6A • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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SPORTS
TUESDAY,OCT.2,2001
New York's slide continues with loss to Pirates
Mets final homestand has few highlights, even fewer fans
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The New York Mets started their final homestand of the season looking like a team that had given up.
Gary Matthews Jr. hit a long homer and drove in three runs, and Jimmy Anderson allowed just four hits in eight innings to lead
the Pittsburgh Pirates against New York 5-1 last night.
New York, which blew any comeback hopes by losing two of three in Atlanta last weekend, dropped 41/2 games behind the firstplace Braves in the NL East.
Coming off their firstNL pennant in 14 years,the Mets have just five games remaining to complete a season that will be remembered for
41/2 months of underachievement followed by a spirited comeback attempt that fell short.
Most Mets fans abandoned their team on a chilly autumn night. The crowd of 6,315 was the lowest at Shea Stadium since Sept. 17, 1991, when 4,355 came to a game against Montreal.
The evening's highlight was when the Pirates, theNL's worst team at 59-98, comically ran themselves into a double play in the seventh inning.
Brian Giles was picked off at second by Jerrod Riggan, broke for third, then was run back to second by third baseman Robin Ventura.
Aramis Ramirez, who began the play on first, went to second and was tagged out by Ventura while standing on second.
But that base still belonged to Giles, the lead runner, meaning Ramirez was out.
Giles, apparently thinking he was the runner put out, walked away from second and was tagged out by Ventura for the double play.
Anderson (9-17) stopped Pittsburgh's four-game losing streak and didn't allow a runner past second base after the fourth inning.
After Rich Loiselle put on the first two runners in the ninth, Scott Sauerbeck finished the five-hitter for his second save.
Matthews put Pittsburgh ahead in the second against Glendon Rusch (8-11) with a two-run homer that cleared the left-field bleachers and was estimated at 447 feet.
Ventura had an RBI double in the second, and Matthews' fourth-inning sacrifice fly made it 3-1.
Pittsburgh added a pair of runs in the sixth off Dicky Gonzalez on Kevin Young's RBI single and Mendy Lopez's sacrifice fly.
49ers barely squeeze by Jets with clock-eating offense
The Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Efficiency overcame emotion last night as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Jets 19-17 in New York's first home game since the terrorist attacks.
After a moving tribute to the rescue workers at the World Trade Center 10 miles from Giants Stadium, the Jets (1-2) sputtered offensively and were sloppy with their tackling.
Meanwhile, the 49ers (2-1)
displayed the proper way to run a clock-eating offense, rushing for 233 yards behind rookie Kevin Barlow and veteran Garrison Hearst.
Barlow gained 83 yards on just nine rushes and Hearst had 95 on 20 attempts against New York's soft defensive scheme. Both had just 58 yards coming into the game.
When Jeff Garcia needed to hit a pass, he was on target, finishing 16-for-20 for 141 yards, including a 6-yard TD throw to Terrell Owens.
Jose Cortez kicked four field goals.
New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki, along with New Jersey's acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco, served as honorary captains. Jets coach Herman Edwards presented the game ball from last week's win at New England to Giuliani. Edwards had dedicated that victory to the city.
and the 49ers throttled New York's unimaginative offense in beating the Jets on the road for the fifth straight time.
The Jets set about getting another win with an 88-yard drive that lasted 9:22 and featured a superb over-the-shoulder 34-yard reception by Wayne Chrebet. Curtis Martin dived in from the 2, but that was about it for the flat Jets.
New York managed an 84-yard drive in the dying moments, with Martin scoring from the 1 with 50 seconds remaining. But the Niners recovered the onside kick.
The Niners came right back behind Barlow, who had 44 yards on four carries, including gains of 15 and 25 on the tying drive. Garcia hit Owens over the middle for the 6-yard score.
Former Jayhawk Dana Stubblefield blocked John Hall's 50-yard field goal try, and the 49ers staged an eight-minute march to Cortez's 19-yard field goal for a 10-7 lead. It could have been more, but Garcia
was stopped on a rollout at the Jets 1 by Mo Lewis.
Garcia, who hit his first nine passes, guided the 49ers to Cortez's 49-yard field goal as the half ended.
San Francisco handed back those points when Eric Johnson fumbled on the second play of the second half at the 49ers 41. Tom Barndt recovered, and Hall made a 24-yardter.
So Cortez made a 35-yarder for a 16-10 lead, capping a drive that began when rookie Vinny Sutherland sped 65 yards with the kickoff. He also put through a 29-yarder to cap a 97-yard, 17-play drive that ate up 9:47 and clinched matters.
Notes: Before the game, an 80-foot flag was unfurled by members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines before Luther Vandross sang a rousing rendition of "Impossible Dream," and Heather Hedley performed "God Bless America." The fans, on their feet, then chanted "U-S-A! U-S-A!"
