Mets Suffer at the Gate as Well as on the Field

Fifty-thousand empty seats at Shea Stadium said it all--the New York Mets’ season is over.

“We’re not mathematically out of it, but it’s going to take a super miracle,” Jay Payton said Monday night after hitting into a double play that ended the Mets’ 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Gary Matthews Jr. hit a home run and drove in three runs, and Jimmy Anderson allowed four hits in eight innings to avoid becoming the National League’s second 18-game loser.

New York, which blew any comeback hopes by losing two of three in Atlanta last weekend, dropped four games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East.

Coming off their first pennant in 14 years, the Mets have only five games remaining to complete a season that will be remembered for four months of underachievement followed by a spirited comeback attempt.

“We have to win five games and Philly has to win three and lose three,” Met Manager Bobby Valentine said. “They have to win the right ones. Very concrete. We know what we have to do and what has to happen.”

Left unsaid was that Atlanta has to lose five of its last six games, not likely for a team that has won nine division titles in a row.

The crowd of 6,315 was the lowest at Shea Stadium since Sept. 17, 1991, when 4,355 came to a game against Montreal.

In the American League:

New York 8, Chicago 1-Sterling Hitchcock showed Yankee Manager Joe Torre he’ll be ready if needed in the postseason by pitching his first complete game since 1998 at New York.

Hitchcock (4-4) could be called upon as a starter in the postseason if either Andy Pettitte or Orlando Hernandez doesn’t recover from nagging elbow injuries.

Before the game, Torre speculated he might consider using a three-man rotation in the postseason if he doesn’t have his top four starters healthy. After the game, it was a different story.

“If [Hernandez] is not ready to pitch for us in the postseason, with this game tonight, Hitchcock certainly made a case for himself,” Torre said.

The crowd of 8,112 was the smallest at Yankee Stadium in more than seven years. The game was a makeup from Sept. 11, when the terrorist attacks that devastated New York shut down baseball for six days.

Derek Jeter drove in three runs for the Yankees (92-62), who have clinched the American League East title and moved three games ahead of AL Central winner Cleveland (89-66) in the race for home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs.

Toronto 1, Baltimore 0-Jose Cruz Jr. homered to back a solid pitching performance by Esteban Loaiza, who allowed six hits in seven innings at Baltimore.

Cal Ripken, beginning the final homestand of his career, went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and is hitless 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 held scoreless in 19 consecutive innings and has scored only one run in its last 25 innings.

Tampa Bay 10, Boston 3-Tanyon Sturtze (10-12) became the Devil Rays’ first 10-game winner at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Sturtze is only the third Tampa Bay pitcher to record double-digit wins, joining Rolando Arrojo (1998) and Albie Lopez (2000).