PHOENIX -- There were the thousands of cameras flashing on every pitch Randy Johnson threw to Derek Jeter with two outs in the top of the ninth.

	Bernie Williams wasn't the only Yankee to put up an 0-for-3 against Randy Johnson.

There were the white towels waving as Matt Williams rounded the bases after his three-run homer in the seventh.

There were chants of "U-S-A, U-S-A" following Ray Charles' stirring rendition of "America the Beautiful" before the game.

But if we can isolate one moment from Game 2 of the World Series that tells the story it was Bernie Williams' strikeout leading off the second inning.

Williams worked the count to three balls, two strikes, never taking the bat off his shoulder. Johnson came in with his patented slider -- Mr. Nasty as they used to call it in Seattle -- and Williams again took the pitch.

It looked low. Heck, it was low, below his knees. But home-plate umpire Mark Hirschbeck, who is known for his pitcher-friendly strike zone, rung up the Yankees' center fielder. The normally stoic Williams, never one to argue much with the umps, turned around and got into Hirschbeck's face for several seconds. From the dugout, manager Joe Torre yelled, "C'mon!"

No doubt about it. This would be a long night for the Yankees.

And it was. Johnson pitched one of the great games in World Series history, pitching a three-hitter and striking out 11. He tossed the first complete-game shutout in the World Series since Curt Schilling, then with Philadelphia, blanked Toronto in Game 5 of the 1993 Series. The three hits allowed were the fewest since Orel Hershiser also fired a three-hitter, for the Dodgers against the A's in Game 2 in 1988.

Williams glared and groaned again in the third inning, when another low slider was called a strike to make the count 2-2. He grounded out to shortstop on a 3-2 pitch. Williams beefed again in the seventh, when Hirschbeck called strike two on an inside slider. Williams wasn't the only Yankee to complain visibly about Hirschbeck's strike zone. Scott Brosius was rung up in the eighth and didn't hide his emotions, yelling loudly as he stormed back to the dugout.

"From the dugout side, you can only really see high and low, and I thought early in the game a couple of pitches to Bernie were down," said Torre. "You can't tell with Brosius because that's the in-and-out and you cannot see that from the side."

However, Torre wasn't calling out Hirschbeck.

"I think Mark was consistent tonight and the last thing we're going to do is blame an umpire for our performance," he said.

Indeed, the strike zone was only one factor in Johnson's dominance. Part of it came from New York's willingness to take a lot of pitches, especially early in the game. But Johnson was firing strikes and fanned seven of the first nine hitters he faced. Through three innings, the Yankees had taken 26 of the 39 pitches he had thrown.

"To be honest, I don't know what their approach was," Johnson said. "Early in the game, I thought they were working the count, trying to get me to throw pitches and maybe get me out of the game."

That didn't work either, as Johnson continued to throw strikes -- 76 out of his final tally of 110 pitches were strikes. In fact, that efficiency had the Yankees groaning as much as Hirschbeck's strike zone did. Including the postseason, Johnson has thrown fewer than 110 pitches in a game just eight times in 39 appearances -- and none of those eight lasted more than seven innings. His most efficient effort of the season had been a 112-pitch shutout over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 13.

But the Pittsburgh Pirates are hardly the New York Yankees.

Oh, the Yankees did try to adjust. As Johnson said, "Later in the game, when I started getting some groundballs they were swinging earlier in the count, and it was actually efficient for me because I got some double plays."

But the adjustments didn't work. Not on this night. Not when Johnson aligned his name just below Don Larsen, Bob Gibson, Ed Walsh and Jack Morris with one of the most dominant World Series efforts ever.

And not when he may have had a little help from the home-plate umpire.

Just ask Bernie Williams.

Greatest World Series performances
Using the Game Score method (see below for scoring method), Randy Johnson's Game 2 outing ranks as one of the most dominating in World Series history. Here are the World Series performances that "scored" at 90 or higher:
Pitcher	Team	Year	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	GS
Babe Ruth	Red Sox	1916	14	6	1	3	4	97
Don Larsen	Yankees	1956	9	0	0	0	7	94
Ed Walsh	W. Sox	1906	9	2	0	1	12	94
Bob Gibson	Cardinals	1968	9	5	0	1	17	93
Randy Johnson	D-Backs	2001	9	3	0	1	11	91
Bill Dinneen	Red Sox	1903	9	3	0	2	11	90
George Earnshaw	Phi. A's	1930	9	2	0	1	8	90
Monte Pearson	Yankees	1939	9	2	0	1	8	90
Method: Start with 50. Add one point for each out recorded, one point for each strikeout, and two points for each inning completed after the fourth. Subtract one point for each walk, two points for each hit, four points for each run and two points for each unearned run.

David Schoenfield is the baseball editor at ESPN.com.