But this Yankee team -- not even close to the juggernaut they've been in recent years -- is becoming an enormously tough out, as they demonstrated in Wednesday's 7-1 victory.

This even as their hitters are becoming easier outs than ever before during the Joe Torre regime.

Keeping the Yankees -- flawed in multiple areas for the first time in years -- down for a while, that's easy. The Oakland A's proved that last week in the division series, the Mariners did it in a 2-0 shutout in Game 1 of this ALCS and most of Game 2.

Lou Piniella and John McLaren watch as the Yanks explode for seven runs in the eighth inning.(AP)

If only the Mariners -- leading 1-0 into the bottom of the eighth on Wednesday afternoon -- could have held on for two more innings.

If only they could have mustered any sign of an offensive attack. If only their bullpen, which hadn't surrendered a run in 15 consecutive innings, hadn't picked the worst time to fail. Then they would have had the champs down 2-0 -- despite only scoring three runs of their own -- with the best-of-7 series going back to Seattle.

Then they would have given everyone a reason to think they really were going to win the series.

But sometimes the toughest champion is the one on its last legs. The Yankees hadn't scored in their past 21 innings -- their longest postseason drought since 1921 -- when they came up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth off Arthur Rhodes.

Instead of hitting the road in utter despair, they chose instead to hit Rhodes.

With yet another cross-country flight looming for a bunch of struggling hitters, the Yankees finally erupted.

They threw a 7-spot on the board in the eighth inning, maybe in honor of Mickey Mantle, in a game that will prove pivotal if they win the series. And they sent momentum flying back to their side just in time for another flight across the country.

"Going down 2-0 going into Seattle would have been devastating," said Yankees DH Chuck Knoblauch. "But now we'll have a nice relaxing plane trip.

The alternative would have been as unbearable as a George Steinbrenner coast-to-coast tirade.

So the Yankees narrowly escaped the harsh reality of being shut out in consecutive playoff games for the first time in their glorious October history.

"We shut them out for seven innings, let's hope that's the norm," said Mariners manager Lou Piniella after watching his bullpen melt down the way it always used to. "I feel good about our situation, we wanted a split. We have (Aaron) Sele going in the next game. We're pleased. But it's a shame that this one got away."

Despite Piniella saying all the right things, expect him to stew on the Mariners' charter back to the Northwest. He has won enough championships to know that seizing opportunities like this is of primary importance.

Sure, the Mariners only led by a measly run, and their offense hasn't been doing anything either. But the way the Yankees were swinging -- and missing -- they were ripe to be had.

Now they have their confidence back -- again.

"We would have had to win four out of five," said Yanks left fielder David Justice, who started the big eighth with a double off the wall. "Against that ballclub, that would have been tough."

Almost as tough as the luck the Yankees have had supplying consistent run support the last few weeks. Take away the six-run first in Game 5 at Oakland and Wednesday's seven-run eighth, and the Yankees have only one run in their past three games.

But the bottom line, as Yankee right fielder Paul O'Neill said, is, "Once we actually get on the scoreboard, good things seem to happen."

When O'Neill was called out on a controversial call at first base to end the sixth -- he appeared to land on the bag at the same time as Mariners pitcher John Halama -- frustration was overcoming the Yankees. O'Neill, always a bit of a hothead, fired his helmet in a way that would have made his former manager, Piniella, proud. On the pitch before, he appeared to have ball four, but it was called a strike, and the entire Yankee bench erupted in anger.

"You can see a bad umpire's call, guys are jumping up and spinning around," said Torre. "We don't normally react like that. I think a lot of it was the tension of the situation, and the thought of going on the road 0-2."

At that point of utter tension, only the magnificent pitching of Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez (7-0, 1.22 ERA in playoffs) was keeping the Yankees in it.

But after Justice's double, Bernie Williams -- the Yankees best clutch player -- smashed a line drive through the middle for, lo and behold, an actual run. It was tied at 1-1.

Then there was a Tino Martinez single on a ball that probably should have been caught by left fielder Al Martin, and a Jorge Posada RBI single.

Even utility man Jose Vizcaino jumped into the fray with an RBI double. By the time Jeter had delivered the final bullet -- a two-run blast -- the Yankees' offensive struggles seemed like a distant memory, and the Mariners had to be dizzy from the impact.

Now the Mariners hope they won't be harping in hindsight about Game 2 -- the one that got away.

"We would have liked to have taken this one," said M's superstar shortstop Alex Rodriguez. "But we're still in good position."

But so are the Yankees, something that clearly wouldn't have been the case if the Mariners could have made the last six outs as easy as the first 21.