2000 World Series: Yankees Win the Subway Series

There were 44 years of hypothetical arguments -- Yankees vs. Mets, Bronx vs. Queens, pinstripes vs. blue and orange -- and when it finally happened, the New York Yankees settled the whole debate in five games. The 2000 World Series, the first Subway Series since 1956, ended with Derek Jeter catching a champagne bath at Shea Stadium and Mariano Rivera making history in someone else's ballpark. Every game was decided by two runs or fewer. None of it was comfortable. All of it was theirs.

The Blunder That Defined Game 1

Game 1 went 12 innings and ran almost five hours (4:51 -- the longest World Series game in history at that point). That's the headline. But the real story of that night is Timo Perez's legs slowing down near second base.

In the sixth inning, Perez was on first with the Mets trailing 2-0 when Todd Zeile crushed one toward the left-field wall. Perez, watching the ball sail, started jogging -- flat-out assumed it was a home run and started celebration-trotting before the ball even landed. It didn't go out. It hit the top of the wall and kicked back onto the warning track. By the time Perez realized he'd completely misread it, the relay throw from Jeter to Jorge Posada beat him at the plate by a mile.

That could've been a 3-2 Mets lead with a run in and nobody out. Instead, nothing.

The Mets still rallied -- Bubba Trammell's two-run single in the seventh tied it, Edgardo Alfonzo's single off Jeff Nelson put them up 3-2 -- and you could feel the series starting to tip toward Queens. Then Andy Pettitte's night was done, Rivera locked it down, and the whole thing stretched into extra innings where an unlikely hero was waiting.

Jose Vizcaino -- utility infielder, barely played all year, started at second base over typical platoon logic -- went 4-for-5 on the night. In the 12th, two outs, Turk Wendell on the mound, Vizcaino lined an opposite-field single to score Tino Martinez. Yankees 4, Mets 3. Series lead, 1-0. (Vizcaino going 4-for-5 in a World Series game is the sports equivalent of the backup friend stealing the scene at prom.)

The Bat, the Silence, the Eight Innings

Game 2 is the one people remember. It should be remembered for what Roger Clemens threw on the mound. It mostly gets remembered for what he threw at Mike Piazza in the first inning.

Here's the context: back in July, Clemens had beaned Piazza in the head with a fastball, giving him a concussion that knocked him out of the All-Star Game. The two hadn't shared a field since. Now, in the bottom of the first in the World Series, Piazza fouled a pitch off sharply and shattered his bat. The barrel skidded toward the mound. Clemens grabbed it and flung it -- underhand, with force -- toward the first base line. Right across Piazza's path as he ran out the ball.

Benches cleared. Words were exchanged. Piazza walked toward Clemens and asked "What's your problem?" Clemens later said he thought the bat barrel was the baseball. Home plate umpire Charlie Reliford ruled no intent. No ejection. (An umpire calling "no intent" on Roger Clemens after the July beaning was an interesting editorial decision.)

Then Clemens went out and threw eight of the best innings a pitcher has thrown in a World Series in the modern era: 8 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 9 K. He left with a 6-0 lead.

MLB fined him $50,000. Joe Torre -- defending Clemens publicly -- said, "Why would he throw it at him? So he could get thrown out of the game in the second game of the World Series? Does that make any sense to anybody?" Torre later revealed in his memoir that Clemens went into the clubhouse after the incident and was in tears. "He was devastated at the result of what had happened," Torre said. So that's the full picture: Clemens may or may not have thrown a bat at a man during a World Series, flung it in a direction that started benches clearing, and then cried about it afterward.

Jeff Nelson came in for the ninth and the Mets nearly pulled it off -- Piazza hit a two-run blast, Jay Payton followed with a three-run shot to make it 6-5 -- but Rivera struck out Kurt Abbott looking to end it. Yankees 6, Mets 5.

El Duque's Best and Worst Night

If there's a game in this series that deserves more appreciation, it's Game 3.

Orlando Hernandez -- El Duque -- went 7.1 innings, struck out 12 batters (a Yankees World Series record), and lost. The Mets pulled ahead in the eighth on Benny Agbayani's double and a Bubba Trammell sac fly, and the Yankees couldn't scratch back against Armando Benitez. Final: Mets 4, Yankees 2.

It ended El Duque's undefeated postseason record. Coming into Game 3, he'd never lost a playoff start in his career. Twelve strikeouts, seven-plus solid innings, and the first postseason loss of his life. It also ended the Yankees' 14-game winning streak in World Series play dating back to their comeback in 1996.

The Mets won. Nobody panicked in the Yankees clubhouse. They'd been here before.

The First Pitch and the Last Out

Game 4 is the clearest encapsulation of who Jeter was in October.

Bobby Jones delivered his very first pitch of the game. Leadoff. First batter. First pitch.

Gone.

Jeter turned on it and deposited it into the seats before Jones had thrown a secondary pitch, before anyone in Shea Stadium had fully settled into their seats, before the Mets had even gotten into a crouch. It extended Jeter's World Series hitting streak to 13 games. The Captain -- hitting .409, seeing every pitch, turning in the most complete offensive performance of the series -- had just announced, on a single pitch, exactly how the night was going to go.

Paul O'Neill tripled and scored, Jeter tripled and scored in the third, and Piazza pulled the Mets within 3-2 with a two-run blast, but Denny Neagle and the pen held it from there. Rivera pitched 2.1 scoreless innings for his second save of the series -- and his 6th career World Series save, tying Rollie Fingers' record.

