| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- Putting Derek Jeter in the leadoff slot put the
New York Yankees in a familiar spot.
|  | | Mariano Rivera is congratulated by manager Joe Torre, left, and acting pitching coach Billy Connors after getting the Game 4 save. It was his sixth Series save, tying Rollie Fingers' mark. |
Jeter hit the first pitch of the game over the left-field fence
and the Yankees led the rest of the way, beating the New York Mets
3-2 Wednesday night to move within one victory of their third
straight World Series championship.
Derailed a day earlier, the Yankees got right back on track in
taking a 3-1 lead in this Subway Series.
"We're one win from where we want to be," Jeter said.
Jeter homered and tripled, and Mariano Rivera finished off 4 1/3 scoreless innings by the bullpen as the Yankees posted their third one-run win of the Series.
Moved up to the leadoff spot for the first time in this Series,
Jeter delivered. He became the first player to homer on the opening
pitch of a World Series game since Pete Rose for Cincinnati in
1972.
"I've been known to swing at the first pitch," Jeter said.
"When you play games like this, you want to score early. I got a
good pitch to hit, and I hit it well.
|
Game 4 at a glance
|
|
Every game a hero
Inserted into the leadoff spot, Derek Jeter hit Bobby Jones' first pitch of the game over the left-field fence. He then tripled to right-center leading off the top of third and scored on Luis Sojo's grounder for the Yankees' third run.
Key moves
Bobby Valentine and Joe Torre went at it in the bottom of the seventh. Lenny Harris drew a one-out walk off Jeff Nelson. With Mike Bordick due up, Valentine sent up Darryl Hamilton. Torre brought in lefty Mike Stanton. Valentine brought in Bubba Trammell. Stanton struck him out on four pitches. Kurt Abbott, hitting for Timo Perez, fanned on three pitches.
Key play
Paul O'Neill's one-out triple down the right-field line in the second. Perez could have cut the ball off and held O'Neill to a double. But the ball slid under his glove and O'Neill reached third. He scored on Scott Brosius' sac fly.
ESPN analysis
Bobby Valentine recognized how important it was to get some offense going against the Yankees' bullpen before Mariano Rivera could pitch in the eighth. So he used four pinch-hitters in three slots in the lineup in the seventh. But the Yankee bullpen is tough. Joe Torre made a gutsy move when he went to David Cone to face Mike Piazza. He didn't want Piazza to face Denny Neagle again. I'm sure Neagle is not too happy about that, but Torre's mission is to win the World Series. Once again, the bullpen came up big. Cone, Nelson and Stanton got out of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings respectively, and that's all they needed to do.
-- Buck Martinez
|
"We're playing at Shea Stadium, and even though there are a few
Yankee fans here, you want to take the crowd out of the game," he
said.
Even though Yankees manager Joe Torre calls his star shortstop a
"kid," Jeter may soon be the owner of four Series rings at age
26.
Jeter's shot off Bobby J. Jones sent the Yankees on their way.
Said Jones: "I wasn't expecting him to swing."
"Putting a run on the board was the difference in the game,"
Mets manager Bobby Valentine said.
A sellout crowd of 55,290 seemed much more subdued than for the
Mets' 4-2 win in Game 3, possibly because of a much larger presence
of Yankees rooters.
The ballpark figures to be a lot louder -- either way -- Thursday night when the Yankees try to become the first team since
the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics to win three titles in a row.
Andy Pettitte will start Game 5 against the Mets' Al Leiter. Of
the prior 40 teams to take a 3-1 lead in the World Series, 34 have
gone on to win the championship.
The last team to blow a 3-1 deficit was St. Louis in 1985 to
Kansas City.
"Well, it's someplace I've been before, but it's certainly not
familiar and surefire stuff," Torre said.
If the Yankees win, they hope to have a dry clubhouse for a
celebration. Severe flooding from a burst pipe soaked their locker
room, forcing players to conduct postgame interviews on the field.
Mike Piazza's two-run homer pulled the Mets within 3-2 in the
third inning, and there was no more scoring as both managers made
early moves to the bullpen.
Yankees starter Denny Neagle was pulled after 4 2/3 innings,
with David Cone coming in to retire Piazza on a popup to end the
fifth.
Winning pitcher Jeff
Nelson pitched 1 1/3 innings, Mike Stanton struck out the only
two batters he faced and Rivera pitched two innings for his first save of the series.
