The Mets come up with victorious homecoming

A sellout crowd of 55,299 went crazy as Armando Benitez held on in the ninth inning this time, helping the Mets end the Yankees' record 14-game winning streak in the World Series.

John Franco wound up with the win. Benitez, who blew a ninth-inning lead in Game 1, closed it out after giving up a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Chuck Knoblauch.

Nothing bizarre about this one, either. No pitchers throwing bats instead of balls, a stunt from Game 2 that cost Roger Clemens a $50,000 fine.

Hernandez began the night with an 8-0 record and a 1.90 ERA in postseason play, and set a Yankees' World Series record by striking out 12, breaking the mark of 11 set by Bob Turley in 1956.

Still, in a ballpark where the Mets thrive on late-inning magic, it was not enough.

Now, after two one-run defeats at Yankee Stadium, the Mets get a chance to draw even. Bobby J. Jones will pitch Game 4 on Wednesday night against Denny Neagle and Bill Clinton is expected to become the first president in office to attend a Series game since Ronald Reagan in 1983.

Hernandez, who struck out the first three hitters in the opening inning and took advantage of a few extra inches on the outside corner of Jeff Kellogg's strike zone, fanned Robin Ventura to start the eighth.

But after Todd Zeile singled, Agbayani doubled into the left-center field gap. Agbayani has hit in all 12 of the Mets' postseason games this year, including a 13th-inning home run that beat San Francisco in the division series.

Pinch-hitter Bubba Trammell added a sacrifice fly for insurance. The Mets improved to 60-26 at Shea this season, the best mark in baseball. There were more Yankees fans present than Mets rooters at Yankee Stadium, though they were easily drowned out by the huge speakers in center field -- the Mets boosted their sound system with $30,000 in extra equipment this October.

The sixth inning saw the Mets tie it at 2, and showcased all this Subway Series has to offer. Mike Piazza, made to look foolish in striking out his first two times up, led off with a double and Ventura, who homered earlier, drew a full-count walk. Zeile followed with a tying double and the Mets' crowd got loud, raising the decibel count more when Agbayani eked out a walk.

Bases loaded, no outs. And no worries from the Yankees bench -- manager Joe Torre never even had anyone warming up, leaving it all to Hernandez.

El Duque did not disappoint. He fanned Jay Payton and then got Mike Bordick to swing through a 3-2 pitch, shouting to celebrate the strikeout.

The Yankees tied it at 1 in the third on David Justice's RBI double. It came with two outs, as have several of the Yankees' big hits in this Series.

Tino Martinez led off with a single and one out later, Paul O'Neill hit his first triple since July 23, 1999. Scott Brosius was hit by a pitch, but Reed limited the damage and the fourth inning ended with the Yankees leading 2-1. Ventura put the Mets ahead 1-0, homering on the first pitch in the bottom of the second. Hernandez shook his head up and down after the shot, as if to acknowledge he'd made a mistake, and then struck out Zeile, Agbayani and Payton in order.

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