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44-year wait New York City waits for Mets, Yankees to seal deal
Updated: Saturday October 14, 2000 1:59 PM
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (Ticker) -- The New York Mets and the New York Yankees can move a giant step closer Saturday to the first Subway Series in 44 years. The Mets look to take a commanding three games to none lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in their best-of-seven National League Championship Series at Shea Stadium while the Yankees try to take a three games to one lead over the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS at Safeco Field. There has not been an all-New York World Series since the Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games in 1956. The Mets can take solace in this statistic. Twenty-eight of the last 32 teams to take a 2-0 lead in the LCS have gone on to win the series. “We'll try to play as well as we always play, and I don't fear overconfidence, that's for sure,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. “We respect (the Cardinals) immensely. We know they can score and we'll do the best we can.” Valentine will send righthander Rick Reed (0-0, 3.00) to the mound this afternoon to try to give the Mets a 3-0 cushion. Reed is making his second postseason start. He also started Game Three of the Division Series and was not involved in the decision, allowing two runs in six innings of the Mets' 3-2, 13-inning triumph over the San Francisco Giants last Saturday. The Cardinals hit Reed very well during the regular season. In two starts against them, he was reached for eight runs and 13 hits in nine innings. In 10 lifetime outings against St. Louis, Reed is 5-1. “Hopefully, I can keep them off the board,” Reed said. “Those two outings weren't very good, so I'm going to have to go out there and make better pitches, obviously. But it gets back to looking at videotape and I'm going to have to look at those games and just see the at-bats and make some adjustments.” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa will send righthander Andy Benes to the mound in hopes of getting the Cardinals back into the series. Benes (NR), who has yet to pitch in postseason play, finished the regular season on a nice roll, winning his final two starts and allowing just three earned runs in 12 innings with just two walks. The victories were the first for Benes in over two months since he defeated the Chicago White Sox on July 13. He was sidelined for over a month due to a knee injury. Benes started twice against the Mets this season and was hit hard, allowing nine runs in 11 innings. He is 8-7 in 23 lifetime outings against New York. While the Mets are moving toward their first World Series appearance since 1986, the Yankees are in search of their fourth trip to the World Series in five years. The Yankees, winners of 25 World Series, won in 1996, 1998 and 1999. After staggering through the final three weeks of the regular season, then barely escaping a five-game war with Oakland in the Division Series, the Yankees are finally beginning to flash their championship form. The Yankees dropped the first game of the ALCS to Seattle but have outscored the Mariners, 15-3, in the last two games. They are trying to become the first team since the 1972-74 Athletics to win three straight World Series titles. Roger Clemens gets the call from manager Joe Torre tonight to try and get the Yankees a commanding 3-1 advantage. Despite his reputation as one of baseball's finest pitchers, Clemens has been a major disappointment in the postseason. Clemens lost to Oakland twice in the Division Series, taking a pounding in Game Four when he was shelled for six runs and six hits over just five innings while absorbing an 11-1 defeat. But Clemens was working on only three days rest in that start. He will have six days rest when he takes the mound tonight. Clemens clinched the Yankees' 25th world championship with a victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game Four of last year's World Series, but there was no pressure on him to win that game. His two losses to the A's dropped his career postseason mark to just 3-5. During the regular season, Clemens split two starts against the Mariners, both at Safeco Field. He suffered a 9-3 loss here on April 9, but rebounded to toss seven scoreless innings in a 9-1 victory on August 28. Paul Abbott (1-0, 1.59) starts for the Mariners, and will be facing enormous pressure as the Mariners hope to avoid falling into a major hole in the series. Abbott notched a 5-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox in Game Two of the Division Series. He surrendered two runs -- one earned -- and five hits over 5 2/3 innings in his first career postseason appearance. Abbott posted an 11-1 victory at New York on August 6, yielding one run and seven hits over eight innings. However, he was shelled for eight runs and seven hits over seven frames in a 9-1 setback to the Yankees at Safeco Field on August 28. Torre, who previously managed both the Mets and the Cardinals, said he was trying to remain impartial about who represents the NL in the World Series. “Our goal is to get to the World Series,” Torre said. “Whoever that team is across the field from us, you tip your hat to them. But I don't want to say I don't care because I don't want the people in New York being mad at me. “But I don't care who our opposition is. And believe me, I'm not going to sit home and root for the Mets to win. I'm not going to root for them to lose, either. But I'm just going to be a spectator when I watch those games.”
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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