At the witching hour of Halloween night, Yankee magic came back.

You could sense the spirits of Yankee Stadium were restless two nights ago for Game Three, when swirling winds conspired to blow easy foul pops out of the gloves of Diamondbacks catcher Damian Miller and first baseman Mark Grace. But the Yankees were unable to capitalize on those opportunities, eking out only a 2-1 win. Perhaps not accepting their gifts made the spirits cranky, because in this game of inches, for Game Four, they were fickle.

It was a game of close calls, near misses and great escapes, in which neither team was able to grab hold of Fate and keep it, until the very last moment.

Last night in Game Four, the Yankees struggled once again to summon that special something that has allowed them to beat strong pitchers, and strong teams, in the past. Bernie Williams reverted to his old at-bat music. Orlando Hernandez, the Yankees starting pitcher, jumped over the foul line going to and from the mound each inning. And the Yankee Stadium crowd, somewhat quiet in Game Three, came to life, trying to rekindle that spark.

Curt Schilling took the mound on short rest and looked to smother that fire with a repeat his Game One performance. The Yankees stood in against him, confident that they could hit him a little better than the first time around, but nervous about their own starter, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who has been an enigma all year.

Here is a story of close calls--and not-so-close calls. Home plate ump Ed Rapuano's shifting strike zone aggravated both pitchers and batters.

The night began rough for El Duque, as he loaded the bases in the first, but was able to escape the inning unscathed. Derek Jeter, limping along with an .063 average, a far cry from his lifetime .342 World Series average, seemed to have his stroke back in the bottom of the inning, but his liner was caught by a leaping Tony Womack. Inches made the difference. As they did to David Justice in the third, when he was called out on strikes, giving him six strikeouts in six at bats in this World Series.

Then came Shane Spencer in the fourth, looking for a Schilling fastball and finding it. The ball found its way just over the wall in the short porch in right, Spencer swinging just a tad late on that fastball, and taking it the other way. 1-0 Yanks.

The Yankee lead did not last long. Mark Grace came up in the fifth, bases empty because of a brilliant double play, and this time it was El Duque missing by a few inches, a pitch not quite where he wanted it, right in Grace's wheellhouse. The ball sailed into the upper deck in right, where some oh-so-thoughtful fans threw it back onto the field so the lifetime National Leaguer could have his souvenir of Yankee Stadium.

Inches. Both teams had chances for big innings, both teams failed to hit the accelerator. Womack doubled to start the 5th, and was sacrificed to third by Craig Counsell (who would end the game with three sac bunts on the night). Luis Gonzalez hit a sac fly to left, but Spencer caught the ball ready to throw and got Womack trying to score from third by inches. Matt Williams got himself a 3-0 count to lead off the sixth, but then popped up harmlessly. Brosius led off the sixth with a double, but Alfonso Soriano got confused on the count, bunted with two strikes foul, and so was out. O'Neill could have scored Brosius on a single, but was beaten to the bag by Schilling by a hair.

But it is the late innings that have traditionally belonged to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the World Series. How many teams during this dynastic run have jumped out to early leads only to see them chipped away by pinstripe patience? The Diamondbacks jumped ahead in the eighth when Luis Gonzalez singled off Mike Stanton, and Erubiel Durazo drove a ball deep to centerfield. Bernie Williams came close, his glove inches from the ball as it came down just out of his reach and hit off the wall. Durazo went took third as the throw came in. His pinch runner, Midre Cummings, would come home on the next ground ball, hit right to Jeter, who threw to Posada for what looked to be another great play. But Cummings' hard slide knocked the ball loose and he was safe, 3-1 Diamondbacks. Between Bernie just missing the ball hit to center, and Cummings coming in safe, it seemed the magic was leaving the Yankees.

That feeling continued when, as the Yankees took their turn at the plate in the bottom of the inning, Curt Schilling was finally out of the game. That should have been their moment. But Arizona's Korean submarine-style pitcher, Byung-Hyun Kim was summoned from the bullpen. And he struck out the side. At that point it looked like the script--which had allowed the Yankees three hits in Game One, three hits in Game Two, and the D-backs three hits in Game Three, was going to call for the Yankees to have only three hits in Game Four, as well.

Joe Torre countered with Mariano Rivera in the ninth, not a save situation, but a crucial one, if there was any chance to tie the game. Mo was Mo, with a quick 1-2-3, and then it was the bottom of the ninth.

Derek Jeter led off the inning, but could not be the hero, grounding out to third. But Paul O'Neill, creaky old Paulie, for whom the crowd has stood and screamed every at bat this postseason, came through, serving a liner into shallow right off the tricky Kim, who was still on the mound. Bernie was baffled by Kim and struck out. Two out, and Tino Martinez coming to the plate. Tino, such an offensive force this year, leading the team in home runs and RBI, yet his bat, like all the Yankees, had been quiet against the D-backs.

Tino would admit after the game that thought that he might hit the game-tying two-run home run was prominent in his mind. "I was thinking: the first two strikes are mine." Just looking for a good pitch to hit. He saw what he liked on the very first pitch and sent the ball into just to the edge of the right field bleachers. Game tied at 3.

Jorge Posada walked, bringing Justice to the plate, his strikeout total still equal to his at bats, now with eight. How can a normally good hitter strike out eight times in a row, over the course of three games?

Would Yankee late inning magic redeem Justice as it had so many struggling Yankees in the past? (Think of Tino Martinez and Chuck Knoblauch in 1998...) A ninth inning walk off home run? Justice hit the ball hard, but on the ground. Craig Counsell tried to gobble the ball, but it was the Yankee stadium gremlins who gobbled him on Halloween night, taking his feet out from under him, everybody safe. The official scorer ruled it a hit, and Justice's slump was officially broken. But Shane Spencer, already a hero once tonight, struck out to send the game to extra innings. Justice's redemption, if it can be called that, was subtler, prolonging the inning and the game for the truly magic moment that awaited.

Mariano sat them down again in the tenth, one, two three. And on came Scott Brosius. Kim was still in there, his third inning of work. Brosius took Tino's approach and hit a ball hard to left but foul, doing his own version of the Carlton Fisk dance up the first base line trying to will it fair, but failing. On the next pitch he flew out to right. Alfonso Soriano tried to get ahold of one, too, and flew out to left.

Then came Derek Jeter. As he stood at the plate, chimes rang throughout the stadium and a special announcement was made: this would be the first Major League At Bat to take place in November. This was the moment Fate waited for. "Jeter will take the ball to right on two strikes," Joe Buck told the audience at home. For the entire series, the Diamondbacks had been busting Jeter in on the hands, keeping him from taking the ball the other way. But Kim, with his funky, semi-sidearm motion, was yanking the ball into the lefthanded batter's box with regularity. He threw ball two, then ball three that way. Two outs, full count, tie game, tenth inning.

The pitch.

Jeter took it the other way. To right. And just over the wall in right. By inches. Fate waited for the Yankee prince, banged and bruised by his leap into the stands in Game Five of the Division Series, held hitless in game after game by both Seattle and Arizona, to be in the right place at the right time. The first Major Leaguer to bat in November hit a game winning home run, evened the Series at two, and was greeted at the plate by his entire team, exploding with jubilation.

Let us hope that Yankee November magic is always so potent.

This article originally appeared at YankeeBaseball.net.