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World Series notebook Jeter quietly having another solid series
Updated: Monday October 23, 2000 1:52 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Derek Jeter is so good, sometimes it's easy not to notice. While Jose Vizcaino and Roger Clemens grabbed the headlines in leading the Yankees to a 2-0 World Series lead, Jeter is quietly putting together another solid October performance. Jeter struck out in his first at-bat Sunday night, but finished 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run scored as the Yankees beat the Mets 6-5. He is 4-for-9 in the series with two walks and two runs. "The first at-bat, I was swinging at some bad pitches, so I just tried to be more patient," Jeter said. "I'm an aggressive hitter." Jeter, 21-for-63 (.333) in his career in the World Series, has also played flawlessly at shortstop. He made two terrific plays to help the Yankees win Game 1. In the third inning, Jeter made a clean stop deep in the hole on Edgardo Alfonzo's grounder and threw a strike to first to save a run. Then he gunned out speedy Timo Perez at the plate with an off-balance relay throw in the sixth. This World Series run for the Yankees, not coincidentally, began in Jeter's rookie season of 1996. It doesn't look like it's coming to an end anytime soon.
Valentine's LineupTodd Pratt took two for the team and found himself back on the bench. Mets manager Bobby Valentine put Mike Piazza back behind the plate in Game 2 of the World Series on Sunday night and started Lenny Harris as the designated hitter. Pratt, twice hit by a pitch in Game 1 to tie a Series record, was out of the lineup. "I think DH-ing is a lot like pinch hitting," Valentine said. "Lenny Harris has 130 pinch hits in his career. Probably the numerical choice is Bubba Trammell. We didn't go with the numbers." Trammell, who tied Game 1 with a pinch-hit, two-run single in the seventh inning, is 2-for-5 with a home run against Roger Clemens. The Mets could have used Trammell in Game 2, as Clemens allowed just two hits in eight scoreless innings of a 6-5 victory. Harris, who batted seventh, went 0-for-3 against Clemens and 0-for-4 overall.
Better with ageMets reliever John Franco became the 29th player 40 or older to play in a World Series when he entered Game 1 in the eighth inning. The last member of the 40-plus club was Atlanta's Otis Nixon last year. Franco, second on baseball's career saves list with 420, has excelled as a setup man for closer Armando Benitez this season. Franco pitched a scoreless eighth to preserve a 3-2 lead, but Benitez allowed the Yankees to tie it in the ninth. In the seventh inning of Game 2, Franco was seen having a good-natured chat with former Mets teammate David Cone through an opening in the fence that divides the two bullpens at Yankee Stadium. The popular left-hander, in the World Series for the first time in his 17-year career, turned 40 on Sept. 17. When asked how long he had waited to get to this point, Franco said, "About 32 years."
Around the hornThe bat that Yankees infielder Jose Vizcaino used to deliver his game-winning single in the 12th inning of Game 1 went straight to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. ... There have been seven games of at least 3 hours, 50 minutes this postseason. "From listening to the higher-ups in the game, I think that there is concern about it," Mets general manager Steve Phillips said. "In the postseason, when every pitch means something, everybody takes a little bit of extra time to prepare themselves to engage in each battle or pitch." ... New York baseball fans are getting a free ride home from the first Subway Series in 44 years. Gov. George Pataki instructed the New York City Transit Authority to provide free subway fares at the Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium stops for two hours after World Series games. ... Yankees Hall of Famers Phil Rizzuto and Whitey Ford threw out the first pitch. ... Edgardo Alfonzo and Benny Agbayani extended their postseason hitting streaks with ninth-inning singles for the Mets. Alfonzo pushed his streak to 13 games, the longest in team history, while Agbayani has hit in 12 straight. Leadoff batter Timo Perez had his hitting streak snapped at nine games, going 0-for-4.
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