One of the best things about baseball is that no matter how poorly things are going, there’s always another game the next day, another chance to start to make things right. For a stretch of nearly two weeks, the Yankees floundered, watching a comfortable early AL East lead morph into a deficit as they lost eight of ten games.

But suddenly, at the end of a long road trip, they finally washed their hands of the mess they’d made. They won emphatically in the second matchup of a three-game set in Chicago, and breezed to another big win in the rubber match 25 years ago today, allowing them to head back to the Bronx, and into a series with the hated Red Sox, with the wind at their backs.

May 25: Yankees 7, White Sox 0 (box score)

Record: 26-17, .605 (Tied in AL East)

Leading off the game, Chuck Knoblauch hit a high fly ball to deep center field off starter James Baldwin, who had been off to a great start with a 7-0 record to his name. Center fielder Chris Singleton made an outstanding running catch, snaring Knoblauch’s fly just before reaching the wall:

That would be the highlight of the game for the Pale Hose, with the Yankees quickly seizing control from there. Though Baldwin retired the first four batters he faced, the Yankees got to him in the second. With one down, Jorge Posada singled, and moving to third on a groundout. Ricky Ledée doubled Posada home, and Scott Brosius opened up an early 3-0 advantage with a two-run shot to left:

The Yankees kept up the heat in the third inning. The frame began innocuously enough, with Baldwin retiring Knoblauch and Bernie Williams to start, before the Yankees again hung a three spot. A Paul O’Neill single and a Tino Martinez double put Baldwin in trouble, with an intentional walk to Posada suddenly loading the bases with two out. Shane Spencer lined a single to push one home, and another base hit from Ledée brought home two, and the Yankees had a commanding 6-0 lead.

That was more than enough support for Ramiro Mendoza. Making a spot start, the man nicknamed “El Brujo” turned in one of the finest outings of his career. Mendoza twirled a Maddux, shutting out the White Sox and allowing just four hits, needing only 99 pitches to complete his work for the night.

Mendoza didn’t reach a three-ball count until the seventh inning, a model of efficiency. He faced precisely one jam, in the sixth inning. Ray Durham singled with one down, and a two-out walk to Frank Thomas put two on, but Mendoza induced a harmless pop fly from Magglio Ordonez to end the inning and Chicago’s only threat.

Durham would be the only White Sox to make into scoring position, Mendoza filling the zone, easing through all nine innings. Mendoza told reporters after the game “I came to pitch. They gave me the ball to pitch, and thankfully, I did well.’’

Mendoza would never turn in an outing as good this one again with the Yankees, but on this night, he was everything they needed. The Yankees departed Chicago having started to wash out the taste of a rough stretch of baseball, prepared to face their rivals with early position in the AL East on the line.

Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.