It was a game so good, so dramatic and so instantly a part of World Series lore that there really should have been a simulcast on ESPN Classic.

We had 20-game winner Curt Schilling throwing gas on three days' rest and El Duque matching him much of the way. We had close plays at the plate, home runs into the upper deck and managerial moves to question and second-guess. We had the expansion Diamondbacks silencing a raucus Yankee Stadium crowd with two runs in the eighth and we had Tino Martinez removing the wood stake and cloves of garlic from the Yankees' body with a two-out, two-run, ninth-inning, game-tying, series-defining home run.

Well, there's nothing like thinking three games ahead in the World Series. Perhaps if Schilling's pitch count gets too high in Game 7, Brenly can yank him so that he'll be nice and rested for the Cactus League opener.

And by the time Game 4 of the World Series stretched into its second month and 10th delicious inning, we not only had heard Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard's venerable voice as he said, "Now pitching for the Diamondbacks, Byung-Hyun Kim," we met our first Mr. November, Derek Jeter, whose two-out homer down the right-field line won the game 4-3 and evened the series at 2-2.

Cue, Frank Sinatra.

Of course, had Arizona's Bob Brenly managed a little differently, Jeter never would have been in position for a group hug at home plate. With a chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead, Brenly gave away outs with bunt-happy little ball early in the game and made his closer throw more pitches than made sense late in the game.

And Brenly had begun the game's decisions so well by starting Schilling on three days' rest. After beating New York in Game 1, Schilling pitched seven more exceptional innings, allowing only one run and three hits while striking out nine. Brenly yanked him after the Diamondbacks took a 3-1 lead in the eighth inning.

Brenly admitted that by taking Schilling out in the eighth, he was partly thinking ahead toward Game 7 and wanted to keep the right-hander strong in case he was needed. Well, there's nothing like thinking three games ahead in the World Series. Perhaps if Schilling's pitch count gets too high in Game 7, Brenly can yank him so he'll be nice and rested for the Cactus League opener.

"I told (Brenly) I had at least another inning in me," said Schilling, who threw 88 pitches. "He decided to go with BK and that's what he's done all season and it's worked. And in the eighth inning, it looked like an incredibly sound decision."

That's because Kim struck out the side in the eighth. But he also threw 18 pitches, going to a full count on all three batters, and he threw many more before Martinez stepped to the plate with two outs in the ninth and a New York winter looking very close indeed with the Yankees dangerously close to going down 3-1 in the series.

One pitch from Kim and one Martinez blast into the seats later, winter seemed much further off.

"It seemed surreal at first, like it didn't really happen," Arizona catcher Damian Miller said of Martinez's homer. "I couldn't believe it happened. That's probably the loudest I've ever heard a stadium."

Would Kim have served up the home run had he not pitched the eighth inning? Perhaps the eighth inning had an effect on him, perhaps not. But it certainly took a toll in the 10th inning when he allowed Jeter's home run on his 62nd pitch.

That's right, 62 pitches -- only 26 fewer than Schilling. Kim threw 50 or more pitches three games during the regular season and said he wasn't tired Wednesday but World Series pitches take a lot more out of a pitcher than regular-season pitches.

"It wasn't beyond what he could do," Brenly said.

Sorry, Bob. Jeter's home run indicates differently.

"He threw a lot of pitches tonight," New York reliever Mike Stanton said. "We were kind of surprised when he went out there for the 10th inning."

As questionable as Brenly's decision to stick with Kim so long was the way he gave the Yankees three outs in the early innings when El Duque was struggling with his control and putting runners on base nearly every inning. Tony Womack led off the game with a single and Brenly had Craig Counsell bunt him to second. He didn't score. Womack walked to lead off the third and again Brenly had Counsell bunt him to second and again he didn't score. Womack doubled to lead off the fifth and Brenly had Counsell bunt him to third and yet again, he didn't score.

A clutch hit or two would have made Brenly's moves look better, but still, he took his team out of a lot of big innings when they could have put the Yankees on the ropes.

Instead, Arizona heads into Game 5 tied after it came so close to being 3-1. And the difference between being up 3-1 in the World Series and being tied 2-2 is the difference between Greg Maddux and Mike Maddux.

"Tino's home run seemed like more of a letdown than Jeter's, even though Jeter's won the game," Miller said. "We had a real good feeling going into the ninth inning and then to be letdown like that. It was disheartening."

"I was watching on TV (in the clubhouse) and they put up a graphic about teams that are down 3-1 in the series," Arizona pitcher Brian Anderson said. "I was yelling, 'Take that son of a gun down.' I don't care what it looks like. It isn't over until it's over."

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.