Of course, it was a very small bite. And judging from their riveting 12-inning, 4-3 win over the New York Mets, it may take many more until the Yankees finish this thing off.

The Yankees' David Justice hits a two-run double in the sixth inning.(AP)

But as the clock struck 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning, there was a distinct feeling of déjà vu.

The Mets could have won. They should have won.

They didn't win.

Is it too early to paint this World Series in pinstripes?

"Yeah, it's incredible what we're doing," said Yankees starter Andy Pettitte, who limited the Mets to three runs in 6 2/3 innings. "It's incredible what we've done in the World Series.

"We show so much heart. Hopefully, we'll be able to keep playing solid."

Anybody want to argue with Pettitte?

No, not about the "hopefully we'll keep playing solid" part.

About the "We show so much heart" part.

The Yankees are like the needle that kept getting stuck on your old vinyl records. Day after day, year after year, it's the same thing. They now have won 13 consecutive World Series games and, apparently, there is no end in sight.

"We've been down before and come back," shortstop Derek Jeter said. "Anytime you have success doing something in the past, you feel like you can do it again. You've got to get us out 27 times. Or, tonight, it was 36 times, or 33 times."

But who was counting? All anybody knew was, the clock was ticking on the Mets all evening.

As it has been on many, many teams before them.

Here is what happened in Game 1 of the 2000 World Series: Pettitte and the Mets' Al Leiter became the first left-handed starters to oppose each other in a Fall Classic since Minnesota's Frank Viola and St. Louis' Joe Magrane hooked up in Game 1 of the 1987 World Series. They each hung zeroes for five innings.

Then, the Yankees scored twice in the sixth ... but the Mets scored three in the seventh. It stayed that way until the ninth, when the Yankees scratched a run off of Mets closer Armando Benitez to make it 3-3.

So the Mets blew that opportunity. And they blew this one: The Yankees loaded the bases with just one out in the 10th inning, but the Mets got out of it.

Only to watch Jose Vizcaino slice a single to left against Turk Wendell with the bases loaded and two out in the bottom of the 12th.

"In that situation, with the bases loaded, he's got to throw strikes," Vizcaino said simply. "I was ready to handle one of them."

It was an opener that combined the drama of Times Square with the grace of Broadway. In front of 55,913 on a textbook October World Series game -- 68 degrees at game time -- the Yankees and Mets put on a show that amazingly lived up to the hype of the overheated New York tabloids.

The starting pitchers were good. The bullpens -- outside of Mets closer Benitez, who lights up like a pumpkin each October -- rose to the occasion. Vizcaino, whom manager Joe Torre started because he was 10-for-19 lifetime against Leiter, went 4-for-6. And when Mets manager Bobby Valentine called on Bubba Trammell to pinch-hit against Pettitte in the seventh, Trammell delivered an RBI single.

This one contained more plot twists and intrigue than a James Lee Burke mystery.

Only problem was, you already knew the ending.

That's the way things are with these Yankees.

The situation, the predicament, the opponent ... none of it matters to them.

They win.

"I think a lot of it has to do with our bullpen," said Pettitte, acknowledging the work of relievers Nelson, Mariano Rivera and Mike Stanton on this evening. "It's great. We shut down the other guys. Our bullpen is shutting guys down, they're not even getting in scoring position.

"And, I think other guys haven't been in the position we've been in, and these are tough positions, this kind of pressure. We're able to handle it a little better. That's where this stuff comes in to play."

Not only did the Mets lead 3-2 going into the ninth ... not only did the Mets get out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the 10th and still fail to take advantage of it ... the Yankees stranded 15 runners and still won.

"We don't allow ourselves to feel sorry for ourselves," Torre said. "You have a short baseball season if you just feel how unfortunate you are. We knew we had to bounce back. We've done this a number of times."

No question about that. The Yankees had to press to win their division this season. Oakland extended them to five games in the first round of the playoffs. It took six games to finish off Seattle. The Yankees lost the first game in each of the first two playoff rounds, so they had to play from behind to win.

The best example of how resilient they are might be in Jeter's response to a question regarding the demeanor of the Yankees as they were leaving 15 runners aboard.

"I think the fans were drained a little bit, especially the Yankee fans because we kept getting guys on base and not doing anything," Jeter said.

The fans were a little drained?

The only thing Jeter allowed, in fact, was that of the 15 World Series games in which he's now played, Saturday's was the most tense because of the Subway Series angle.

"The city's into it," Jeter said. "There's a lot of electricity. The fans were into it. There was a lot of energy in the stadium. It was loud, louder than I've heard it in a long time."

And it's going to get louder because, the Yankees being the Yankees, they surely have plenty of tricks left up their double-knit sleeves.

Yes, this one took 4 hours and 51 minutes, but, as the Yankees showered and dressed after 2 a.m. Sunday, it was worth it.

"This was probably the toughest," Jeter said when quizzed how this compared to the other World Series games in which he's played. "It probably was the most exciting and, obviously, it was the longest one.

"It probably was the most gratifying one, so far."

The key words being, of course, so far.