New York Marathon

It’s a good thing this World Series is being played in the city that never sleeps, because the New York Mets and Yankees battled so deep into a balmy 68-degree Saturday evening that it was more than an hour into Sunday morning by the time Game 1 ended.

Former Dodger and Met Jose Vizcaino lined a two-out, bases-loaded single to left field in the bottom of the 12th inning to lift the Yankees to a 4-3 win over the Mets before 55,913 insomniacs in Yankee Stadium, ending a 4-hour, 51-minute game that was the longest in World Series history.

The Yankees, who won their record 13th consecutive Series game, had loaded the bases with one out in the 12th off reliever Turk Wendell on Tino Martinez’s single, Jorge Posada’s double and Paul O’Neill’s intentional walk.

Wendell got Luis Sojo to pop to catcher Todd Pratt for the second out, but Vizcaino, who got a rare start because of his career .526 average (10 for 19) against Met starter Al Leiter, knocked Wendell’s first pitch cleanly into left for his fourth hit of the game off four pitchers.

“I was hoping to get to the World Series, but I didn’t think I’d be the hero of the first game,” said Vizcaino, acquired from the Dodgers for Jim Leyritz on June 21. “I felt real comfortable at the plate and was looking for a first-pitch strike.”

Yankee Manager Joe Torre said he would have pinch-hit for Vizcaino if he needed an extra-base hit or a home run, but when the situation called for a single, he left Vizcaino in the game.

“He had a heck of a night, and he’s a good player,” Torre said. “Brian Cashman [Yankee general manager] has made a couple of key deals, and getting David Justice and Denny Neagle were the biggest ones, but getting Vizcaino and Sojo were little deals for guys who really fit in.”

Left-hander Mike Stanton threw two perfect innings to gain the victory, capping 5 1/3 scoreless relief innings by Stanton, Mariano Rivera and Jeff Nelson.

“It hasn’t been as easy for us this year as it was in the past, but we’re battlers,” Stanton said. “If we can keep putting zeros up as pitchers, our lineup is going to come through.”

It didn’t in the 10th, when the Yankees failed to score after putting runners on second and third with no out. Justice and Bernie Williams opened with walks off Met reliever Dennis Cook, and Clay Bellinger came on to run for Justice. Met Manager Bobby Valentine pulled Cook for left-hander Glendon Rusch, whose wild pitch allowed both runners to advance.

With the infield in and outfield shallow, Martinez popped a ball over shortstop Kurt Abbott’s head, but left fielder Joe McEwing raced in to make the catch, the runners holding.

Jorge Posada was walked intentionally to load the bases, and O’Neill grounded into an inning-ending, 4-6-3 double play. That killed the momentum the Yankees had gained with a game-tying rally off Met closer Armando Benitez in the ninth.

Trailing, 3-2, O’Neill walked with one out, and Luis Polonia, the ex-Tiger, ex-Brave, ex-Oriole, ex-Angel, ex-Athletic and two-time ex-Yankee who spent the 1997 and ’98 seasons playing in Mexico City, slapped a pinch-hit single to right.

Vizcaino, who started the Yankees’ two-run sixth with an infield single, lined a single so sharply to left that O’Neill had to stop at third. Chuck Knoblauch then lifted a sacrifice fly to left for a 3-3 tie before Benitez struck out Derek Jeter to end the inning.

The Yankee comeback made a Met missed opportunity in the top of the ninth sting even more. Pratt was hit by a pitch with one out, and Abbott doubled over O’Neill’s head in right, putting runners on second and third.

The Yankees brought their infield in, and Timo Perez chopped a grounder to second. Vizcaino bobbled the ball and recovered in time to get Perez at first, but Pratt was not going with contact and held at third. Rivera then struck out Edgardo Alfonzo to end the inning.

Until the Yankee rally in the ninth, it appeared the first Subway Series game in 44 years would be decided by a guy making a token appearance.

Bubba Trammell, in only his fourth at-bat of the postseason, lined a pinch-hit, two-run single to left to key a three-run seventh inning that gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.

Justice had given the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the sixth when he followed Knoblauch’s fielder’s choice and Jeter’s walk with a two-run double to left-center off Leiter, who gave up two runs on five hits and struck out seven in seven innings.

But the Mets loaded the bases with one out in the seventh when Benny Agbayani and Jay Payton singled and Pratt walked. Valentine pulled Mike Bordick for Trammell, who entered with a .389 average (seven for 18), three doubles and a home run lifetime against Yankee starter Andy Pettitte.

With one short, sweet swing, Trammell, acquired with reliever Rick White in a July 28 trade with Tampa Bay, stroked a two-run single to left, tying the game, 2-2, and improving his career mark against Pettitte to .421. Perez was thrown out on a bunt attempt, moving the runners to second and third.

Torre summoned Nelson to face Alfonzo, who beat out a dribbler to third to score Pratt with the go-ahead run.

A base-running blunder by the speedy Perez cost the Mets a run in the sixth. With two out and Perez on first, Todd Zeile hammered an 0-2 Pettitte pitch to deep left, missing a home run by inches when the ball hit the top of the padded left-field wall and bounced back into play.

Several Mets sprung to the top dugout step and circled their fingers in the air, expecting left-field umpire Tim McClelland to signal home run. Perez thought it was a home run too, because he coasted around second and didn’t turn on the afterburners until he neared third.

Justice’s relay throw was a few steps to Jeter’s left, but the Yankee shortstop fielded the ball and made a strong off-balance, one-hop throw to the catcher Posada, who applied the tag to Perez to end the inning.

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Nothing Amazing

If there was such a thing as Met Magic in the postseason, it quickly disappeared against Yankees. D6

Mets Get No Closer

Armando Benitez experienced another postseason flop, missing a chance for a save in ninth. D6

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GAME 2

METS

Mike Hampton

at YANKEES

Roger Clemens

5 PDT tonight

Channel 11