The champions of the shattered isle of New York have battled and fought, to keep their spirits up through the seemingly unimportant motions of a child's game, to do their part to cheer on the rescue workers at ground zero, to brighten the sad days of the families of the missing. They have done it with visits to the crippled tip of Manhattan and they have done it with their deeds on the field. A few months ago we would have called those deeds heroics. But now one has to wonder if these "warriors" spirits are sagging, if maybe the burden put on them is too great, if all the patriotic songs and tears shed and flags unfurled to a lump in the throat have all become too much for them.

On Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, one month to the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Yankees looked tired, and as the game wore on, so did the 56,684 New Yorkers who cheered them on.

The game began late, after a press conference with President George W. Bush was televised live at the stadium at 8pm. The audience sat silent during the first minutes of Bush's speech, but began to murmur once he took questions from reporters. There were occasional cheers. After the DiamondVision returned to baseball, there were pregame ceremonies, including cadets unfurling a giant American flag, Challenger the bald eagle flying, former Yankee great Elston Howard's daughter Cheryl singing the anthem, and a first pitch thrown by Frank Tepedino, a Yankee in the late sixties who is now a New York City firefighter. It was almost nine o'clock when the Yankees took the field, and well after midnight when they left it.

Joe Torre often uses the word "grinding," as in "we're grinding it out." That is what all of New York is doing these days, struggling through one more day, and one more day, hoping for some small triumph.

Small triumphs are all the Yankees have been able to give New York over the past two days, as the A's have walked away with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Small triumphs like how good the pitching was on Thursday night: Andy Pettitte gave up a solo home run to Ron Gant and was otherwise stellar, coming up with big strikeouts when needed and keeping the A's in check. Ramiro Mendoza's shoulder seems fine, as he logged 1 2/3 scoreless innings, as well. Mariano Rivera gave up an unearned run when Johnny Damon hit a bloop triple and then Scott Brosius took a hot shot through the legs, allowing him to score. Holding a potent A's offense to two runs over nine innings is outstanding, but a pyrrhic victory at best, when the Yankees own offense was shut out.

Small victories: Eric Chavez--who riled the Yankees into action in Game Five last year by commenting in a pregame interview that it was time for them to pass the torch to a younger team, which unbeknownst to Chavez was being played live on the scoreboard during Yankees batting practice. You could almost see Paul O'Neill shaking his head and thinking "Kid... if you only knew." This year Chavez showed he's still a bit young when he struck out with two men on and two out in both the first and third innings.

Small victories: Justice, O'Neill, Posada all had great at bats. Time after time Hudson would have them down 0-2, and they would battle back to 3-2, foul off pitches, and hang in there. Unfortunately, all of these at bats, which had men in scoring position, resulted in pop ups.

Small victories: Chuck Knoblauch seemed to be making a conscious effort to keep the ball down during batting practice. The uppercut in his swing was neutralized, and he had two hits on the night. The two outs he made were both ground balls. But having Chuck on base (Derek Jeter had two hits as well) does little good if the big RBI men are not driving in runs.

You know I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel when I count a long foul ball off the bat of Jorge Posada in the fifth -- it was two feet to the right of being a home run -- as one of the high points of the game. It was that kind of night. I grew accustomed to hearing groans from the fans around me when the Yankees were at bat and stoic silence whenever the A's would get a hit. The loudest cheers of the night were mostly for Pettitte and Mendoza, while the New York offense was smothered.

And as in Game One, the breaks did not seem to be going the Yankees' way. Early on Pettitte was the victim of an inconsistent strike zone, and many a hard hit ball found its way directly into a fielder's glove. And as in Game One, the Yankees were never able to turn that tide or swing momentum in their direction.

Is New York out of luck and out of miracles? The glorious run of success the Yankees have had since 1996 coincided with a rebirth of the city of New York. The NYC of Rudy Giuliani was cleaner, more polite, safer, with less crime, more jobs, and imbued with a sense of security. That security was shattered a month ago, and Giuliani himself is finding it hard to let go. The mayor wants to be awarded three more months in office, but even if he stays, an era has come to an end.

The Yankees hope that their era has not come to an end. But they are teetering on the precipice--one more loss and they must pass the crown. And if the miracle that brought the team back from the edge so many times last year should repeat this year? You can bet there will be dancing in the streets, but somehow I doubt we will see a tickertape parade down the Canyon of Heroes, there in the debris-choked streets of lower Manhattan. If it happens there will be joy. If it does not happen, if they lose, the Yankees will become like all New Yorkers. Because for us the time of miracles and heroic rescues has already passed, and we are left grinding out each day of a long winter and waiting out a long war, waiting a long time, perhaps, before we taste triumph again.