Mets manager Bobby Valentine (left) and Yankees manager Joe Torre
July 7, 2000, 25 years ago: An Interleague weekend series begins at Shea Stadium in New York. It was supposed to be 3 games there, but a rainout forced it into 4 games, with the teams playing a doubleheader the next day, one at each stadium.
In the Friday night game, the Yankees beat the Mets 2-1. Four straight singles – by Derek Jeter, Paul O’Neill, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada – off Al Leiter in the 1st inning get Orlando (El Duque) Hernández all the runs he needs.
July 8, 2000: The Saturday split-stadium doubleheader began at Shea at 1:15 PM, U.S. Eastern Time. Bobby Jones started for the Mets, while former Met star Dwight Gooden started for the Yankees. The Yankees staked "Doctor K" to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning. The Mets pulled a run back in the bottom of the 2nd, and tied the game in the 5th.
But Tino Martinez hit a home run in the top of the 6th, and singled home another run in the 8th. The Yankees won, 4-2. It was the 191st win of Gooden's career, cut short by drug suspensions and injuries. He would only win 3 more, and a 194-112 record, 2,293 strikeouts, and 3 World Series rings have not been enough to gain him serious consideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The 2nd game got underway at Yankee Stadium at 8:05 PM. All the scoring came in the 5th inning. Back-to-back singles by Derek Bell and Edgardo Alfonzo off Roger Clemens gave the Mets a 2-0 lead. But the Yankees came right back against Glendon Rusch: A single by David Justice, a single by Shane Spencer, a sacrifice bunt by Chris Turner, an RBI single by Scott Brosius, and a 3-run home run by Chuck Knoblauch. Yankees 4, Mets 2.
June 9, 2000: Andy Pettitte did not have his best stuff. Mike Hampton had his, going 7 innings of 6-hit shutout ball. A Todd Zeile homer in the 4th and a Melvin Mora sacrifice fly in the 7th gave the Mets a 2-0 win.
So the Yankees took 2 out of 3 in the scheduled series, 3 out of 4 overall. The way the regular season worked out, the Mets won more games, 92 to the Yankees' 87; but the Yankees' total was enough to win the American League Eastern Division by 2 1/2 games over their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox; while the Mets' total put them 1 game behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League Eastern Division.
Luck was on the Mets' side: In the NL Division Series, they beat the San Francisco Giants, while the Braves lost to the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets then beat the Cards for their 1st Pennant in 14 years. The Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics, then the Seattle Mariners, to win their 3rd straight Pennant, their 4th in the last 5 years, and their 37th overall.
That set up the 1st Subway Series since 1956, Yankees vs. Brooklyn Dodgers. Since Interleague Play began in 1997, New York baseball fans, and the New York media, always refer to the regular-season games between the Yankees and the Mets as a "Subway Series." It's not. Nobody ever called regular-season games between the Dodgers and the New York edition of the Giants a "Subway Series." That term was reserved for a World Series between 2 New York teams. The Yankees beat the Mets in 5 games, clinching at Shea Stadium.
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