By MIKE PUMA
Posted: 5:00 am
June 28, 2008
Derek Jeter finally may have some time tonight to celebrate his 34th birthday, two days after the fact. For now, it's baseball, baseball, baseball.
Yesterday's two-ballpark marathon ended with Jeter's hitting streak alive and well at 15 games, as the Yankees settled for a split in their doubleheader against the Mets, losing 15-6 in the first game before seizing a 9-0 victory in the nightcap.
Jeter's success in interleague play is becoming the stuff of legend. He has reached base in 41 straight games against NL foes, and has a 19-game hitting streak against the Mets dating to 2005.
His best work yesterday came in Game 2, when he drilled an RBI double in the sixth inning, extending the Yankees' lead to 5-0 and sending Pedro Martinez to the showers.
In Game 1, just about nothing went right for the Yankees, but Jeter managed to keep his hitting streak alive with a double against Mike Pelfrey in the third inning.
"What a difference five hours makes," Jeter said. "We went from one extreme to the next, but you just need to have a short memory."
Jeter is a known Mets killer. He entered yesterday's play with a .386 batting average lifetime against the Mets - the fifth highest batting average for an active player against one team.
The leader in that category is the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero, who holds a .403 lifetime average against the Rangers.
In the nightcap, Jeter was in the middle of a fifth-inning rally, drawing a walk after Johnny Damon's single leading off the inning. Bobby Abreu's single scored Damon and Robinson Cano hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning to score Jeter with the Yankees' fourth run.
In the sixth, Jeter's double scored Jose Molina, whom Martinez hit with a pitch leading off the inning.
The only splash Jeter got to make on his birthday, Thursday in Pittsburgh, was on a wet field (the game was rained out, and the Yankees arrived home in the early morning hours).
"It's been like one long day," Jeter said. "I don't even know what today is."
mpuma@nypost.com
