Wagner, Glavine lift Mets past Yankees
Wagner bounced back from a dreadful performance and the Mets got consecutive home runs from Carlos Delgado and David Wright to edge the Yankees 4-3 Sunday night.
"You know the importance of winning the intercity series. There's nothing like it," winning pitcher Tom Glavine said. "It's hard not to get amped-up for the Yankees. They're a measuring stick."
Glavine won his fifth straight start by pitching six strong innings and Wright hit a mammoth shot out of Shea Stadium, helping the Mets take two of three from their crosstown rivals. All three games were decided by one run.
"Both teams put on a pretty good show," Wright said.
The Yankees stranded 15 runners.
"We had them on the ropes," manager Joe Torre said.
Derek Jeter hit a two-run single for the Yankees, who rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the ninth against Wagner on Saturday and won 5-4 in 11 innings.
But Mets manager Willie Randolph went right back to Wagner - as he said he would - and the All-Star closer entered to cheers from the crowd of 56,205.
"I was pretty shocked. I don't know if it was Yankee fans rooting for me," Wagner said. "Whatever, it felt pretty good."
Wagner worked out of a jam for his ninth save in 12 chances. Pitching for the third straight day, he gave up two singles in the ninth, but retired Miguel Cairo on a grounder to end it. The hard-throwing lefty struck out two.
"I wouldn't say making amends, but I was showing that I'm good enough to go back out there after taking a whipping," Wagner said. "I guess I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to do better than I did yesterday."
Wagner earned the win Friday night with splendid work in the ninth.
"I didn't think I'd play such a key role," he said. "I'd say it passes all expectations because what's the chances of having this much excitement in three games?"
The Yankees now head to Boston on Monday night. The NL East-leading Mets host second-place Philadelphia on Tuesday night.
Glavine (7-2) gave up two runs and seven hits in his 282nd win. He walked four and finished with four strikeouts, pushing his career total to 2,401, tying Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley for 35th place.
Glavine also became the second seven-game winner in the NL, joining Arizona's Brandon Webb.
"I couldn't have asked for a better beginning to the season," Glavine said.
Starting in place of injured right-hander Shawn Chacon, Aaron Small (0-2) lasted 4 1-3 innings for the Yankees.
The Yankees loaded the bases with none out in the eighth, and Jason Giambi's sacrifice fly cut it to 4-3. But Duaner Sanchez got Alex Rodriguez to ground into an inning-ending double play, handing the lead to Wagner.
"Every inning we had opportunities to break the game wide open," Rodriguez said.
Glavine's defense let him down in the fourth. Bernie Williams led off with a high popup into a whipping wind, and it dropped no more than 50 feet from home plate. The 37-year-old Williams hustled it into a gift double - his second of the game. With the bases loaded, Wright misplayed Jeter's two-out bouncer toward third into a two-run single.
Rodriguez then hit a hard liner to left, and Cliff Floyd made a leaping catch to keep the score 2-0.
Delgado and Wright made up for their miscues in the bottom half. After Lo Duca and Carlos Beltran singled, Delgado hit Small's next pitch into the right-field bullpen for his 15th homer and a 3-2 lead. He raised his fist as he rounded first.
Wright then teed off on a 1-1 pitch, driving it over a tent behind the left-field bleachers and beyond the back wall that separates Shea Stadium from its parking lot. The ball bounced high off a concrete walkway and finally disappeared from view at an estimated 445 feet.
"That's about a $20 cab fare," Delgado said. "I'm a big fan of home runs, so let me tell you, that was a nice one."
Kaz Matsui and Jose Reyes turned a nifty double play to end the fifth, Jeter grounded into an inning-ending DP with two on in the sixth and Aaron Heilman escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh when Kelly Stinnett bounced out.
Small got his pitches up the second time through the order. He allowed four runs and seven hits.
"It was just that inning. I didn't locate the ball where I wanted to, and it cost us," Small said.
New York Mets (22-11) At Philadelphia Phillies (18-15)
The Phillies won the opener, 5-4, but New York came back with a 13-4 rout on Wednesday. The Mets hold a four-game lead over Philadelphia for first place in the NL East.
On Wednesday, Tom Glavine threw seven strong innings and was one of four New York players to drive in at least two runs. Glavine (5-2) earned his third straight win, allowing three runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. He also went 2-for-2 with two RBI and two runs scored for New York.
Jose Reyes had a two-run homer for the Mets, who ended a two-game slide and won for the 10th time in 15 outings. Paul Lo Duca added two hits and three RBI and Carlos Beltran ended with two hits and two RBI for New York, which capitalized on three Philadelphia errors and exploded for six runs in the third to put the game out of reach.
Pat Burrell hit a two-run homer and Ryan Howard hit a solo shot for the Phillies, who had a nine-game win streak halted. The winning stretch was the longest for the club since a 13-game run from July 30 to August 12, 1991.
Steve Trachsel will try to end a two-game winless streak tonight, as he takes the ball for the Mets.
Trachsel is 0-1 over his last two outings and is coming off Friday's no decision against Atlanta. He surrendered four runs and nine hits over six innings in a game that New York would win, 8-7.
The 35-year-old right-hander is 10-9 with a 3.93 earned run average in 27 career starts versus the Phillies.
The Phillies will send Gavin Floyd to the hill tonight and they hope the young right-hander can win his third straight start.
Floyd's most recent victory came last Friday against the San Francisco Giants. He yielded three runs and nine hits in six innings against the Giants despite giving up two home runs.
The 23-year-old Floyd is 1-0 with an 8.10 ERA in two career games (1 start) against the Mets.
The Mets were 11-7 against the Phillies last season and took five of eight meetings in Philadelphia.