The Mets Sweep the two game series, Last night's 11-2 spanking in front of 55,012 pulled the Mets to within a game of first place in the NL East and muted the talk that Randolph will be boxed.

"It's gratifying to me when my guys start swinging the bat and playing baseball well," said Randolph, whose club arrived in The Bronx having lost three of four to the putrid Nationals. "We had a rough couple of games this week, and to come in and play well against this team makes me feel good."

"They had a reason to be out there cheering," said Johnny Damon, whose 0-for-4 stretched his slump to 4-for-31 (.129). "They ended up kicking our butts. It was pretty embarrassing."

 "We felt like we needed to come out and win this one or the game we won Saturday would have gone for nothing," said Ryan Church Ryan Church , who seems to be in the middle of everything good the Mets do this season and was again last night, homering and making a couple of splendid catches in the Mets' 11-2 win over the Yankees New York Yankees that cinched a sweep in this abbreviated two-game Subway Series.