By GEORGE A. KING III
Posted: 5:00 am
June 28, 2008
Leave it to Bobby Abreu to lurk in somebody else's shadow.
With the Yankees desperate for runs in the second Subway Series game last night at Shea Stadium, Abreu's bat coupled with a scoreless, six-inning outing from Sidney Ponson enabled the Yankees to cop a split in the day-night, two-stadium doubleheader with a 9-0 victory in the nightcap.
Abreu went 4-for-4 and drove in three runs, but it wasn't close to being the best offensive performance of the day. That title belonged to the Mets' Carlos Delgado, who hit two homers and drove in nine runs in the 15-6 Mets win earlier in the day at Yankee Stadium.
Because Abreu went 0-for-3 in the opener and started the nightcap batting a feeble .136 (3-for-22) against Mets starter Pedro Martinez it wasn't a smart wager to bet on the Yankees' No. 3 hitter.
Nevertheless, Abreu singled in the first, walked, stole second and scored in the fourth. He also delivered an RBI single in the fifth, an RBI double in the sixth off left-hander Scott Schoeneweis and an RBI single off right-hander Joe Smith in the seventh when the Yankees put the game out of reach.
"I like the way Bobby is swinging the bat," manager Joe Girardi said. "Some times numbers don't tell you everything and numbers against Pedro, a lot of times, they aren't going to be (good)."
That Abreu's RBIs in the sixth and seventh came with two outs and runners in scoring position wasn't a surprise. Going into yesterday's action Abreu was hitting .419 (13-for-31) with runners in scoring position and two outs. That was tops in the majors among hitters with a minimum of 20 at-bats.
Abreu is 10-for-20 (.500) with two homers and nine RBIs in the past five games after snapping out of a 2-for-33 (.061) slide.
