i miss straw
October 10, 2004
What a wild game. Well pitched which was rare of Yoshii. I went to the game to see Strawberry who was awful. The ending was chaotic. I believe it was first and 3rd one out in the 9th for the Mets and some Met hit a fly ball to O'Neill for the 2nd out. O'Neill threw it in and I believe McRae was on 1st and Baerga on third. The ball came into first to try to double off McRae who must've been sleeping on the basepaths. The 1st base umpire called out, the home plate umpire called safe. Chaos ensued. The Mets fans went wild, when Baerga was called safe, then the Yankee fans went wild when McRae was called out, then Valentine came out argued the call and the umpires called Baerga safe and the Mets won and the crowd was crazy with cheers and boos. Fun ending.

Even Stephen
October 4, 2004
I remember watching this game on pins and needles. Hoping and praying the Mets would win. I just kept thinking there was no way we could get swept at home by the Yankees. To make things worse, the Mets were being no hit. But that old Met Magic prevailed and the Mets won it in the bottom of the 9th.

Dave VW
January 6, 2024
A previous poster wrote the ending to this game was chaotic, and I couldn't agree more. With the score tied at 1-1, Baerga led off the bottom of the 9th with a double that bounced just over Tino Martinez's head down the 1B line. Butch Huskey was then instructed to bunt Baerga to 3rd, which I thought was a risky move considering Huskey was not a proficient bunter, and all the Mets needed was a single out of one of their next 3 batters to win it. But Bobby V wanted the runner on 3rd to set up a sac fly situation, which I can also understand considering there were only 5 hits combined between the two teams all game.

Huskey got the job done, and Joe Torre opted to intentionally walk McRae to bring up Rey Ordonez, a ground ball away from turning a double play and forcing extra innings. Valentine countered by bringing up Luis Lopez for Rey, and Lopez smacked one to RF plenty deep enough to score Baerga and win it. But, for someone unknown reason, McRae didn't just hold his ground at 1B (considering his run didn't matter whatsoever) and instead starting rounding the bases, then desperately needed to sprint back to first when the ball came back into the infield. Baerga scored well before McRae could have been ruled out, but I guess in this situation the runner must get back to his base if he didn't tag up, or else the run won't count. And while the throw to 1B would have beaten McRae, it was wild, causing Tino to miss the base and for McRae to arrive safely.

However, 1B umpire Bruce Dreckman called McRae out anyway, and for a minute the Yankees thought they avoided the loss. The Mets went nuts on the field in protest, and after the umps got together, they ruled the run counted and the game was over. Even something as simple as a sacrifice fly has to be difficult for the Mets!

Yoshii probably pitched his best game as a Met, which came out of nowhere considering he had been awful in the month of June. He struck out a career-high 10 and gave up just 2 hits. But one was a home run by Scott Brosius, and the Mets barely did anything against Orlando Hernandez, so unfortunately Yoshii was denied a much-deserved win. Neither starter gave up a hit through the first 4 innings, as the Yankees go their first hit with a single by Jeter in the 5th, while Olerud had the Mets first hit with a single in the 6th. Baerga, who scored the winning run, also knocked in the Mets first run with a single just after Olerud, driving in Piazza, who had reached on a wild pitch after a strikeout.

This game is tied with 2 others for fewest hits allowed by Mets pitching in 1998, and is also tied for the fewest hits the Yankees collected in a game in 1998. While it was nice to avoid the sweep, the Mets were honestly lucky to win this one and still look far from any type of serious playoff contender or a team worthy of earning New York City bragging rights.