With all due respect, forget the bloodshed in the Middle East. With slightly less respect, forget the presidential race or the senate
battle between Hillary Clinton and Rick Lazio.
In New York at this moment, the only thing to talk about is baseball.
It's Clemens against Piazza, it's Leiter against Pettite, it's Rivera against Benitez, it's Valentine against Torre. It's
New York against New York. It's too good to be true.
Like I said last week, this whole Subway Series is surreal to me. While most New Yorkers (or is it New Yawkers?) like to think they're the center of the universe anyway, this past week the Big Apple has been the epicenter of the sports world. And with World Series games scheduled possibly through Sunday, we will continue to be.
Meanwhile, the City that never sleeps continues to snack on No-Doze and coffee as the games run late into the New York night.
On Saturday night, we had Game 1 of the Subway Series, a 12-inning classic at Yankee Stadium. My beloved Mets lost, blowing a 3-2 ninth inning lead, but it was baseball at its finest.
The next night, it was the Yankees and Roger Clemens taking a 6-0 lead into the ninth inning, only to see the Miracle Mets score five runs in their last ups to make it a ballgame. The Yanks would barely escape to take a 2-0 series lead, but the never-say-die Mets had turned a blowout into a memorable near-comeback.
Then on Tuesday night at Shea Stadium, the Yankees and Mets once again gave us die-hards a game the likes of which will not soon be forgotten in these parts.
I personally was writing stories on deadline and didn't get out of the office until well after 9 P.M., but truth be known, it would have taken a Moon Goddess to keep me from watching the game.
Yankees pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez strikes out the side in the first inning, only to be greeted in the second inning with a leadoff homer by Robin Ventura. The Yankees tie it in the third, then take the lead in the fourth, only to have the Mets tie it 2-2 in the sixth.
Oh yes, the sixth inning. With the bases loaded with Mets and one run already in, El Duque, one of the great post-season pitchers of all time, squashes the Met threat by striking out two straight (he would finish with 12 K's) and then inducing a force play to end the inning.
The game would remain deadlocked until Benny Agbayani's clutch eighth-inning RBI double put the Mets ahead for good, cutting the best-of-seven series deficit to 2-1 with two games remaining at Shea.
So where do we go from here? Back to baseball, back to the bars (Bogart's and their big-screen TV is my choice), back to the couch, back to the stadiums, and back to watching and enjoying arguably the best week in the illustrious history of New York sports.
As for me, I'm savoring every moment of this. Considering that I moved back to New York this summer after five long years away, forgive me for feeling like the stars are aligned and there's some kind of cosmic force involved in all this.
I'm just hoping the Moon Goddess is a Mets fan.
E-mail Scott Lewis, lbeditor@liherald.com
