Yankees13
Mets5
The best thing Andy Pettitte has going for him lately is timing.
With the Yankees’ lineup fading in and out, Pettitte has timed his starts very well, since the Bombers always hit when he pitches. Yesterday’s come-from-behind 13-5 victory over the Mets in Game 2 of the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium was the latest example of the best way for Joe Torre to get runs is hand the ball to Pettitte.
In Pettitte’s last five starts, the Yankees have scored 47 runs, which is the primary reason for the four-game winning streak Pettitte is riding, since he has pitched exceptionally only once.
During those five games when the Yankees have given Pettitte an average of 9.4 runs, he has given up 18 earned runs and 28 hits in 33 innings for a sloppy 4.91 ERA. Still, the left-hander is 6-2 and that’s all that really matters.
Working in sauna-like conditions and in front of a sold-out crowd of 55,839, Pettitte spit up a 2-0 first-inning lead and trailed, 5-3, after 4½ innings. However, a five-run fifth that was fueled by Jorge Posada’s three-run homer off Pat Mahomes carried Pettitte and the Yankees to the victory and even the best-of-three Subway Series at one game each. The deciding game tonight pits David Cone against Mike Hampton.
Paul O’Neill and Derek Jeter each had three hits and a homer. Used as the DH to give his banged-up right foot and leg a break, O’Neill drove in three runs.
Bobby Jones took the loss and is 1-3 with a brutal ERA of 10.20. In 42/3 innings he gave up seven runs and nine hits and has to be in serious jeopardy of losing his spot in the rotation, if not on the roster Every Yankee starter but Ricky Ledee (0-for-5) had at least one hit and the 17 hits were one shy of the season-high.
With Jones on fumes in the fifth, many in the crowd wondered how long Bobby Valentine would stay with the struggling right-hander. When Tino Martinez lined a single off shortstop Kurt Abbott’s glove to put runners on first and second with the score tied, 5-5, Valentine lifted Jones and replaced him with Mahomes.
Five pitches later, Posada deposited a 3-2 pitch a dozen rows into the upper deck for his 12th homer of the year and an 8-5 Yankees lead.
Jones somehow carried a 5-3 lead into the fifth but he blew it in a hurry. O’Neill’s two-out double to right-center scored Ledee from first and then O’Neill scored on Bernie Williams’ single to left to tie the score, 5-5.
Pettitte deserved a better fate in the fifth when the Mets snapped a 3-3 tie with a big dose of help from Williams. With one out, Mike Piazza continued his assault on Yankee pitching with a single to left that appeared to be harmless when Todd Zeile hit a ball to center. However, Williams’ first reaction was in and by the time he broke back, Williams had no chance to catch the ball as the heavy-legged Piazza raced home from first.
Robin Ventura followed with a ground ball that glanced off Martinez’ glove and was ruled an error that put runners at the corners for Jay Payton. Having homered in the second, Payton scored Zeile with a sharp single to left. After Todd Pratt moved the runners up a base with a grounder to Martinez for the second out, Joe Torre opted to walk No. 9 hitter Kurt Abbott intentionally to load the bases for the left-handed hitting Jason Tyner.
The move worked when Tyner lofted a stress-free fly ball to left to leave the bases juiced the Mets leading, 5-3.
Derek Bell’s second poor play in as many nights on a Martinez fly to right cost the Mets a run in the first when the Yankees copped a 2-0 lead.
Jeter singled with one out and stole second with two outs and Williams at the plate. Williams’ opposite-field double into the right-field corner scored Jeter and when Martinez’ fly to right almost hit Bell on the head and landed on the warning track, Williams scored.
The Mets cut the deficit to 2-1 in the second when Payton homered with one out. Then they went ahead 3-2 in the third on Ventura’s 12th homer, a two-run blast to right-center that scored Zeile.
Jones couldn’t hold that, as O’Neill sent a 3-0 pitch over the center-field fence with one out in the third to tie the score, 3-3.