MLB: Subway Series 2000: A Game By Game Analysis

Subway Series 2000: A Game By Game Analysis

Game 1: Victimized by baserunning mistakes in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, the Mets allowed the Yankees to capitalize and capture a 1-0 Subway Series lead.

The baserunning blunders began in the fourth inning when Todd Zeile failed to run out a grounder up the third baseline. If Zeile had run the ball out, Yankee third-baseman Scott Brosius would have grabbed it in foul territory. But Brosius noticed that Zeile was still standing near the batters box. Wittingly, Brosius let the ball roll until it came into fair territory and easily erased Todd Zeile at first-base. In the next inning, Mets centerfielder Jay Payton failed to run out a ball that trickled in front of home plate. Because the ball initially hit behind home plate, Payton thought it was a foul ball. But Yankees catcher Jorge Posada quickly picked up the ball and tagged Payton for the first out of the inning. Benny Agbayani, who had doubled to left in the previous at-bat, was stranded on second-base and could not advance. Todd Pratt and Mike Bordick subsequently struck out to end the Mets’ half of the fifth. To compound the Mets troubles, Todd Zeile’s double off the top of the left-field wall in the Mets half of the sixth should have given the Amazins a 1-0 lead. But due to Timo Perez’s baserunning gaffe on the Zeile double, Perez was thrown out at the plate on the relay from Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter.

With one out in the ninth and the Mets clinging to a 3-2 lead, Todd Pratt stood on third-base. Joe Torre placed the Yankee infield in with Timo Perez at the plate. Perez grounded to second-baseman Jose Vizciano, who bobbled the ball before throwing to Tino Martinez for the second out. If Pratt had broken from third on contact, he would have scored easily and provided the Mets another insurance run that ultimately would have given the Mets a victory in Game 1. But in the Yankee half of the ninth, Paul O’Neill worked out a ten pitch walk and eventually moved to third to set up Chuck Knoblauch’s sacrifice-fly that knotted the game at 3. The scored remained 3-3 until the twelfth inning when the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs against reliever Turk Wendell. Vizciano, who already had three hits, stepped to the plate and delivered an R.B.I. single that scored Martinez and gave the Bronx Bombers the victory. With the victory, it marked the Yankees 13th consecutive World Series win.

Game 2: The magnitude of the Roger Clemens versus Mike Piazza match-up was even larger than the Subway Series itself. Very early in the first inning, the anticipation was at an all-time high as a result of the July 8 beaning of Mets All-star catcher Mike Piazza. When the two faced each other in the top of the first inning, the Yankee Stadium crowd was on its feet. Little did everyone know, yet another altercation between the two future Hall-of-Famers was about to begin. Clemens threw an inside fastball that shattered Piazza’s bat. As the ball went foul into the Yankee dugout, the barrel of the bat headed straight for Clemens. The Rocket fielded the bat and fired it in the direction of Piazza who appeared stunned at what had just transpired. Both New York dugouts emptied onto the infield to protect each other’s star. Without further incident, the game resumed. Roger Clemens went on to pitch a nine strikeout, two-hitter in eight innings of shutout ball.

Not to be distracted by the first inning, bat-throwing catastrophe, Clemens went on to pitch a fantastic game. The unfortunate circumstances surrounding this incident will undoubtedly overshadow Clemens’ performance.

The Yankee batters showed patience and resiliency versus Mets’ pitcher Mike Hampton and scored four earned runs during his six inning stint. The Yankees also stuck for one run apiece against Mets’ relievers Glendon Rusch and Rick White. The Mets made things very interesting in the ninth and kept the Yankee faithful on the edge of their seats until the final out was recorded. Piazza, who was 0-3 in his previous at-bats, launched a two-run homer off of Yankee reliever Jeff Nelson. Still in the ninth, with two runners on against Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, Jay Payton drove a ball over the right-field fence to cut the lead to 6-5. The Mets were obviously not intimidated by Rivera’s postseason statistics. Rivera finally got pinch-hitter Kurt Abbott to strikeout and end the threat and give the Bombers a 2-0 World Series lead. This victory increased the New York Yankees World Series victory total to 14 in a row.

Game 3: Just prior to the first pitch of Game 3 of the Subway Series, Major League Baseball fined Roger Clemens $50,000 for the bat-throwing incident in Game 2 at Yankee Stadium. Clemens will not be suspended and said that he will wait until the World Series is over before he deals with this issue. “I want to stay focused on the task at hand, helping my team win the World Series, so I do not intend to consider the question of an appeal or respond to questions about the fine or the incident itself until this series is over.” Clemens has seven days from the date of his punishment to appeal.

Finally in the comforts of Shea Stadium, the Mets were in dire need of a victory to keep from falling into a 3-0 hole to the defending World Champions. With Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez (8-0 postseason record) on the mound for the Yanks, the task was a tall order. Despite striking out 12 New York Mets to set a new Yankees record for most strikeouts in a World Series game, El Duque suffered his first postseason loss of his career. Ironically, it was Brooklyn native John Franco who earned the victory and halted not only Hernandez’s winning streak, but also the 14 consecutive World Series wins by the Yankees.

