The year was 1995 -- pre-dating the official start of the Yankees' renaissance. This was the pre-Joe Torre, pre-Derek Jeter, pre-rulers-of-the-baseball-universe era, back when the Bombers were just another team trying to climb the ladder of American League success.

Hard to imagine, isn't it, a time when the Yankees weren't so big and rich and so favored to win ... well, everything. But time hasn't entirely blurred the Bombers' devastating five-game loss to the Mariners in the AL Division Series in 1995, and how, to this day, it fuels the personal rivalry between George Steinbrenner and Lou Piniella.

	Mariano Rivera first appeared on the scene in a big way for the Yankees during the '95 Division Series against the Mariners.

The final game of that showdown -- indeed, the final innings -- changed the course of Yankee history. Buck Showalter was fired after the 6-5, 11-inning defeat, even though he'd delivered the Yankees to the postseason for the first time since 1981. Don Mattingly retired and David Cone never truly forgave himself for walking home the tying run in the eighth inning.

And just as significantly, the Yankees were offered their first glimpse of just how unhittable a young reliever named Mariano Rivera could be.

In retrospect, Game Five was a buffet table of drama and pain -- enough to reduce Showalter to tears. The manager was so overwhelmed, he'd forgotten to close the door to his office, making it impossible for passersby to ignore the sight of Showalter with his head on the desk, shoulders convulsing gently.

Perhaps Showalter knew his tenure with the Yankees was over. Perhaps Showalter sensed that Steinbrenner was serious when he stood in the middle of the clubhouse and coldly predicted, "there's going to be changes around here."

Gone, in just one game, was the momentum the Yankees had built in September, winning 25 of their last 31 games to qualify for the postseason as the wild-card representative. The Bombers then beat Seattle in Games 1 and 2 in the two largest crowds in the history of the new Yankee Stadium, and were just nine innings away from the ALCS.

But the Mariners took both Games 3 and 4, reducing the best-of-five ALDS to a one-game war. Cone was ready for the challenge, too: he struck out nine through seven innings, and carried a 4-2 lead into the eighth, before the Yankees began melting.

The final game of (the Yankees-Mariners) showdown -- indeed, the final innings -- changed the course of Yankee history. Buck Showalter was fired after the 6-5, 11-inning defeat, even though he'd delivered the Yankees to the postseason for the first time since 1981. Don Mattingly retired and David Cone never truly forgave himself for walking home the tying run in the eighth inning.

Junior Griffey homered to narrow the Yankees' lead to 4-3, before Cone retired Edgar Martinez for the second out. Incredibly, however, Cone allowed a single and walked three batters -- including Doug Strange with the bases loaded, tying the game at 4-4.

Cone's last pitch, his 147th of the night, was a 3-2 splitter that bounced in the dirt. Until the day he leaves this earth, Cone will wonder why he didn't throw a fastball to Strange, a .236 career hitter who hadn't swung at a single pitch in the at-bat.

As Cone later told reporters, "I rolled the dice and I came up short. I guess that's something I'm going to have to live with. I needed one more strike, and I couldn't throw it."

It took Rivera's arrival to temporarily smother the Mariners' rally -- striking out Mike Blowers on three pitches, officially launching his career in pinstripes -- but the damage had been done.

In the 11th, with the Yankees having taken a 5-4 lead on Randy Velarde's single off Randy Johnson, Showalter turned to Jack McDowell, not John Wetteland to finish off the M's. Why McDowell, who'd thrown 84 pitches only two days earlier, instead of Wetteland?

Because, clearly, Showalter had lost faith in Wetteland, after the right-hander had given up a grand slam to Edgar Martinez in Game 4. Showalter's gamble appeared to be paying off, as McDowell struck out Martinez and got Alex Rodriguez to ground out to short with runners on first and second in the ninth. And in the 10th, McDowell also stranded two runners.

But in the 11th, Joey Cora led off with a bunt single, followed by Griffey's single after which Martinez ended the game -- and the series -- with a line-drive double into the left-field corner.

At the crack of the bat, Griffey didn't just run, he sprinted.

He didn't just sprint, he flew.

He didn't just fly, he became a human blur.

The moment Griffey scored the Kingdome turned into America's largest asylum, touching off a celebration that lasted for nearly 30 minutes and could be heard all the way into the visitors' clubhouse.

That's where Yankees GM Gene Michael went from locker to locker, quietly thanking his players for what would eventually be seen as a breakthrough season for the Yankees.

"We have nothing to be ashamed of," Michael said.

"You're right, we did the best we could," Mattingly said, nodding.

It was an especially poignant moment considering Michael would be replaced by Bob Watson before the 1996 season, and Mattingly would never play another game in the big leagues.

Mattingly accepted the defeat with exceptional grace, perhaps because he'd excelled in the first and only postseason appearance of his Yankee career. The first baseman batted .417 with a home run, four doubles and six RBI, including a two-run double in the sixth inning of Game 5 that gave the Yankees their short-lived 4-2 lead.

"It was a great series, period," Mattingly later said. "It hurts not to move on. It'd be harder, though, if you knew you didn't give it everything. But we did. We definitely did."

Bob Klapisch of The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) covers baseball for ESPN.com.