Rivera was helped when right fielder Paul O'Neill made a sliding
catch on Edgardo Alfonzo's liner to start the eighth. Yankees fans
erupted when Rivera earned his sixth career Series save, tying
Rollie Fingers' record, by striking out Matt Franco to end the
game.
Jones was lifted after five innings. Relievers Glendon Rusch,
John Franco and Armando Benitez kept the Yankees from breaking
away.
|
Against all odds
|
|
Only six teams (out of 40) have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a World Series. Below is a look at how those clubs did it:
1985: Kansas City Royals
The Royals trailed the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1, but came back to win the final three games to win the series. Kansas City held the Cardinals to two runs over the final three games and won Game 7 in a rout, 11-0.
1979: Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates won the final two games on the road -- to win the series. Pittsburgh also held the Orioles to two runs over the final three games.
1968: Detroit Tigers
The Tigers rallied to beat the Cardinals, as Mickey Lolich won Game 5 and then beat Bob Gibson in Game 7 on two days' rest.
1958: New York Yankees
The Yankees beat the Milwaukee Braves, winning the final two games in Milwaukee. Bob Turley got the wins in Games 5 (shutout) and 7 (in relief).
1925: Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates rallied to beat the Washington Senators, including a 9-7 win over Walter Johnson in a wild Game 7.
1903: Boston Pilgrims
The Pilgrims (now the Red Sox) beat the Pirates in the first AL-NL World Series. However, it was then a best-of-nine affair.
|
The Yankees scored single runs in each of the first three
innings. They did it without a contribution from cleanup man Bernie
Williams, who was hitless in four at-bats and dropped to 0-for-15
in the Series.
Playing on the 14th anniversary of one of their most famous
games -- the Bill Buckner-assisted comeback in Game 6 of the 1986
World Series -- the Mets had no luck from the start.
Jeter stepped in and, with many fans still getting settled,
launched a drive to deep left. Among those to cheer was one of his
best friends, Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez, from the front row.
It was a stunning blow, and only the eighth time a World Series
game had started with a home run, and the first since Rickey
Henderson did it for Oakland in 1989. The hit also extended Jeter's
hitting streak in World Series play to 13 games.
In the second, O'Neill tripled for the second straight day --
after not hitting any since July 23, 1999 -- and, following an
intentional walk to Jorge Posada, scored on Scott Brosius'
sacrifice fly.
New York made it 3-0 in the third. Jeter led off with a triple,
giving him eight hits in this Series, and trotted home as Luis Sojo
grounded out.
Mets fans did not seem daunted, probably figuring their team
would have a chance to get back into the game against Neagle.
They were right.
Slumping Timo Perez opened the third with a single up the middle
and Piazza, who hit a long drive that hooked foul his first time
up, lined a 75-mph changeup into the bleachers in left-center
field.
Piazza's second two-run homer of the Series also marked his
fourth home run of this postseason -- a lot of production from the
All-Star catcher who went into this October batting only .211
(12-for-57) with two homers in past postseasons.
Game notes
Jeter batted leadoff with Sojo hitting second. In a shift,
second baseman Jose Vizcaino was benched, with Chuck Knoblauch
remaining out of the lineup. ... Jeter's early homer and triple put
him in position to become the first player to hit for the cycle in
the Series. ... When Todd Zeile tapped a foul down the third-base
line in the fourth, Mets fans shouted "Run!" In Game 1, he stood
at the plate when his slow trickler rolled from foul ground into
fair territory. ... O'Neill got two hits, and leads the Series with
nine hits.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Yankees Clubhouse
NY Mets Clubhouse
Stark: Torre's touch golden in Game 4
Klapisch: Somber clubhouse for Mets
McAdam: Rivera and mates to the rescue
Frozen moment: The managers' special
At-bat of the night
Question of the game
Useless facts from the World Series
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Joe Torre and Bobby Valentine talk after the Yankees' Game 4 victory.
RealVideo: | 28.8
 Jeff Nelson thinks the Yankees' bullpen is just as deep as the Mets' pen is.
wav: 673 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Joe Torre needed all the help he could get in the Game 4 win.
wav: 191 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Denny Neagle talks about being taken out of Game 4.
avi: 1818 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Paul O'Neill has been impressed with how both teams have played.
wav: 400 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Bobby Valentine doesn't think his batting lineup needs adjusting.
wav: 99 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mike Piazza doesn't think his team has itself in a good spot.
wav: 130 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
