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Orlando "El Duque'' Hernandez takes his first post-season loss as the Mets get within 2-1.
By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published October 25, 2000
NEW YORK -- Their focus disrupted by the Roger Clemens controversy, their spirits dampened by two tough losses, the Mets needed something to get back into the World Series.
Rick Reed gave them six strong innings. Robin Ventura gave them a home run. Todd Zeile gave them a run-scoring double.
And Benny Agbayani gave them a 4-2 victory, delivering the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning double to spoil a stellar effort by Yankees starter Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez.
The loss snapped the Yankees' Series-record winning streak at 14 games, but the Mets were more concerned with the spoils of victory. They halved the Yankees' advantage in the best-of-seven series to 2-1, and they avoided the historically guaranteed defeat that comes with falling behind 3-0.
"It seems like it's light years' difference between 3-0 and 2-1, and it's 2-1," Mets manager Bobby Valentine said.
"I thought we were in the first two games, but you can only go so long saying they were close games if we didn't get a victory tonight. We got a victory, we broke a little streak, and now we've got to come out and do a job (tonight)."
Hernandez, fighting the flu, battled gallantly but suffered his first loss in 10 post-season starts. He struck out 12, fifth-most in Series history, during a 134-pitch effort.
"If he wasn't feeling well, I'm going to have everybody catch what he had," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It doesn't get much better than than that. He has the heart of a lion."
As usual, Hernandez bobbed in and out of trouble, but he might have been at his finest in the sixth. After allowing the tying run on a pair of doubles sandwiched around a walk, he loaded the bases with no outs, then escaped without giving up anything else.
"Typical El Duque," Torre said. "He's up there on that high wire all the time and you don't think he's always going to get down. He has good stuff, but his determination is really tough to match."
The winning rally started when Zeile singled with one out. Agbayani, extending his post-season hitting streak to 13 games, then doubled into the left-centerfield gap. Jay Payton singled and former Devil Ray Bubba Trammell's sacrifice fly off reliever Mike Stanton gave the Mets an insurance run.
Having lost the first two games at Yankee Stadium, the Mets were hoping a return to Shea Stadium, where they had the majors' best home record, would give them a lift.
Ventura sparked the already raucous crowd of 55,299 when he led off the second inning with a home run, driving Hernandez's first pitch over the right-centerfield fence.
Nothing if not resilient, the Yankees came back and tied the score in the next inning. Derek Jeter slapped a two-out single to left and David Justice, continuing a productive post-season, ripped a ball just past diving first baseman Zeile. Jeter, running all the way, slid in safely when Edgardo Alfonzo's relay throw was high and wide of the plate, giving Justice 12 RBI in 14 games this post-season and a record 54 for his career.
Justice went to third on the throw but was stranded when cleanup hitter Bernie Williams, 0-for-11 in the Series, grounded out.
The Yankees went on top 2-1 in the fourth when two of their resurgent veterans came through. Tino Martinez, hitting .379 for the post-season, led off with a single to right. With one out, Paul O'Neill laced a ball into the right-centerfield gap and raced all the way to third.
Hernandez had been so bothered by the flu that the Yankees had told David Cone to be ready for potential long relief work and considered starting Denny Neagle on Tuesday rather than tonight.
But if anything, Hernandez made the Mets look sick early, striking out the side in the first inning and the next three after allowing Ventura's homer to open the second.
Mets starter Reed pitched well for six innings, striking out eight while allowing six hits, but Valentine had to make what he said was a tough decision to take him out for a pinch-hitter during the foiled sixth-inning rally.
The Mets' bullpen may not have been perfect, but it was effective. Turk Wendell got two quick outs in the seventh before walking Jeter, and left-hander Dennis Cook made things worse by hitting Justice. Cook fell behind Williams, but he got a fortunate call on a 3-and-1 pitch that looked high, then struck him out.
The Mets dodged trouble again in the eighth. Cook walked Martinez to start the inning, but John Franco got Jorge Posada to ground into a double play. O'Neill singled and the Yankees sent up Glenallen Hill, who was 6-for-12 with three homers against Franco. But Franco, the winner, got him to fly to right.
The teams combined for 25 strikeouts, matching the Series record.
"We needed this win bad," Franco said. "Being down 3-0 would have been tough."