Baseball: Brosius puts Yankees in sight of glory

SCOTT BROSIUS homered twice, including a three-run shot in the eighth inning, to bring the New York Yankees within one win of a clean sweep of the World Series with a 5-4 victory over the San Diego Padres.

"This is the type of thing that as a kid you dream about, something I've done in my back yard a hundred times," Brosius said after Tuesday's win.

The game looked like a low-scoring pitching duel until both starting pitchers hit singles in the sixth inning. The New York pitcher, David Cone, led off the inning for the Yankees with a single to left field against San Diego's Sterling Hitchcock, who returned the favour by breaking up what had been a no-hitter for Cone with a single when he led off the sixth inning for the Padres.

Cone's effort went unrewarded as the Yankees left three men stranded. But Hitchcock's single sparked his team to a three-run inning to give San Diego a 3-0 lead. It was the first time that two pitchers had hit safely in the Series since 1994.

Cone, whose last hit in the World Series was for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Atlanta Braves six years ago, singled in his second at-bat of the evening.

"We're ecstatic to be up 3-0," said David Cone, who had a no-hitter through five innings.

The Yankees, after an American League record of 114 wins in the regular season, could also lay claim to the greatest season in major league history with a World Series title. The only team with a better regular-season record - the 1906 Chicago Cubs - did not win the Series.

New York must win just once in three possible contests, the last two being at home, to collect their second World Series title in three years and 24th in 35 appearances. The Padres made one other appearance 14 years ago, losing to the Detroit Tigers.