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Down go the Mets Yankees celebrate knockout of crosstown rivals
By John Donovan, CNNSI.com NEW YORK -- As of about midnight Thursday, or maybe just a little bit into Friday morning, it finally became official. The New York Yankees own New York. The No. 4 train, the No. 7, Madison Avenue, Central Park, the Upper East Side. The Bronx and Queens. They'll take Manhattan, too. It's all theirs, courtesy of their five-game win over the New York Mets in the World Series. The Yankees, indeed, are the Kings of the City. And they want you to know that means the Mets are not. "Agbayani was right after all," reliever Jeff Nelson said in the Yankees' champagne-stinking clubhouse. Nelson was talking about Mets left fielder Benny Agbayani, who jokingly said the Mets would win this so-called Subway Series in five games. "He just got the wrong team." As the Yankees celebrated and the Mets began their sulking, it became very clear who owns this town, baseball-wise. If, in fact, there was ever any doubt.
The Yankees' celebration was too big for their cramped little clubhouse, so it spilled onto the field at Shea Stadium and went on well past 1 a.m. ET. Players with champagne, families snapping photos, team officials, reporters, photographers, all trampling on the Mets' home turf. It must have been particularly galling for anyone wearing the blue and orange of the Mets. "This is, by far, the best [Series] win since I've been here," Nelson said. "I think trash talk should be left to football players and basketball players. In baseball, it's too hard to back up." The pressure of an all-New York Series, the first in 44 years, simmered over in the Yankees' clubhouse after the win as raucous players let off steam in a back room. They mocked the Mets in a rendition of "Who Let the Dogs Out," the Mets' self-proclaimed anthem for this postseason. And many players, while praising the Mets' efforts, were none too shy in masking their pleasure in putting it to their loud-mouthed neighbors. "You didn't want to come out of this Series a loser," Nelson said. "It won't be too fun for them for awhile." Elsewhere in the plastic-enclosed clubhouse, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani squeezed through the throng of reporters and celebrating players. "This one is particularly sweet," Steinbrenner said. "There were a lot of people saying, 'There isn't going to be any last hurrah.'" So someone asked Steinbrenner if, indeed, this was the last hurrah for a Yankees team that has won four of the last five Series but which figures to be considerably different next season. "Don't bet on it," the Boss said. The Yankees came into this postseason with the worst mark of any playoff team. It was, almost from the start of the season, a yearlong struggle for them. But they made some key moves, including trading for Cleveland slugger David Justice, and shook off a losing streak at the end of the regular season. They fought through the young Oakland A's in the Division Series and the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series and once again put everything together when it counted, in the World Series. Now, they can sit back and appreciate what they've done for the past half-decade, measure it against some of the best teams in history. The Yankees' run compares fairly well, especially considering the Yankees had to win three rounds of playoffs, ever since the Division Series was added in 1995. "I think we can hold up to any one of those great teams," manager Joe Torre said before the game. "I think our run of four World Series appearances in five years is pretty damn good." Especially now that it's been topped with a victory over the Mets.
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