San Francisco rookie defensive end Andre Carter, their first-round draft pick, played against his father's team and got his first career sack. Rubin Carter is the Jets' defensive line coach
49ers RB Garrison Hearst surpassed 5,000 yards rushing for his career with a 3-yard run in the second quarter. He now has 5,092.
Yankees win, but few fans see it
Team draws smallest crowd since 1994 in makeup game
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Sterling Hitchcock pitched his first complete game since 1998 and helped New York beat the Chicago White Sox 8-1 yesterday in front of the smallest crowd at Yankee Stadium in more than seven years.
Only 8,112 fans showed up for the game, which was a makeup from Sept. 11, when the terrorism attacks that devastated New York shut down baseball for six days.
Most of the fans who had tickets for that game opted to trade them in for another game, making it the smallest crowd at
when 5,851 fans showed up for a game against Texas.
The Yankees (92-62), who have clinched the AL East, moved 31/2 games ahead of Central winner Cleveland (89-66) in the race for home-field advantage for the first round of the plavoffs.
If New York maintains its lead against Cleveland, the Yankees would open the postseason at home on Wednesday, Oct. 10, against Oakland.
Yankee Stadium since April 7, 1994.
Derek Jeter drove in three runs, and Alfonso Soriano had two RBIs as the Yankees jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third inning against Kip Wells (10-10).
The biggest relief for the Yankees might have been that they ended the game as healthy as they were when they started. A New York player has left each of the last five games with an injury, complicating the playoff preparation.
Hitchcock (4-4) could be needed in the Yankees' postseason if either Andy Pettitte or Orlando Hernandez doesn't recover from nagging elbow injuries in time.
He showed that he might be ready in his best start since undergoing elbow surgery in June 2000.
Hitchcock, acquired from San Diego on July 30, pitched a four-hitter for his first complete game since Aug.
14, 1998, against Milwaukee, when he was still with the Padres. Hitchcock also had a season-high eight strikeouts.
New York scored three runs in the second, taking advantage of two walks by Wells and opened the inning. Soriano hit an RBI single and scored the first run, and Jeter added a two-run double, making it 3-0.
After the White Sox scored in the third on a sacrifice fly by Ray Durham, the Yankees added three in the bottom half on RBI doubles by Shane Spencer and Soriano and an error by left fielder Carlos Lee.
Luis Sojo, in a 1-for-28 slump, added an RBI single and made it 7-1 in the fifth. Jeter added an RBI triple in the eighth.
Wells allowed six runs and five hits in two-plus innings.
Notes: The White Sox, playing at Yankee Stadium for the first time since June 18,2000, had won four straight in New York.
Catcher Bobby Estalella made his first start for the Yankees and went 0-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch.
- Starter Jorge Posada will return from his five-game suspension today.
Sojo had played only once since Aug. 28.
Well is 1-4 with a 12.68 ERA in his past six starts.
Scoring slump continues as Orioles lose to Blue Jays
The Associated Press
Cal Ripken, beginning the final homestand of his career, went 0 for-4 with two strikeouts and is hit-
BALTIMORE — Jose Cruz Jr. homered to back a solid pitching performance by Esteban Loaiza at the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 1-0 last night.
in his last 25 at-bats. He also had two throwing errors from third base, his first two-error game since April 1999.
Baltimore has been kept scoreless in 19 st rai ght innings and has scored only one run
in its last 25 innings.
Cruz's 31st homer, a sixth-inning drive estimated at 400 feet, broke up a pitching duel between Loaiza and rookie Rick Bauer (0-4). It was his third homer in three games and fourth in his last nine starts.
Loaiza (11-11) allowed six hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking one. Returning to the starting rotation after pitching in relief on Sept. 27 and 28, the right-hander did not allow a runner past second base.
Paul Quantrill pitched the eighth, and Billy Koch got three outs for his 35th save.
Alex Gonzalez had two hits for the Blue Jays, who have won nine of their last 10 games against the Orioles.
Despite failing to retire the side in order through the first five innings, Bauer blanked the Blue Jays until the sixth. After Carlos Delgado hit a 3-0 pitch to the warning track, Cruz slammed Bauer's next offering far over the right-field scoreboard.
Toronto put runners at first and third with two outs in the second before Darrin Fletcher fouled out. Bauer also worked out of a jam in the fifth, retiring Raul Mondesi on a grounder with runners on second and third.
Notes:
The Orioles called up outfielder Tim Raines Jr., the son of veteran Tim Raines. With his father looking on, Raines entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth.
Cruz had not hit a home run against an opponent other than Tampa Bay since Sept. 4, against the Yankees.
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