The Associated Press

Booed from the moment he was introduced before his first game at the park, Griffey briefly silenced the crowd when he reached over the wall to rob Derek Bell of a home run Tuesday night.

Wednesday, April 26, 2000

Booed from the moment he was introduced before his first game at the park, Griffey briefly silenced the crowd when he reached over the wall to rob Derek Bell of a home run Tuesday night.

But with the catcalls and chants reaching a crescendo, Griffey looked at strike three on a full-count fastball from Armando Benitez for the final out, and the New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 for their ninth straight win.

”I’ve been booed everywhere I go,” Griffey said. ”I’ve never been here, I don’t know what they do.”

Griffey, who blocked a trade last winter that would have sent him from Seattle to the Mets, received a rough welcome from the 27,153 fans – the smallest crowd to see him this season.

He had a quiet night at the plate in going 0-for-3 with two walks. He struck out twice chasing high fastballs from Al Leiter.

”I’m just swinging at some bad pitches,” he said.

In the ninth, Benitez issued a leadoff walk to Sean Casey before striking out Pokey Reese and pinch-hitter Michael Tucker. That brought up Griffey, and the crowd got louder as Benitez got ahead in the count 0-2.

Three balls later, Griffey looked at a borderline fastball on the outside corner called strike three by plate umpire Rich Rieker.

”I worked inside and outside because if I made a mistake, I knew it would be trouble,” Benitez said. ”He got me, I got him.”

Griffey is 1-for-6 lifetime against Benitez, with one home run and four strikeouts in the power vs. power matchup.

”It was exciting,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. ”You hope for a 1-2-3 inning to leave Junior on deck. But the leadoff walk did not wind up hurting us.”

Bell homered to spark a seventh-inning rally that sent the Mets to their longest winning streak since they took nine in a row in May 1998. Edgardo Alfonzo and Robin Ventura also homered for New York, which has not won 10 straight since 1991.

The Reds have lost four straight for the first time since September 1998.

”That was a tough one, but we’re gaining on them,” said Reds manager Jack McKeon, whose team was outscored 36-7 by Los Angeles in three weekend games. ”We’re not ready to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge yet.”

Mets shortstop Rey Ordonez and third base coach Cookie Rojas were absent, honoring a call by Cuban-Americans to protest the Elian Gonzalez case. Reds outfielder Alex Ochoa, whose parents were born in Cuba, decided to play.

Griffey, a 10-time Gold Glove center fielder, raced into the alley in left-center and reached above the wall to catch Bell’s bid for a leadoff homer in the fifth.

”I just went back and timed my jump. The wind helped by knocking it down,” Griffey said.

Bell, however, got even by hitting a drive where no one could grab it. He opened the seventh with a homer to left that tied it at 5.

Later, Reds second baseman Pokey Reese made a nifty play on a hard grounder by Bell and turned it into a double play.

”Ken Griffey made a great play on me, he’s a Gold Glover. Pokey Reese made a great play on me, he’s a Gold Glover,” Bell said. ”So I figured why not hit one into the stands? There are no Gold Gloves there.”

Bell, just picked as NL Player of the Week, looked completely comfortable in the throwback uniforms the teams wore from 1969. He prefers a baggy fit, and wore these well.

After Bell homered, Alfonzo followed with a single off Scott Sullivan (0-1) and Mike Piazza hit his second double of the game.

Scott Williamson relieved and intentionally walked Robin Ventura to load the bases. Jon Nunnally then walked on four pitches to force home the go-ahead run.

Turk Wendell (2-0) stopped the Reds’ four-run rally in the sixth, beating Ochoa to the bag on a slow grounder to strand runners at second and third.

Benitez earned his eighth save as the Mets won for the 11th time in 12 games.

Notes: Melvin Mora started in place of Ordonez and made a couple of neat plays. Bench coach John Stearns replaced Rojas. … Griffey always did well at Yankee Stadium, hitting 18 home runs with 50 RBIs in 230 at-bats. … Reds SS Barry Larkin, put on the 15-day disabled list Saturday because of an injured finger, said he expects to be out at least three more weeks. … Leiter beat Cincinnati 5-0 in last year’s one-game playoff for the NL wild-card spot. … Actor Dennis Quaid, who stars in the upcoming movie ”Frequency” that makes reference to the Mets’ 1969 World Series season, threw out the first pitch.