Yankees 3, Mets 2. Series lead 3-1.

Al Leiter, 142 Pitches, and a Slow Grounder

Game 5 was the cruelest kind of loss for the Mets, which means it was exactly the right kind of win for the Yankees.

Al Leiter was brilliant. He carried a 2-2 tie into the ninth on more than 120 pitches, gutting through innings he had no freakin' business finishing. The Mets had built a 2-0 lead, Jeter homered in the sixth to tie it at 2-2, and Leiter kept erasing everything -- two teams that simply wouldn't let each other breathe.

Then came the ninth.

Leiter struck out Tino Martinez. Struck out O'Neill. He was two outs away from forcing a Game 6. Posada worked a nine-pitch walk -- his 10th walk of the series (a detail that doesn't get nearly enough credit). Scott Brosius singled. Two on, two out, Leiter on pitch 142.

Luis Sojo -- the backup utility man, the kind of guy Yankees fans love for exactly this reason -- hit a slow ground ball back through the middle. Jay Payton's throw from center field hit Posada at the plate and ricocheted away. Both Posada and Brosius scored. Yankees 4, Mets 2. (The ball barely made it to the infield. Leiter threw 142 pitches and got beat by a ball that probably topped out at 80 mph.)

In the bottom of the ninth, Rivera came on. With one out and two runners on, Piazza drove a Rivera cutter deep to center -- the kind of ball that makes 55,000 people hold their breath at once. Bernie Williams drifted back. Back a little more. Caught it just short of the warning track.

Williams squeezed the ball, and the dynasty had its third straight title. It was Rivera's 7th career World Series save -- breaking Rollie Fingers' all-time record.

The Thing About 44 Years

This wasn't just any Yankees title. The dynasty had already won in 1998 (sweeping everyone) and 1999 (four straight over the Braves), so the third straight was both expected and, in a weird way, the hardest to deliver. The regular season had been a mess -- 87-74, lost 15 of their last 18 games -- and this team got to October looking more tired than dominant. They nearly lost the ALCS to the Mariners.

And then they had to beat the Mets.

The Mets were 94-68, NL Wild Card, had just beaten the Giants and Cardinals to get there. They weren't a fluke. They had Piazza, they had Leiter, they had a city full of fans who'd been waiting since 1986 for this moment. The stakes had a personal dimension that no Yankees title since the 1956 Subway Series had carried.

Jeter put it plainly: "Yankees fans would tell me, 'Whatever you do, don't lose to the Mets.' I'm serious: I would have moved right out of the city if we'd lost."

He didn't have to move. He stayed. He hit .409. He won MVP -- becoming the first player in MLB history to win both All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP in the same season. He caught his champagne in someone else's stadium.

The 26th championship. Third straight. First team to do that since the 1972-74 Oakland A's.

The Yankees won, and the debate ended. Until the next one started.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2000 World Series?

The New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets four games to one in the 2000 World Series, clinching the title on October 26 at Shea Stadium. It was the Yankees' 26th championship and their third consecutive title -- the first team to accomplish that since the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics. Derek Jeter won World Series MVP with a .409 batting average, 2 home runs, and 6 runs scored in 5 games.

What happened when Clemens threw the bat at Piazza?

In the first inning of Game 2, Piazza fouled off a pitch and shattered his bat. The barrel skidded toward Clemens on the mound, and Clemens grabbed it and flung it toward the first base line -- right in front of where Piazza was running. Benches cleared. Piazza confronted Clemens on the field. Home plate umpire Charlie Reliford ruled it wasn't intentional and didn't eject Clemens, who then threw eight shutout innings. MLB fined Clemens $50,000 two days later. The incident carried extra weight because Clemens had beaned Piazza in the head during interleague play in July 2000, giving him a concussion. Joe Torre later revealed that Clemens wept in the clubhouse after the incident.

Who was the 2000 World Series MVP?

Derek Jeter won World Series MVP after hitting .409 (9-for-22) with 2 home runs, 2 RBI, and 6 runs scored in 5 games. He extended his World Series hitting streak to 14 games and became the first player in MLB history to win both the All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP in the same season. His leadoff home run on the very first pitch of Game 4 became one of the most memorable images of the series.

Was the 2000 World Series the Subway Series?

Yes. The 2000 World Series was the first Subway Series -- a World Series between two New York City teams -- since the 1956 Fall Classic between the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers, a gap of 44 years. The Dodgers and Giants relocated to California in 1958, and the Mets didn't exist until 1962 as an NL expansion team. Interleague Subway Series regular-season games had been played since 1997, but a World Series matchup between the two franchises had been purely hypothetical for four decades.

How did the Yankees win Game 5 of the 2000 World Series?

Al Leiter was dominant for the Mets, carrying a 2-2 tie into the ninth inning on 142 pitches. With two outs and runners on base, backup infielder Luis Sojo hit a slow ground ball through the middle. Jay Payton's throw from center hit Jorge Posada at the plate and ricocheted away, allowing both Posada and Scott Brosius to score -- Yankees 4, Mets 2. In the bottom of the ninth, Mariano Rivera entered with two runners on and Piazza at the plate. Piazza drove a deep fly to center that appeared it might leave the park, but Bernie Williams drifted back and caught it just short of the warning track to end the series.