankees, and it was his last game at The Stadium. As is one of the game's most fascinating traditions, the entire crowd rose for his third at-bat which is always preceded by The Who's classic "Baba O'Riley," and the standing roar of the 56,000 giving O'Neill back his passion actually made the ballpark shake. Then in the top of the ninth, with O'Neill possibly in right field for the last time, the crowd stood and chanted his name for the entire inning.

He clearly was fighting back the tears; his sister Molly broke down and sobbed. When he reached the dugout, he finally doffed his cap, and the entire borough of the Bronx shook.

And then, poor Kim. One out, one on, he struck out Chuck Knoblauch for the second out just as he'd K'd Bernie Williams the night before. But Scott Brosius, who barely missed a homer off Kim on Wednesday, rocked him again.

Two nights. Two two-out, game-tying, two-run homers. Mark Grace ran in and embraced Kim, but what had happened twice in a century happened twice in 24 hours.

And Metallica's "Sandman" introduced Mariano Rivera.

As Morgan shut down the Yankees, Rivera ran into trouble in the 11th. Danny Bautista entered the game for Luis Gonzalez for defense in the ninth, but Bob Brenly's hitter of choice against the Sandman singled to center. Erubiel Durazo broke his bat and looped a single. A bunt, and a walk to Steve Finley later, and the bases were loaded.

Rivera blew two pitches past Reggie Sanders, but with two strikes Sanders hit what looked to be a line drive single through the middle. Out of nowhere, Alfonso Soriano dove and stabbed it.

And in the 12th, it was the battle of the deadline pickups. Sterling Hitchcock, 1-2-3. Easy inning.

Albie Lopez? Knoblauch first pitch rope into center.

Bunt.

Soriano then drilled his line drive into right. Sanders made a good play and fired a seed, but the short hop got away from Barajas. You see, when Frank's helicopter is circling, Jorge Posada gets the short hops, Barajas does not. And it was over at 12:40 local time, the same hour Carlton Fisk won a certain game in the 12th inning 26 years ago.

And they danced. "New York, New York" just kept playing and playing and in the greatest sports arena in the world they just danced and danced -- old men, kids, beautiful redheads ...

They should be spoiled after this run, but Derek Jeter and Tino and the original cast always come leaping over that railing, and the fans never stop enjoying it the way they do in places like Atlanta, where baseball is not the beginning and the end.

But at The Stadium, they do get it. When Brosius came to the plate, the entire crowd was up, as if they felt Frank's helicopter hovering. The only thing that could have been better theater was for O'Neill to come up with two on and two out in that 12th inning and carve the game-winning hit, but he preferred it this way because he didn't have to talk about himself.

If you're a Diamondback, you just experienced baseball at its greatest. And in the next two days, you've got a couple of starting pitchers in whose games you're 58-22.