They did. Sort of.

Before Game 1 last Friday, Valentine spoke of facing his first World Series and of some of the things he has learned simply from watching over the years.

"Just from watching, probably the one thing that always rang true in my mind was when there was a lack of consistency where sometimes things change in a World Series that people didn't do for 162 games,'' Valentine said. "I always kind of frowned at that.''

Well, sure enough, with runners on first and second, none out in the sixth inning and the Mets trailing 2-1 Tuesday night, Valentine flashed Todd Zeile the bunt sign from the dugout on the first pitch with Orlando Hernandez pitching.

Zeile showed bunt before pulling back for strike one. On the next pitch, he ripped a game-tying double.

Zeile said later it was the first time all season that he'd been given the bunt sign.

Before Wednesday's Game 4, Valentine acknowledged that but told SportsLine.com that he doesn't view it as an inconsistency.

"I didn't really expect him to bunt, for whatever that's worth,'' Valentine said. "I thought it was going to be one of those weird sliders off the plate that everyone was swinging and missing at. And I didn't want him to swing at it and ground into a double play.''

But Valentine denied that he was veering away from his usual pattern of managing in that situation.

"That situation hasn't come up with the kind of pitcher, that kind of spot and that kind of score of the game with Todd,'' Valentine said. "(Benny) Agbayani's bunted in that situation before. So has (Jay) Payton. Robin (Ventura) might have. (Edgardo) Alfonzo has.

"It was a unique situation, given that he was striking all of us out (Hernandez finished with 12 strikeouts). We were squeaking for runs, it was a home game, we were needing a tie (because they were trailing 2-1 at that point) ... all that stuff.''

Strawberry's jam

The Yankees were hit with the news of Darryl Strawberry's latest drug arrest before Wednesday's game. By now, they seem almost immune to the ongoing soap opera of Strawberry's sad, out-of-control life.

"People who know Darryl feel for him,'' manager Joe Torre said. "He's going through a tough time. I've never had a habit that consumed me, so it's really tough to make a judgment on somebody.

"But knowing what he has had to go through cancer-wise and treatment-wise -- not that you will stick up for what he's doing or what he has done -- but maybe half of you says that because of what he's going through, maybe that's part of the reason he's doing it.

"Again, that doesn't make it right. But I think understanding that he's going through a very tough time, he's doing it to himself, basically. That's the sad part.''

Who's No. 1?

With leadoff man Chuck Knoblauch on the bench because there is no designated hitter in games played in National League parks, Torre put second baseman Jose Vizcaino in the leadoff slot Tuesday night and batted Derek Jeter second.

But with Luis Sojo playing second Wednesday in Game 4, Torre moved Jeter to the leadoff spot against Mets starter Bobby J. Jones and batted Sojo second. The move worked: Jeter tore into Jones' first pitch of the game and smoked it over the left-field fence to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

It was only the eighth time in World Series history that a player blasted a leadoff homer. It was last done by Oakland's Rickey Henderson in Game 4 of the 1989 World Series between the A's and San Francisco.

"(Vizcaino) is more of a leadoff type than Luis is,'' Torre said before the game. "Luis has been a good No. 2 guy because he does make contact.

"We won some games with Jeter in the No. 1 hole. He's just batted second more than any other position. But if I recollect correctly, in the five years I've been here and he's been here, he's batted everywhere from first to ninth. It doesn't matter to him ...

"So, hopefully, he can get things going at the top of the lineup. He's a great base runner. I'd like to see him score a run in the first inning.''

Presto, Torre's wish came true. But it sure didn't take any snazzy baserunning from Jeter. Not when that baseball landed on the other side of the fence.

Then, leading off the third inning, Jeter laced a leadoff triple into the right-center gap and then scored a second run on Sojo's ground ball to second.

Zip it, Reggie

Once brash and outspoken, now ex-Yankees great Reggie Jackson is treading dangerously toward tiresome. Remarking upon the numerous managerial interviews Yankees coaches Willie Randolph and Chris Chambliss have had, Jackson said: "Chambliss has had more interviews than Lee Harvey Oswald. He certainly deserves a shot (to manage).''

New York minutes

• Now that games have been played in both ballparks, it's official: Yankees fans seem to get around more. There have been many more "Let's go Yankees!'' chants in Shea Stadium than there were "Let's go Mets!'' chants in Yankee Stadium.
• "You don't hear 'Let's go Mets' chants in Yankee Stadium,'' Mets center fielder Jay Payton confirmed. "But we hear a lot of a lot of 'Let's go Yankees' chants here. "Yankee fans are great people. I just wish we could keep them out of our house. I could actually hear groups of fans yelling, 'Let's go Yankees!' I'm sure there are more Yankees fans in the city. We're not trying to change that. We have some die-hard Mets fans. We just wouldn't mind having some fair-weather fans, too. ''Cracked Valentine: "They're better at getting tickets than our fans, huh?''
• They're selling orange "New York Department of Sanitation'' T-shirts with John Franco's name and number (45) on the back outside Shea Stadium -- just like the ones Franco wears underneath his uniform jersey to honor his father, James, who worked for the Dept. of Sanitation. At $10, they're a bargain.

Short hops

• The Yankees' Bernie Williams remains hitless in the series after Game 5.
• At their annual World Series meeting, the Baseball Writers' Assn. of America elected the Los Angeles Times' Ross Newhan into the writer's wing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y, beating out ESPN's Peter Gammons. He will be inducted at the Hall's annual ceremonies in July.
• Rock star Sheryl Crow moved into the lead in the celebrity national anthem face-off, badly out-singing Billy Joel, who performed the song before Game 1.