JULY 10, 1999 Mets 9 Yankees 8

ONE of the best games of the summer played in any city. And when Mariano Rivera unleashed a 95-mph fastball that cut the strike zone in half at pinch-hitter Matt Franco’s knees, the Yankees believed they had survived. But umpire Jeff Kellogg called the pitch a ball. Franco swatted the next pitch for a single to right that scored Rickey Henderson from third and Edgardo Alfonzo from second to win the game and send the Mets’ dugout racing to meet Franco halfway between first and second.

“It was right over the plate,” Rivera said of the pitch Kellogg called a ball.

While his players celebrated as if they just won the World Series, Bobby Valentine smiled.

“That was the most fun I’ve ever seen guys have,” Valentine said. “That was a very dramatic game heightened by the fact of where we were and who we were playing.”

Paul O’Neill and Jorge Posada homered twice for the Yankees and Mike Pi-

azza hit a home run in the seventh inning that was measured at 482 feet.