The Yankees and Mets faced off this week in the Bronx, in the most recent set of games in the annual “Subway Series”. The Yankees took two of three games, and each was very different.
On Friday, the teams battled back and forth before one of the more unusual conclusions to a game I can remember. Livan Hernandez and Joba Chamberlain were the starters, but neither gained a decision. Notes from Friday:
- Joba and Jorge Posada were on very different pages in terms of how to approach the Mets, and it was fairly obvious. Joba lasted only 4 innings; allowing only one hit and 2 runs, but walking 5 batters. He threw 100 pitches, and shook off Jorge countless times. Brett Tomko inherited a mess, and didnt do much to help things, giving up 4 runs. Girardi elected to go with Mariano with two outs in the 8th, and Rivera gave up a go ahead run. He was soon taken off the hook however.
- Livan Hernandez lasted longer than Joba, but did not fare much better. He gave up 7 hits, 6 runs and 3 HR in his 5+ innings of work. Reliever Jon Switzer served up a birthday 3-run bomb to Matsui, before the Mets pen setttled down.
- Luis Castillo made the now infamous bungle with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and K-Rod on the mound. He dropped a “routine” pop-up from A-Rod, and the Yankees scored two runs for the win. What I feel has been lost in the criticism of Castillo is the heads-up, “playing the right way” actions of Jeter and Teixeira. These are two of the biggest stars in the game, who ran their butts off on what they thought was a game-ending pop-out. If they aren’t busting around the bases on what is normally just a token effort, the Yankees don’t win the game on that play. Met fans have to give them credit for that.
- An off-shoot of this ending is the nonsensical beef between Brian Bruney and K-Rod. Bruney shot off his mouth in the press, to the effect of “K-Rod celebrates like an ass, and I’m glad he got that blown save.” K-rod got mad, both in the media and in person, and there was a minor altercation on the field Sunday. Bruney should worry about pitching and not run his yap in my opinion, though I do agree that K-Rod looks like an ass on the mound when he gets a save, with his Mitch Williams delivery and his pointing/shouting routine. K-Rod should ignore Bruney, and not be dumb enough to physically threaten a 6′3″ 240lb guy. 5′11″ 190 doesn’t match up well.
On Saturday, I attended the game in-person. Fernando Nieve held the Yankees down, and the Mets pounded out 12 hits against Yankee starter Andy Pettite, en-route to a 17-hit, 6-run day. The Mets left 11 men on base, but didn’t need much with a very solid start from Nieve, a last-minute replacement for the DL-bound John Maine. The Yankees tend to struggle with guys they have never seen before, and Nieve had them off-balance all game. Omir Santos paced the Mets with a homerun and 3 RBI, and has been a nice fill-in for the injured Brian Schneider.
Yesterday I made my way back to the Stadium for the rubber-match of the series. It featured a match-up of Mets ace Johan Santana and Yankee AJ Burnett. In retrospect, this may have been a matchup of two stud pitchers headed in opposite directions.
Santana had one of the roughest outsing statistically of his career. He lasted only 3 innings, and was tagged for 9 runs on 9 hits. On the heels of my previous trip to Citi Field to see him face the Phillies, Johan simply does not have the dominating stuff he had at the start of the season. The Yankees jumped all over him, and reliever Brian Stokes, cruising out to a 13- lead.
AJ Burnett, who needed a good start, went 7 innings allowing just 4 singles and striking out 8. He escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam by inducing 2 strikeouts and getting a line-out to Derek Jeter. The Yankees had an easy day once they got out big, and the Mets looked out-of-sorts. David Wright should have been tossed for arguing a called third strike, but manager Jerry Manuel took the bullet for him
Overall, it was an interesting series for both teams. The Yankees need some dominant starting on a regular basis, and only Burnett was dominant this weekend. Pettite and Chamberlain gave the Yankees short outings, which taxes the bullpen. The Mets benefitted from 2 Red Sox wins vs Philly, but are on shaky ground.
Two final bullets:
- Yankee McStadium?- Seems like the Mets only got 3 in 3 games, and two were from Sheff. David Wright, who some claim would lead the league in HR/RBI/OPS if he played in the Bronx had 2 extra base hits and 1 RBI all weekend. He is an outstanding player, and this isn’t a knock on him, but lets stop calling stats from the Stadium cheap.
- Who Can’t hit Big-League Pitching?- Daniel Murphy is batting .238, Fernando Martinez is batting .216. Melky Cabrera is batting .294 and Brett Gardner is batting .276. Since a lot of stuff here is recorded for posterity, lets apply the same standards to players on our own team that we do to players on someone else’s.
4/14/09 “Gardner blows. Completely over-matched by major league pitching.”
6/15/09 “Murphy (hitting 40 points lower than Gardner, who I think blows) _________________.
