Yankees Get A Gift From The Mets

It's my first Yankees-Mets inter- league series and the long game was capped off by an ending the likes of which I've never seen in all my years of watching baseball games. It's called the "subway" series because you can get to both the Yankees and Mets stadiums in New York by the tube if you so desire. I take the #4 train from Brooklyn all the way in to the Bronx - about a 40 minute ride. That's plenty of time to read an entire newspaper. By the way - the new Eddie Murphy movie is getting really good reviews and, of course, there's a big sale at J.C. Penny.


It's always interesting to see who the fans are backing while sitting together. The Mets fan is the guy in the middle with the David Wright #5 jersey on. He's between fans of Hideki Matsui - who hit a homer on his birthday again - and star shortstop Derek Jeter. The guy on the right figures everybody knows Jeter wears #2, so he doesn't need to put a name on the famous Yankee pinstripe uniform.

The game ended with Alex Rodriguez being the "hero." Actually, with the Yankees down 8-7 with two runners on base, but two outs in the ninth inning, Rodriguez hit what we all thought was the final out - a high pop-up to shallow right-field. But the Mets' second baseman, Luis Castillo, dropped the ball and both runners scored and the Yankees won 9-8. And A-Rod was treated as if he hit a homer or something really good. The cameras had to focus on somebody, so why not him.

A-Rod was more than willing to go along with the celebration as he exchanged high-fives with his teammates as he ran off the field - moments after he slammed his bat to the ground in anger with himself for making what he thought was the last out of the game in a clutch situation with his team down by one run.

Here's my shot of the Mets pitcher, Frankie Rodriguez, who thought he had the last out and a save for his team. But he watches as the ball drops and the two runners score to give the Yankees the win. I had my camera trained on K-Rod - as he's known - because I wanted to record his elaborate victory celebration. Little did I know I would be his "in-shock" reaction instead.

Here's the same reaction, but from the YES TV Network. Teams can lose games in many ways, but the Mets found a new way to let this game slip away.