BASEBALL NOTES

As a former Yankee outfielder and Cincinnati Red manager, Lou Piniella knows how passionate New York fans can be about their Mets and Yankees, but once his Seattle Mariners were vanquished by the Yankees in the American League championship series, Piniella seemed glad to be heading out of town before the Subway Series starts.

“This is a great sports town, and baseball has always been special here in this city,” Piniella said. “The Mets have their legion of fans and the Yankees certainly have theirs, and now they can go spill beer on each other and get raucous with each other, and I can watch from afar.”

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Torre said he will move scatter-armed Chuck Knoblauch from designated hitter to second base when the World Series shifts to Shea Stadium for Games 3, 4 and 5, so you can bet Met fans behind first base will have a field day with Knoblauch, probably wearing facemasks and taunting him mercilessly. Knoblauch is bracing himself.

“I’m no dummy,” he said. “This has worked out well for us, being able to DH and Luis [Sojo] playing second. It’s too bad we both can’t be out there because he’s done a great job. But yeah, I welcome it. I always want to play second, and I’ll continue to do that.”

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Line of the night Tuesday had to go to Hartford Courant baseball writer Jack O’Connell. During a postgame television interview piped into the press room in Yankee Stadium, outfielder David Justice, describing fan excitement in New York for the Subway Series, said, “This city is going to be on fire!”

Quipped O’Connell: “Don’t give ‘em any ideas.”