‘78 Bombers take 2 of 3 from ‘98 counterparts, who now fall into a tie for first with ‘84-DET

9/17-9/19 Yankee Stadium
GAME 1 - 78-NYY 5, 98-NYY 0
All 3 games would be played in the "House that Ruth Built", so there would be no travel or lag time.  The disappointing 1978 Yanks (10-18) would exact some revenge against their 20 year in the future counterparts by taking the opener 5-0 on the heels of a 3 hit complete game shutout by the "Gator" Ron Guidry.  Louisiana Lightning fanned 9 and walked none as he went the distance.  The 1978 AL Cy Young award winner was completely dominant and moved his record to 3-4 (3.98).  His opponent David Cone went 7 and gave up 5 (4 earned).  1978 went up 1-0 when Reggie tripled with 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd and Roy White plated him with a grounder to short.  They would score 2 more the following inning when Lou Piniella would barely miss and opposite field homer and Fred "Chicken" Stanley would tag up and score.  Cone would bounce one in the dirt that Posada couldn't block, which allowed Mickey Rivers to come home easily to make it 3-0.  Chicken Stanley would singled home Reggie in the 7th and Graig Nettles would do the same to score Randolph in the 8th to give Gator more than enough runs to win easily.

GAME 2 - 78-NYY 9, 98-NYY 3
That '78 team really comes alive in the big moments.  Tenuously protecting a 4-3 lead the unleashed a 5 run shelling of Ramiro Mendoza to put the game out of reach and ensure "Figgy", Ed Figueroa (2-4, 5.17) the victory.  Sparky Lyle, who went from Cy Young to Sayonara this season...thanks to the acquisition of Goose Gossage finally got a chance to do some good for the team.  Lyle came on board in the 8th with his team leading by one and wound up getting the final 5 outs of the contest.  Mickey Rivers went 3 for 4 and had 4 RBI and Graig Nettles hit 2 homers and now has 10 on the season.  Nettles is hitting .324 and pacing the '78 Bombers in all offensive categories.

GAME 3 - 98-NYY 9, 78-NYY 6
The '98 squad was able to salvage a win in the series and avoid the sweep by battering the '78 team's most reliable starter, Dick Tidrow.  "Dirt" had his record drop to 4-2 and saw his ERA balloon to 3.74 after giving up 7 runs in 5 innings.  Andy Pettitte ran out of gas in the 6th inning, but did manage to get the win and boost his record to 5-0 (2.68).  A good sign for '98 fans was seeing Mendoza pitch a scoreless inning after his melt down the previous day.  Mariano Rivera was called upon to get the final 6 outs and get one of his rare 2 inning saves (his 9th) to lock down the victory.  At the time he entered the game the '98 crew was up 7-6.  2 big insurance runs in the 8th off of Ken Clay gave Mo a nice cushion to defend.  Tino Martinez went 2 for 5 with 3 RBI to pace the '98 offense.