The First ever Mets/Yankees game at Shea brought, shockingly, a sellout crowd (me in attendance), and saw Irabu and Leiter duke it out. Yanks scored their runs by running on CF McRae and his awful throwing arm. They must have scored 3 runs on singles with runners on second.

Rey Ordonez made an amazing grab of a Chad Curtis liner in the 2nd with the bases loaded and nearly turned it into a triple play. Posada just barely beat the relay to 1st.

Alfonzo and McRae homered off Hideki in the 5th, and the Mets led 4-3 into the 7th.

Then it happened.

Jeter dragged a bunt to the right side with a man on. Leiter, as best he could, pounced off the mound and got it, fell awkwardly, and couldn't get the throw off.

Leiter ended up injuring his knee and had to come out of the game (and on the DL with a strained patella tendon).

In comes the great, amazing Mel Rojas to pitch to O'Neill.

We all know what happened next.

1st pitch - BOOM. 6-4 Yanks.

Goodnight.

Mets also, if I remember correctly, took the names off of the back of their jerseys for this series, foreshadowing 1999.

Mets2Moon: On paper, it certainly looked like an Irabu vs. Leiter matchup would be a good one, as both led their respective leagues in ERA (with Leiter leading the majors). Unfortunately, neither were particularly sharp in this one, as Irabu failed to get out of the 6th inning, and Leiter gave up 5 runs, the most he allowed all season. But I do need to clear a few things up. First, on the Ordonez diving catch, Baerga never threw to first as Posada had already made it back to the base, so there was no relay for him to beat. Second, I don't blame McRae for any of the runners scoring from second base because I don't think anyone would have been able to throw them out. Most of the singles were softly hit, and the runners were already halfway home by the time McRae even got to the ball. Third, Jeter didn't drag a bunt, he got jammed and grounded a dribbler down the 1B line, and Leiter never fell down but twisted his knee trying to get off the mound to cover first base.

djh: I agree Leiter was likely among the Cy Young leaders at this point in the year. However, he was still very good after he returned from the injury, as he went 8-2 with a 3.15 ERA. But the time he missed likely cost him in the end, as he finished 6th in the Cy Young vote at season's end, with 20-game winner Tom Glavine winning the prize. And you are correct about this being the first time the Mets used jerseys without the names on the back. I HATED this look. It's like we were trying to copy the Yankees and got lazy with trying to identify our own players.

This game really tells you how talented the Yankees were this season, as they sported a starting lineup with no Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams or Darryl Strawberry, had Tim Raines getting his first start in the cleanup spot since 1989, and had Jorge Posada making his first start as a pro at 1B, and they STILL put up 8 runs. Jeter, who turned 24 on this day, had the pivotal play when he beat out his infield single in the 7th, which knocked Leiter out of the game. Leiter was at 110 pitches but likely would have stayed in for one more batter, as the lefty Paul O'Neill was up next. For some reason, despite also having lefty Brian Bohanon warming in the bullpen, Bobby V opted to go with Mel Rojas to face O'Neill. On the first pitch, O'Neill tagged one over the LF wall for a 3-run homer, and that was that. Terrible bullpen management by an otherwise reliable Valentine.

Bohanon wound up coming in for an ineffective John Hudek in the 8th, but was just as ineffective, giving up a walk and 2 run-scoring hits before getting relieved by Bill Pulsipher (who it was nice to see back in a Mets uniform again). Rojas' demise in 1998 is well documented, but Bohanon was right there with him, as in June he held a 7.84 ERA over 9 appearances. Thankfully, neither Hudek or Bohanon would be sticking around much longer as the Mets trade parade would really start to pick up in July.

The Mets had their chances, but in typical 1998 fashion they just couldn't find the big hit. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the 1st but only scored one run. They had first and third with none out in the 6th but again only scored once. They also loaded the bases in the 9th but didn't score. Their lack of clutch hitting, coupled with a suddenly struggling bullpen and the absence of Al Leiter for the next 3 weeks, made it seem like the season was on the brink of crashing down. And you could almost taste the sweep at the hands of the Yankees coming.