NEW YORK - The New York Mets came across town with their top two starting pitchers loaded for bear and high hopes of parlaying their wild-card playoff entry into a world title.
Now, they face the possibility that the long-awaited Subway Series might be a short ride.
Future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens showed them the Bronx last night, delivering another masterful post-season performance as the New York Yankees held on for a 6-5 victory before a sell-out crowd of 56,059 at Yankee Stadium.
Clemens played the bully again, just as he had in a near no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners during the American League Championship Series, but there was nothing for the Mets to do but pack up and head home to Shea Stadium for Game 3 tomorrow night.
Clemens gave up just two hits and struck out nine over eight innings in his second straight overwhelming post-season performance. He didn't one-up his one-hit outing against the Mariners, but he didn't miss by much.
The Mets did not score until relievers Jeff Nelson and Mariano Rivera combined to give up five runs in the ninth inning.
What a contrast to the night before, when the Mets and Yankees played the longest game in World Series history - a game that was contested until the very last hitter. Before their scare in the ninth, the Yankees took control of this one faster than you could say World Series threepeat, which is starting to look likely.
Postseason monster Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez will put his record October winning streak on the line in Game 3 against Mets right-hander Rick Reed in the first game at Shea, where the Mets tied for baseball's best home record during the regular season.
They have been dominant there in the first two rounds of the postseason (4-1), but their decided home-field advantage might be diminished by the drop-off in their starting rotation.
Reed has not pitched particularly well in this post-season, and his matchup problems also are complicated by a 6.35 ERA in two career starts against the Yankees. Presumably the Mets' starter for Game 4 would be right-hander Bobby Jones, who was 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA in two interleague starts against the Yankees this season.
They will be running into a Yankees' offense that has rebounded dramatically from the late-season offensive slump that threatened to upend their title defense.