June 16, 2009 at 11:31 am |
Nice arm that one-tool Gardner has by the way. Loved the throw to the plate against the Sox Thursday Night — 25-hopper from shallow left center. And great angle he took on Beltran’s “double” where fell down after misreading the ball and then took about 5 steps and made a big wind up in order to throw another “bullet” into second. Gardner blows. I stand by that comment. Melky doesn’t blow like Gardner. He is just nothing special.
F-Mart is 20 years old and not close to being ready. He’s just a baby, and only up due to injuries. Everybody knows he’s not ready, and he belongs in the minors. But he was leading the International League in extra base hits when he was called up, though he was the youngest guy in the league. Murphy ain’t hitting, and Manuel is making it worst by misusing him. Murph can hit, just needs more consistent AB’s. The question is can he hit enough for a first-bagger. That remains to be seen. I’m not sure.
Please, enough with the blowing of Tex for hustling. It was a 3-2 count with two outs and he was running with the pitch — that’s why he scored. He did nothing more than what any other major leaguer would have done. He did not run particularly hard. He put his head down and did a fast jog out of frustration of an expected loss until he got to third and was waved home b/c the ball was dropped.
You should have lost two out of three to an injury-ravaged team full of players you believe are “scrubs.” So, I wouldn’t get too excited if I was you. You still can’t beat the Red Sox.
Total joke of a ballpark, and any hitter’s stats from there have to be looked at as if they came from Coors. How is your hero Matt Holliday doing outside of Coors by the way? Jeter’s homer on Friday night, and A-Rod’s on Saturday were as cheap as they come. At least Jeter’s was fairly well hit and might have been a legitimate double, but A-Rod’s was a lazy flyball and a routine out in any other ballpark. Santos’ wasn’t much better than Jeter’s. I didn’t see Sunday’s homers.
June 16, 2009 at 11:37 am |
By the way, do you really think Frankie Rodriguez’s “antics” are that bad. Seems pretty timid to me. Perhaps he toned it down this year from years past, but some games he does nothing, other games he just hits himself in the chest and points to the sky with both arms while walking off the mound. He’s no Papeldouche for sure. And, frankly, I have seen greater displays of douchebaggery from Coke and Joba during games, as opposed to after saves. Joba’s antics after striking out Lowell in the top of the fifth were pathetic. I defended him last year to friends by saying he’s just a goofy kid having fun, but that was too much for me. He’d get plunked if he pitched in the NL.
June 16, 2009 at 11:56 am |
“Gardner blows. I stand by that comment”- You called him “completely overmatched by major league pitching”, yet he hits .270+. You can stand by the comment, but you will be wrong. He’s no stud, and might not have a regular job if Nady was healthy, but you are wrong about him not being able to hit.
You can bag on his arm, and rightly so. He makes Damon look like a cannon arm at times. But Murphy was a joke in the outfiled, and can’t hit. You made him out to be better than Damon, which is clearly absurd at this point. He is the same age as Melky, and Melky is a much better player.
Lets be fair here. You knock Melky as nothing special, but tout what a great player Murphy will be. “His bat is great and he does all the little stuff you love offensively (working the count, hitting behind the runners, etc.)”
I dont love a .600 OPS and a .238 average, and those are hardly little things. He’s below Gardner’s level offensively, and you wouldn’t buy any of the excuses you are making if I made them about a Yankee.
June 16, 2009 at 12:08 pm |
http://images.dailyradar.com/media/uploads/ballhype/photos_large/2008/09/13/krod.jpg
The above pic is the finale of K-rod’s nonsense. Its a wild lurch off to the side, a kneeling scream, three chest pounds and a double sky point. Maybe its less so this year, but it was the K-rod show for a long time.
June 16, 2009 at 12:22 pm |
“You should have lost two out of three to an injury-ravaged team full of players you believe are “scrubs.” So, I wouldn’t get too excited if I was you. You still can’t beat the Red Sox.”
The timing of the error was especially bad, but you can’t say we should have lost two of three. “Should have” is purely speculative. Mariano should have struck out Wright. Joba should have thrown more strikes. If Castillo makes that error in the 7th and the Yankees have a 3 run lead, Coke stays in the game.
Your team got smashed with you ace on the mound, and shut out. I’m not getting excited about taking the series, but I can get excited about Sunday.
June 16, 2009 at 12:50 pm |
That picture of K-Rod is with the Angels. That’s my point. I haven’t seen any such “antics” with the Mets, and I have seen all of his saves.
By the way, Coke should have stayed in game 1. Girardi is a dope. I can’t understand managers who insist upon changing pitchers, although the pitcher in the game is throwing well. It drives me insane. Just leave well enough alone, moron.
You can’t compare Mariano’s failure to strike out Wright with Castillo’s failure to make a play any 5th grader would have made with two outs in the ninth. That game was a complete gift.
