Saturday, October 21, 2000
'Subway Series' carries hype, history
Yankees, Mets get underway tonight
By Chris Haft
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEW YORK — The New York-New York matchup has threatened to obscure this World Series with hype before it even has begun.
Some would have you believe that this “Subway Series” embodies baseball by evoking the game's proud past, when legends such as Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays ruled October in the 1950s.
“There's no way there could be any more interest (elsewhere) than there is here,” said Yankees outfielder David Justice.
New York sentiment aside, there's enough to savor beginning tonight when the two-time defending champion New York Yankees and irrepressible New York Mets open the 96th Fall Classic in Yankee Stadium.
More outstanding performers graced this stage in 1956, when the Yankees outlasted the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games in the last all-New York Series. Aside from catcher Mike Piazza of the Mets and shortstop Derek Jeter and right-hander Roger Clemens of the Yankees, the current teams boast no projected Hall of Famers. By contrast, that '56 clash featured numerous individuals who ultimately reached Cooperstown: Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Mickey Mantle, Whitey
Ford, Yogi Berra and managers Casey Stengel and Walter Alston.
But this season's Yankees and Mets have distinguished themselves collectively more than individually.
Tonight, the Yankees will attempt to break their own record of 12 consecutive Series victories. The current streak began in Game 3 of the 1996 Series; the previous one encompassed four-game sweeps in 1927, '28 and '32.
They have withstood the attrition and bad luck that usually bring winners back to earth. Their postseason record since '96 is a remarkable 42-14, including 11 victories when trailing after six innings.
During a crucial period this season, it didn't appear that the Yankees would get this far. They lost 13 of their last 15 regular-season games and looked vulnerable in the playoffs, being pushed to a five-game Division Series with Oakland before losing the American League Championship Series opener at home against Seattle.
The Yankees ranked no higher than fifth in any major offensive category in the regular season. No hitter ranked above fourth in any top individual category. Tonight's starter, Andy Pettitte, led the team with 19 victories but posted an ordinary 4.35 ERA. Though Game 2 starter Roger Clemens finished second in ERA, he did so with one of 3.70, the fourth-highest of his career.
Yet with the core of Jeter, first baseman Tino Martinez, outfielders Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill and reliever Mariano Rivera, the Yankees have retained the character that has helped them capture three of the last four Series.
“We don't look at what this guy did when and where,” said O'Neill. “It's a cumulative thing over the season of what this team does. Everybody at certain times helps us win.”
The Mets have remained compelling without being as fortunate as the Yankees. They missed a wild-card berth on the final day of the 1998 season. Last year, they defeated Cincinnati in a wild-card playoff game — Al Leiter, tonight's starting pitch er, fired a two-hit shutout at Cinergy Field — and took the Atlanta Braves to six games in the National League Championship Series before losing.
The Mets looked very ordinary in early September, losing seven of eight games and allowing Arizona to challenge them briefly for the wild-card spot.
But they ousted San Francisco, which finished with the best regular-season record in either league, during the Division Series, and overwhelmed St. Louis in the NLCS.
Their pluck is embodied in Piazza, who has withstood the rigors of catching to become perhaps the finest hitter ever at his position, and Leiter, whose 1-2 career postseason record belies the fact that his teams are 6-3 in his nine starts.
“It didn't look promising at the beginning of (September) for us,” Piazza said. “We could have taken that as a negative and allowed ourselves to get down, or we could have taken it as a positive and used it as motivation. That's what we did, and I'm sure the Yankees did the same thing.”
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'Subway Series' carries hype, history