Third-baseman Robin Ventura got the Mets on the board first with a solo homer in the second inning. The lead was short lived as the Yankees clawed back with and R.B.I. double by Dave Justice in the third and an R.B.I. triple by Paul O’Neill in the fourth. Todd Zeile came through for the Amazins with an R.B.I. double of his own in the sixth inning to tie the game at 2. Later in the eighth, Benny Agbayani doubled in another run which proved to be the game winner. Bubba Trammell added a sacrifice-fly R.B.I. for an insurance run. The Mets were alive and well at Shea and looked to Bobby J. Jones in Game 4 to even the Series at two games apiece.

Game 4: The very first pitch of the game sailed over the left-field wall off of Derek Jeter’s bat for a 1-0 Yankees lead. All of the energy and intensity the fans possessed from the day before when the Mets won Game 3 was ceased with only one pitch into the game.

So far, the cross-town rivals did not disappoint anyone in providing an electrifying and animated match-up. Although the Mets did not score in their half of the first, catcher Mike Piazza did send a statement to Yankee Game 4 starter Denny Neagle. Piazza hit a towering foul ball that would have left any ballpark in the universe had it stayed fair. Neagle got out of the inning unscathed, but Piazza’s long strike would be in the back of every Yankee player, coach, and fan’s mind in his next appearance at the plate. The Yanks added one run in each of the next two innings on R.B.I. singles by Scott Brosius and Luis Sojo respectively to take a 3-0 lead. But when the Mets’ all-star catcher approached the plate in the third inning, he did what everyone was afraid of. He hit a two-run homer into the bullpen at Shea. The Mets had inched to within striking distance of the defending World Champions. With two outs, a 3-2 lead, and Piazza due up next in the fifth inning, Yankee manager Joe Torre headed for the hill to take the ball from Neagle. Neagle was one out shy of earning a victory if the Yankees could hold on. But instead, Torre surprisingly went to David Cone to pitch to Piazza. Cone got Piazza to pop out for the third and final out of the inning. Neither team scored again and Sojo had what proved to be the game winning R.B.I. in only the third inning.

The Yankees now had a commanding 3-1 World Series lead, but had only outscored the Mets by a single run in the series. Through four games, the Yankees had scored 15 runs while the Mets scored 14. Each of the Yankees’ three wins was by the narrowest of margins. Other players performing at their best included Mets first-baseman Todd Zeile, who had two hits in Game 4 and had a .471 batting average so far. Also, Yankees right-fielder Paul O’Neill was making a pitch for World Series M.V.P. with 9 hits, including two triples and a .563 batting average. The Yankees bullpen was stellar in Game 4. Cone, Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton, and Mariano Rivera combined to pitch 4 1/3 innings and allowed no runs and only 2 hits. Yankees centerfielder Bernie Williams was amidst a horrible slump which included an 0-15 stint in the World Series.

Game 5: This was a rematch of Game 1 starters Andy Pettitte for the New York Yankees and Al Leiter for the New York Mets. The Yankees drew first blood in the second inning when the slumping Bernie Williams hammered a home run over the left-field fence to give the Bombers a 1-0 lead. The Mets, not to be outdone, scored two runs in their half of the second. With runners on second and third, pitcher Al Leiter stepped to the plate and dragged a bunt between the pitcher’s mound and first-base. Tino Martinez scooped the ball, bobbled it, then tossed to Andy Pettitte who was covering first. Pettitte could not handle the throw and Bubba Trammell scored easily from third. Jay Payton moved from second to third on the fielding error by Pettitte. In the next at-bat, Benny Agbayani reached on an infield single, which allowed Payton to score from third and give the Amazins a 2-1 lead. The score remained 2-1 into the sixth when Derek Jeter hit his second homer in as many days to knot the game at 2 apiece.

With the game tied at 2, Game 5 headed for the ninth. Al Leiter, who seemingly owned the Yankees in this World Series struck out Martinez and Paul O’Neill. Leiter had two strikes on Jorge Posada before allowing the base-on-balls. Scott Brosius singled to left and moved Posada to second. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Luis Sojo singled to center. Jay Payton put everything he had into his throw to the plate to get Posada, but the throw hit the Yankee catcher and bounced into the Mets’ dugout, which allowed Brosius to score as well. Pinch-hitter Glenallen Hill flied to left to end the inning. Torre then called upon “Mr. Automatic,” Mariano Rivera to close down the Mets and give the Yankees their third World Series championship in a row and their fourth in five years. Rivera did not disappoint as he recorded the final out with a deep drive to center off the bat of Mike Piazza. The New York Yankees are now 26 time World Champions of baseball.