I would not trade Murphy for Gardner. In fact, I wouldn’t give you a tepid six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon for that scrub. A little premature to call Murph a bust or to conclude that Gardner is a 270 hitter. Time will tell.
June 16, 2009 at 1:29 pm |
a 4-time gold glover didn’t make the play. The fallacy of the predetermined outcome is at play there.
As for Murphy and Gardner, I’ll take a fast guy hitting .270+ and improving in all areas in his second year of playing time as a backup over a 1B who can’t hit and is on the decline in his second year.
For K-Rod, I’m not saying others don’t do it, but he’s been over the top for years, and still puts on a show. Bruney has been on the team when K-Rod did it to the Yankees while on the Angels. He might not go as nuts, but he def still puts on a dramatic production, and it is only June:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/irWHxiRkP0k/Philadelphia+Phillies+v+New+York+Mets+Philadelphia/526Hmlx1kt-/Francisco+Rodriguez
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/05/26/alg_krod-celebrates.jpg
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0fedcx5fRH7On/610x.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3319/3556581010_5b49b0e4b4.jpg
June 16, 2009 at 1:33 pm |
He does less than Joba did against Lowell, in the fifth inning, while losing. Why didn’t any of the “reporters” present do their job and ask the self-anointed arbiter of baseball decency whether what Joba does it proper.
And how about those little league celebrations the Yanks do after every win, starring Melky Cabrera as leading douchebag. Those in glass houses…
June 16, 2009 at 2:04 pm |
Once again, he did something few in baseball have ever done. Getting a save is not extraordinary. Striking out 12 of 14 is. Firing up yourself to keep going is different than grandstanding when the game is finished and you already won, walking with your arms outstretched, “pay attention to me, for I am wonderful” ala Manny and K-Rod.
The Mets might win 5 games between now and my wedding.
June 16, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
So jumping around screaming and fist-pumping in the middle of the game is acceptable in your eyes? Aubrey Huff disagrees, and he’s not alone. And plenty of pitchers have struck out the side in the fifth inning while losing the game by a run. But only Joba celebrated like he had won the world series while showing up a classy player.
There is a HUGE difference between celebrating a win and celebrating on the field during the game. And with the childish antics of the Yankees these days and with guys like Joba and Coke on your roster, no Yankee and no Yankee fan has the right to bitch about any other player in this league. Simply put, and whether you like it or not, Papeldouche would fit into your clubhouse these days much more so than Mariano.
June 16, 2009 at 3:16 pm |
12 strikeouts in 14 batters. Hello? That never happens. Its a spectacular thing. Pump your fist. Don’t do it when you strike out one guy, or the side. hell, its not even necessary when you are winning. But 12 of 14 is amazing, and
You got a real feel for the pulse of the Yankee clubhouse huh? What is all your years of watching baseball would suggest to you that the franchise icon Mariano Rivera doesn’t fit in his own clubhouse? All those reports of tension between Mariano and the other relievers, who revere him? His problems with his championship teammates Jeter, Posada and Pettite? He may not do the pie in the face, or the handshakes, but he did sit as the judge of the Kangaroo Court that they did recently, which both serves as an example of his participation and influence in the clubhouse and completely refutes your point. He along with Jeter, Molina, pettite…etc serve as the veteran champion pedigree ying to the exuberant yang of Cano-Melky-Swisher.
Come on man, I get that Papelbon is more like Swisher and Damon, but the Yankees are Jeter and Rivera first and foremost, and thats a fact.
June 16, 2009 at 3:26 pm |
Not anymore. They are much more Damon, Burnett, Melkey and Swisher these days, and the jumping around like a bunch of teenage girls at a Jonas Brothers concert after every win pretty much confirms it.
Mariano is pure class, and Jeter is not far behind. I’d take those guys on my team any day. But most of the rest of the team…, you can keep them.
June 16, 2009 at 3:30 pm |
And I don’t want to leave out Cano. Watching him dog Castillo’s slow grounder to second into a single on Saturday afternoon — priceless. Sat back, didn’t charge, then did his casual underhanded flip throw to first. He’s a total POS. As i said last year, he can hit, but he never would have been permitted near your team of 96-00. He would have gotten his ass kicked and then traded away.
June 16, 2009 at 6:59 pm |
I don’t know who the jonas brothers are, but I can’t imagine their teenage fans are the most apt analogy for a major league team who (until the boston series) was playing the best baseball in the league. Celebrating as a team is much different than celebrating as an individual. K rod screams and points and opens his arms before he gives one handshake. Me me me, I did this, and as a result my team won.
