GAME 63: BOOM!

Yankees 15, Mets 0
Box Score/Recap


Two big stories from today’s blowout win: the first is that the Yankees bounced back from their offensive woes by absolutely hammering the best pitcher in the National League for nine runs in three innings. Simply put, it was the worst performance of Johan Santana’s career. The Yankees took note of the Mets’ six runs on seventeen hits from yesterday and did them one (or nine) better, scoring fifteen runs on seventeen hits of their own today. Overall, some very, very productive hitting from the lineup.

The second story, of course, is A.J. Burnett, who dominated the Mets for seven shutout innings, giving up four hits and four walks while striking out eight. Contrast this with his last start against the Red Sox, in which he was pulled after just 2.2 innings and left the game with the Yankees down 5-0. Considering how the Yankees’ pitching has fared in this week’s rotation (dismally, other than CC Sabathia), we can hope that Burnett’s start today is the harbinger of a better turn for the starters. Maybe the bullpen won’t have to pitch so many innings this time around.

Thoughts from the game:

• Francisco Cervelli keeps impressing me every time he plays. Not only does he handle his pitchers superbly (his first ever Major League start was Sabathia’s complete-game shutout earlier this season in Baltimore), but he’s been far, far better with the bat than anyone could have anticipated. He went two-for-two against Santana today, then added a third hit in the seventh to go three-for-five on the day. He hit under .250 over his entire career in the minor leagues, and yet he’s somehow batting .298 against Major League pitching this season (albeit in limited at-bats). And plus, he’s just fun to watch behind the plate.
• Speaking of the young guys playing well, Ramiro Pena has been just a delight to watch in the field. Robinson Cano looked pretty slick on that play, too.
• Nick Swisher is causing some damage out there in right field.
• Joba Chamberlain’s kid must be having the time of his life watching his dad pitch.

The Yankees have an off day and then play the Nationals at home, and even though they’re inexplicably sending Chien-Ming Wang out there for another start, I have to say I like the Yankees’ chances of sweeping this series, especially with CC on the mound for the opener.

GAME 62: Just More of the Same

Mets 6, Yankees 2
Box Score/Recap


Well, that was ugly. Andy Pettitte, like Joba Chamberlain the day before, like A.J. Burnett two days before that, like Chien-Ming Wang the day before that, threw too many pitches in too few innings, putting the Yankees once again in an early hole to climb out of.

They didn’t do it this time.

The Yankee offense could not get it done against Fernando Nieve, a generally unspectacular fill-in starter whom some might refer to as a career journeyman were he not just twenty-six. While I won’t say this in complete certainty—I haven’t seen the statistics, yet—it seems like the Yankee bats really struggle mightily against pitchers they’ve never seen before. The problem could be with the scouting reports, or with the hitting coach, or maybe even with the hitters themselves—or maybe facing the Yankees just tends to bring out the best in young pitchers trying to prove themselves.

At the end of the day, the Yankees are lucky that the final was just 6-2; the Mets racked up seventeen hits against Andy Pettitte and the Yankee bullpen, while the Yankees managed just four.

Still, with yesterday’s “win” against K-Rod (erm, Luis Castillo?), the Yankees have the opportunity to win the series tomorrow—although with A.J. Burnett on the mound facing the Mets’ Johan Santana, it doesn’t look like it’ll be easy.

GAME 61: From Awful to Angry to Abruptly Amazin'

Mets 8, Yankees 9
Box Score/Recap


What? No. No way. That did not just happen. Luis Castillo did not drop a routine pop-up to allow the tying and winning runs to score. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth. With K-Rod on the mound. In the first game of a Subway Series.

That sort of thing just doesn’t happen; that sort of thing lives only in the spook stories told by Little League coaches and over-invested fathers—always catch the ball with two hands, or someday it’ll come back to bite you in the ass and make you the goat of an entire fanbase. Right? Right?

Teixeira and Jeter couldn’t believe it. K-Rod couldn’t believe it. Not even the ever-confident, egomaniacal A-Rod could believe it. How does something like that happen?

In all honesty, the Yankees only won this game in the most technical of senses; the Mets played them very tight, hit better, pitched better, and took advantage of the Yankees’ pitching mistakes, particularly those by Joba Chamberlain. A-Rod was not a hero—in fact, in that at-bat he worked the count to 3-0 before finding a way to pop up on a 3-1 fastball down the middle. K-Rod worked into some trouble in the ninth, but he certainly didn’t deserve the blown save and the loss.

But damn, if it doesn’t feel good to steal one away, especially after that embarrassing series in Boston.

This is the Subway Series, New York baseball’s biggest stage. As Tyler Kepner says over at Bats, there are certain unforgettable moments that sear themselves into one’s memory forever. No matter what happens tomorrow, or this series, or this season, New York will remember this moment for years with a single sentence:

A-Rod pops up against K-Rod…
and Castillo drops the ball!
Some other thoughts from the game:

• Hideki Matsui sure knows how to celebrate his birthday. He may be struggling these days as his career winds down, but he positively crushed a go-ahead, three-run homer as he turned thirty-four today, bizarrely similar to his grand slam exactly one year ago.
• Mark Teixeira has been worth every penny this season. Not only is he having an MVP-worthy season thus far (.290 BA, 20 HR, 54 RBI, .395 OBP over 57 games—that puts him on pace for 55 HR and 150 RBI by the end of September), but he’s also been making his case for a Gold Glove on defense. His play seems to have shored up last season’s porous infield, so much so that he makes everybody look better in field. He could very well be the difference maker in the AL East race against the Red Sox.
• Rooting for the Mets may be a tough gig, but at least Met fans get to watch their games on SNY; I would trade Michael Kay’s gimmicky calls and mindless droning in a heartbeat for just a quarter of the intelligence, succinctness, and adeptness displayed by Gary Cohen and the rest of the SNY broadcasting staff. Don’t believe it? See what I mean in this comparison video, which has the added bonus of demonstrating why I never listen to the Yankees’ radio broadcasts, either.
• The Yankees may still be having trouble engineering sellouts at the New Yankee Stadium, but it seems like it’s becoming louder and more intense as the fans get more comfortable with it over the course of the season. Just please, please don’t use the new place as an excuse to do the wave. It’s embarrassing. This is not Shea Stadium.