New York – Pictures decorate Shawn Chacon’s locker at Yankee Stadium. His sons Andre and Taten smile back at visitors.
Amid the empty boxes, jerseys for his kids and scattered shoes sits a Tumble Time Tigger stuffed animal.
The scene’s hidden meaning was inescapable after the New York Yankees’ 3-2 victory over the Angels on Sunday night in an American League division series.
Asked to save the Yankees’ season yet again, Chacon made the biggest game of his life look like child’s play. He toyed with the Angels, peppering them with a sinker that broke bats and a curveball that locked knees, forcing a series-deciding game tonight in Anaheim.
“What I had done up to this point mattered, but it really wouldn’t have if I didn’t perform (Sunday),” Chacon said. “Nothing else would have been important. People always remember your last game, and I didn’t want it to be a playoff loss.”
That statement, as much as any, spoke volumes about Chacon’s remarkable journey. Six months ago, he was battling a hamstring injury and fighting for a Rockies rotation spot. With the pulse of a $203 million team growing faint, he turned in an outing worthy of baseball’s most famous franchise.
Chacon’s final line: 6 1/3 innings, two runs, four hits, five strikeouts, 87 pitches.
“I am not surprised, because the pressure hasn’t seemed to affect him since he got here,” said shortstop Derek Jeter, whose groundball drove in the winning run. “His confidence is high.”
There was a collage of images with which to frame this game – John Lackey holding the Yankees hitless until the fifth inning, heavy-footed Jorge Posada barreling home in the seventh inning, Mariano Rivera closing the blinds for six outs.
“There’s no stopping now,” Rivera said.
The most enduring, at least for those watching in Colorado, was likely Chacon’s exit.
He messed up endings in 2004, miscast as a closer whom the hometown fans turned against. On this cool fall evening, Chacon left to 56,226 people clapping in unison. He doffed his cap as he neared the dugout.
“I wanted to show how much I appreciated their support,” he said.
Once the battery of reporters left, Chacon, 8-3 with the Yankees after going 1-7 with the Rockies, admitted feeling a sense of redemption, if not vindication. As a Rockie, playing 45 minutes from where he grew up, Chacon never felt at home.
“It was like people thought I was on scholarship, that the only reason I was in the big leagues was because I was from there,” Chacon said. “I didn’t feel respected other than by teammates, my family and my friends. It was like people wanted me to fail.”
Chacon, by his own admission, inspired some of the skepticism. He was injured and inconsistent. Ultimately, Rockies owner Charlie Monfort felt Chacon wouldn’t be worth next year’s salary and that he needed a change of scenery.
As settings go, it’s hard to top Yankee Stadium in October.
“I could never be mad. They did me a favor,” Chacon said. “It’s up to me to make the most of this opportunity, but maybe for just a second people realized that I am a little better than they thought I was.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5447 or trenck@denverpost.com.