Again, I think you are off on the identity of the Yankees. They guys you mentioned are noticeable for the fan who flips to Yes during commercials, and catches recaps. Matsui, jeter, posada, pettite, mo, molina,Wang, aceves, are not the same as them. Reserved, professional, experienced. Damon is less like that than he used to be, as he’s in a contract year. Melky and cano are young and best friends. Cano still has effort lapses, but both defer to mariano molina and even a-rod.
Sorry but agree to disagree is all I will concede on this one, and you know that despite my leanings I don’t just follow the positive stories on the Yankees. I read all I can find, and while the new guys may have loosened it up, there is no doubt who comes first, and (for better or worse) often before giradi.
June 16, 2009 at 10:34 pm |
K Rod got the save tonight, and just shook hands and did nothing else. Absolutely nothing. That’s what he has been doing 90% of the time.
June 17, 2009 at 7:52 am |
Well he allowed two runs and nearly blew the game. Celebrating after that would be a little silly, wouldn’t it?
June 17, 2009 at 10:27 am |
But not as bad as celebrating in the top of the fifth while losing 4-3. Doesn’t Joba celebrate as an “individual.” Doesn’t Coke celebrate as an individual? And don’t such celebrations in the middle of field in the middle of the game show up opposing players much more than after the game is over?
And he didn’t give up two runs. He allowed two inherited runners to score, and only because of a terrible call on a 3-2 “check” swing by Ty Wiggington.
As for pulling out old quotes, where are your statements from the Spring insisting that Wang was an “elite pitcher”?
June 17, 2009 at 11:00 am |
I never said he gave up two runs. My exact quote was “Well he allowed two runs”. Which is precisely what he did.
As for Joba and Coke, I never excused their fist pumping/celebration, except in the case of Joba’s remarkable 12-14 Ks. You compared K-Rod to the Yankees celebrating a win, and thats not nearly the same thing.
June 17, 2009 at 11:14 am |
And Yes, I am aware of the absurdity of considering a pitcher who was 54-20 with a 3.85 ERA and 1.29 WHIP in his first 4 years as a starter, elite. What could I have been thinking? I should have known that his surgery and injuries would get him off to a rough start, and disregarded all the clear-cut data that said otherwise in the Spring.
June 17, 2009 at 11:46 am |
A 3.85 ERA is much closer to mediocre than it is to elite, and it was beyond absurd to call him elite. And his skills had been steadily eroding if you look at his command and dominance. A sinkerballer who puts a lot of balls in play needs excellent command, and his had been decreasing. I had always maintained that he would falter. I just never expected it to happen so quickly, and in such an extreme fashion.
But I wouldn’t count him out quite yet. He might recover some sink and improve his secondary offerings. He’s still young. The question is will he do it for the always impatient Yanks, or for someone else. Right now, I’m guessing the latter. Seriously, what do they do with him if he gets rocked again tonight? He’s out of options, and he would not pass waivers. Doesn’t really help you in the pen. It’ll be interesting to see.
June 17, 2009 at 2:36 pm |
And for the overrated Yankee stat of the day:
Melky Cabrera outside of Yankee McStadium has 0 homeruns, 3 ribi, and a robust .333 slugging percentage.
June 17, 2009 at 3:09 pm |
He has 44 more AB at home.
June 17, 2009 at 3:13 pm |
Well that explains his sheer incompetence on the road.
June 17, 2009 at 3:22 pm |
Seriously, though, what do they do with Wang if he gets rocked again tonight? It seems as if they have imprudently painted themselves in the corner with their statements regarding the importance of tonight’s performance.
June 17, 2009 at 3:23 pm |
Mets stat of the day:
They haven’t won a title since 1986.
Other famous happenings that year-
The first federal Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is observed
Out of Africa wins Best Picture at the Oscars
Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone’s secret vault
Roger Clemens sets the record for the most strikeouts in a 9-inning MLB game, striking out 20 batters.
Jonathan Neise and Francisco Cervelli are born.
June 17, 2009 at 3:24 pm |
He’ll be fine, considering the woeful Mets are 7-2 vs the Nats.
June 17, 2009 at 3:38 pm |
Thanks for the Mets stat of the day. Loved it. Niese was actually born on the night the Mets won the WS. But the Mets beat the Red Sox, which is something your team can’t do.
I always maintained that Clemens should get an * because he K’d Gorman Thomas four times.
And if Wang isn’t fine?
June 17, 2009 at 8:31 pm |
Did you ever read Hitting the Black by john Feinstein? I’m like 1/3 the way in and it’s a pretty interesting look at Glavine and Moose.
June 18, 2009 at 8:58 am |
No. But I heard a lot about it, and heard several author interviews.
June 18, 2009 at 6:49 pm |
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/200903-baseball-teams-and-mario-enemies
June 27, 2009 at 6:25 am |
Gardner 1- pelfry 0
That scrub really shut us down. Especially noted hitters like Gardner sabathia and pena.