Al Leiter pitches well through 8 2/3 innings, but can't get the final out before the Yankees take the lead. (AP)

Leiter engaged in a classic pitcher's duel with fellow lefty Andy Pettitte.

Through the first eight innings, he had made just two mistakes, both of which were deposited for solo homers by Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams.

In the top of the ninth, he was still out there. Bases empty, two outs, game tied at 2-2.

He was so close to getting his team back in the dugout with a chance to win this game and get the series to a Game 6 on Saturday night at Yankee Stadium.

But like the gnats they are, the Yankees would not go away. Jorge Posada started it with a walk, and Scott Brosius lashed a single to left. All Leiter had to do to get out of it was retire journeyman Luis Sojo. But Sojo shocked Shea and the Mets by bouncing a single up the middle for a 4-2 Yankees lead.

There was nothing left for Leiter to do but be stunned. He threw a whopping 142 pitches and had nothing to show for it but heartbreak.

"Deep in my heart, I know I pitched well," said Leiter. "But it's disheartening I couldn't get that third out.

"I've never been so emotional after a performance in my career. I was upset."

Leiter knew what it was the Yankees were celebrating. He pitched a masterful Game 7 in 1997 to help the Florida Marlins win their world championship and was also a reliever for the champion Blue Jays of 1993.

But having rings already doesn't lessen the pain of missing out on another opportunity.

"The low of this is as low as the high is of winning," said Leiter.

As the game built steam, in no way did it seem Leiter was going to be on the losing end. In fact, he was getting stronger. He struck out two in the eighth, and the first two in the ninth, before it all started to go so wrong.

Fatigue, he says, was no factor.

"I told Bobby I have four months to rest before February 21st," Leiter said. "Let me keep pitching. And he did."

Truth be told, Leiter didn't have a lot left by the time Sojo stepped to the plate.

Asked what he hit on the game-winner, Sojo said, "A batting practice fastball."

Leiter earned the chance to stay out there though.

For Leiter is as much a part of the soul of this team as Mike Piazza or Edgardo Alfonzo. With the game hanging in the balance, he was the man every Met wanted on the mound.

"We were going to win or lose with Al," said Mets left fielder Benny Agbayani. "He's our guy."

If Leiter could have gotten just a little run support, it might have been a different story. But the Mets struggled to score in this game just like they struggled to score all series.

They did build a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second, and Leiter was in the middle of that too.

With runners on second and third and two outs, he surprised everyone by laying down a pretty drag bunt. Tino Martinez fumbled it and Pettitte dropped his throw and the Mets had tied it up. Then Agbayani dribbled a single past third baseman Scott Brosius for the lead the Mets would hold all the way to the sixth inning.

That was when Leiter hung a changeup to Jeter, a pitch that might stick with him all winter.

"Stupid pitch," vented Leiter.

"He was just so focused all night long on every pitch, even the one to Sojo," said Mets pitching coach Dave Wallace.

Leiter, who grew up a Mets fan in New Jersey and began his career with the Yankees, was having a hard time swallowing the moral victory aspect of it.

"We're runner-up to the world champions," Leiter said. "But with how much emotion, soul, spirit everybody put into this and to come up short, everyone is just bummed out."

"Al was great," said Mets center fielder Jay Payton. "He left everything he had out on the field."

But against a team that has now won four championships in five years, not even that was enough.