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Jeter's big day leads Yanks past Mets

Jun 16, 2007 - 11:36 PM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- After getting virtually nothing off Oliver Perez, the New York Yankees got plenty off Tom Glavine, whose quest to move closer to 300 wins remains on hold.

Derek Jeter had a key two-run homer among his four hits as the Yankees evened the Subway Series with an 11-8 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.

During their recent nine-game winning streak, the Yankees averaged 7.4 runs and in 14 straight games before Friday they scored at least four runs. Those trends were put on hold against the lefthanded Perez, who scattered five hits in 7 1/3 innings to lead the Mets to a 2-0 victory on Friday.

"We played well," Jeter said. "We swung the bats good. The way it was going early on, I thought it might take a lot of runs in order to win. We've been swinging the bats well with the exception of yesterday."

The Yankees managed just one hit after the second inning on Friday but used five straight two-run innings to record their 13th win in 16 games. They overcame deficits of 2-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and moved back to two games over .500 (34-32).

Jeter, who earlier in the game extended his hitting streak to 11 games, produced the go-ahead run with one out in the fourth when he deposited Glavine's first pitch over the left field fence for a 6-5 lead.

"It was an up and down game," Jeter said. "We fell behind. They came back. They scored. We scored. It seemed like it was going to go that way the whole game. But it was a big win."

"He just has a good look in his eye," Yankees manager Joe Torre said of Jeter. "I've seen it in the postseason. I've been fortunate every year to look at that. Sure it helps me, but more important, it helps the guys."

The Yankees added a pair of runs in the fifth as Robinson Cano and Miguel Cairo produced RBI singles. They tacked on two more in the sixth off Guillermo Mota on Hideki Matsui's two-run single.

Before Jeter's fifth home run of the season, the Mets had grabbed a 5-4 lead on Ramon Castro's fourth home run in the top of the fourth. That erased a 4-3 deficit, which was created by Alex Rodriguez's major league-leading 26th home run in the third.

Rodriguez's latest home run came after he changed bats. Moments after taking the new bat, he crushed a 2-1 pitch from Glavine on to the netting above the retired numbers and in front of the Mets' bullpen in left-center field.

Neither Glavine or Tyler Clippard were particularly sharp.

Glavine beat the Yankees for his 295th win four weeks ago at Shea Stadium. Since then, he is 0-4 in his last five starts and Saturday was rocked for seven runs and eight hits in a season-low four-plus innings.

"He obviously has to keep working on finding his groove and he'll be back on track again," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Anytime Glav has struggled, it's usually he's behind in his location. When he's on, he's pretty solid."

"If you're not making pitches then it doesn't matter who your opponent is," Glavine said. "If you're making bad pitches, especially to the two lineups that I just faced, you're going to have a problem. I think it's more me not making pitches."

Clippard beat the Mets on national television one day after Glavine's last victory on May 20. But the rookie righthander continued his recent struggles and was charged with five runs and five hits in a season-low 3 1/3 innings.

After the game, Clippard was optioned to Class AAA Scranton. The Yankees plan on recalling Kevin Thompson before Sunday night's series finale.

"He has to throw more strikes," Torre said. "We think it's important that he's able to go at a level where he should be competing."

"For me to get all this time I did, it was a learning process," said Clippard, who added that he did not even expect to get more than one start. "Obviously, you don't want to get sent down. I'm going to try and learn from it and get back as soon as I can."

The Mets managed just a run and three hits in six innings off the 22-year-old last month but took a 2-0 lead in the second when Ruben Gotay hit a solo home run.

Glavine gave the lead back as Cairo had an RBI groundout and Johnny Damon had a run-scoring single. Clippard could not hold it as Jose Reyes scored on a balk.

Reyes opened the third with a walk, moved to second on a groundout and took third on a flyout. Before starting his at-bat Carlos Delgado called timeout but did not take it and when Clippard stepped off the rubber, plate umpire Bruce Froemming called a balk and Reyes' trotted home.

After Clippard failed to get past the fourth for the second consecutive start, Luis Vizcaino pitched 1 2/3 scoreless frames for the victory.

Scott Proctor opened the sixth by walking Gotay and heavy rains caused a 40-minute rain delay. When play resumed, Proctor finished the inning by retiring the Mets in order before working around two one-out hits in the seventh.

Kyle Farnsworth allowed Reyes' sacrifice fly in the eighth and Mariano Rivera finished up for the Yankees, who entered the day 8 1/2 games behind Boston in the American League East.

Yanks closer Mariano Rivera, who started the ninth with an 11-6 lead in a non-save situation, made things interesting.

"I was throwing strikes," Rivera said. "They put the ball in play."

Rivera surrendered five singles, including RBI singles to rookie Carlos Gomez and Reyes. But with the bases loaded and two out, Rivera got Carlos Beltran to foul out to catcher Jorge Posada to end it.

Beltran went 0-for-6 and ended three innings. The Mets had 14 hits but stranded 12 and are 2-10 in their last 12 games.

"We had the opportunity in the last inning," Beltran said. "I didn't do anything with that last pitch."