Subway Series Recap and Notes
Some quick notes about the Subway Series
I thought the Yankees were supposed to take pitches, but excepting a couple of innings where some Mets pitchers struggled, they really didn’t.
While a limited sample size, Jeter’s range looks very very suspect.
My unofficial analysis suggests it was 70-30 Mets fans on Friday, and closer to 60-40 on Sunday, although most of the Yankees fans left on Sunday before they had anything to cheer about.
Shake Shack continues to have ridiculous lines. Need more grills!
In the past Subway Series games, especially Sunday night, have been rowdy and violent to the point of almost making it unfun. This wasn’t the case this series, I was there for both a loss and a win, and it never progressed much past good-natured ribbing. There will probably be more fights by the 5th inning against the Phillies Tuesday than all weekend.
The Yankees injuries have messed with the bench most of all. It’s not as big a deal when they play AL ball, but when they need pinch hitters they are woefully unprepared. I wonder if they could use a guy like Gary Matthews Jr?
Big thanks to the Mets for emailing me some postgame wrap up notes after the game yesterday. I was pretty tired after driving back, but some interesting notes that I didn’t catch myself. The so called “Bronx Bombers” did not hit a home run in the series, and the Mets only hit two, both by Bay. This ties the least amount of home runs for a Subway Series and is only the third time in a series the Yankees have not hit one.
That was the first Interleague loss for C.C. Sabathia since June 15th, 2007. It was a bad day for former AL Cy Young award winners, besides ours, as Halladay, C.C. and Greinke all got roughed up.
The Empire State Building will be blue and orange tonight for the Mets victory.
Tags: Baseball, Bench, blue and orange, cc sabathia, Citi Field, derek jeter, empire state building, injuries, Mets, new york, new york city, New York Mets, Subway Series, subway series 2010, Yankees
John Maine: Liar? Lefty?Hurt?
This Maine situation is seemingly more complex than we know. I don’t know what it says for clubhouse relations, control of the clubhouse, hiding injuries, actual performance, or all those other immeasurable things. What I do know is that Manuel and Maine are not getting along, Maine has been up and down performance-wise all year, and hasn’t even hit the 91-92 he was hitting post-injury last year.
There is no real way to remove guilt from Maine in this situation. He struggled in his bullpen, supposedly didn’t top 85 mph for the first batter of the time, and bent over in what appeared to be pain after that. He snapped at his manager in the dugout, and was critical of him in post-game discussions with the media.
Manuel and Warthen get plenty of blame here too. It’s their job to make the call, not Maine’s. If it didn’t look right in the bullpen, then it’s their decision to have him make his start or scratch him or whatever they do. They should come up with a plan, with Maine, about what how they’re going forward. Whether that’s one batter, one walk, or one inning. Maine’s job is to go out there and throw the ball to the best of his ability if he’s on the roster.
Is Maine hiding an injury? This would be the biggest issue of all really. Maine’s been a pretty injury prone guy, especially lately. He definitely could be realizing that he’s often feeling a little pain and that if he complained about every little twinge he’d end up spending more time on the disabled list than not. Maybe he’s decided he needs to pitch through a certain amount of pain as a major leaguer, and he did hint at this thought on Thursday after the game. Then there is him bending over on the mound, looking like he was in pain. Maine explains this as knowing he was on a short leash because he saw Valdes warming up in the bullpen already and he was frustrated. Gameday suggests Maine’s fastball was 85 during that batter. Maine claims he looked at the film and that his mechanics were fine and his last two pitches were 89. I don’t know what sort of speed guns or software the Mets (or the Nationals, or wherever he was looking) have, so I certainly don’t know what to make of that.
Both Manuel and Warthen have suggested they believe Maine would pitch through an injury rather than admit one. Warthen used the words ‘habitual liar’ to describe Maine’s attitude about injuries, supposedly meaning it as a positive reflection on his competitiveness, but Maine said that the comment did upset him. Maine made a statement Friday that he would work towards his next start, whenever and wherever that would be. Manuel claims his gut says there is something physically wrong with Maine, but that he “could be wrong.” Maine will get tests next week to tell for sure.
“I want to pitch,” he said. “Even if I have to go out there and throw lefthanded, that’s what I want to do. I want to go out there and pitch.”
Manuel’s response to this was comical, suggesting that maybe he’d have better lefthanded. Jests aside, I’m not sure this is a comment you should make about a player that’s already annoyed at you and frustrated.
The drama obviously continued beyond that. Maine said he wasn’t asked how he felt on the mound, Manuel pulled him and walked away muttering to himself. This is what caused Maine to confront Manuel in the dugout and what he was most upset about. After the game Maine said he hadn’t talked to Manuel and didn’t know why he was pulled from the game. Someone has said that Maine would be going to the doctor Friday, but Maine knew nothing of this. When the team showed up to the park Friday, Maine had neither gone to the doctor nor talked to anyone on the team about doing so. He was placed on the disabled list with “shoulder weakness” and was told he’d be getting tests next week. Elmer Dessens was activated, and didn’t arrive at the park until the 5th inning, which suggests as least that they hadn’t decided anything and weren’t willfully hiding it from John Maine. Maine still insists he’s not injured, so we’ll see what these tests reveal and where the Mets go from there. It’s not like he’s pitched horrendously either. His previous start wasn’t good, but he has a 4.3 ERA with three quality starts going back to his four most recent starts. The Mets are 2-2 in that stretch.
This situation does not make anyone look good. I’m already biased against Jerry Manuel and his poor decisions and management style going back to 2008. I’m frustrated with John Maine, but it’s hard to dislike a guy that works as hard as he does and is as competitive. You can’t ask much more than that from a player; if you want to criticize Omar Minaya for keeping him because you didn’t think he was talented enough, that’s fine, but as long as John Maine (Or Oliver Perez) is a Met, I’m going to root my hardest for them.
Almost 48 hours later, Maine has finally admitted that he’s felt a small amount of pain, similar to what he felt last year, in his shoulder. He still insists he doesn’t need the DL, and that might be true, and maybe he should’ve seen the doctor yesterday instead of Monday, but this does validate Warthen and Manuel a little. However, they could’ve stuck to their guns and not let him make the start if they suspected injury in the bullpen, and they could’ve probably gotten him to a doctor yesterday, and at least waited before putting him on the DL. Mejia needs to go down anyway, and wasn’t available yesterday, so it wouldn’t have hurt to demote him and bring up Dessens and wait a day for Maine’s results.
I have to wonder if this pain is a result of Maine switching his mechanics back to what he’s comfortable with. Obviously what Warthen had him doing this spring and early in the season was not working, but they need to find something that both keeps Maine’s shoulder from hurting, and allows him to be effective. Nothing we’ve seen from Warthen suggests he can do that. I never thought I’d miss Rick Peterson.
Tags: dan warthen, dl, fire dan warthen, fire jerry manuel, fire manuel, habitual liar, i miss rick peterson, injuries, jerry manuel, John Maine, liar, mechanics, Mets, mets dl, mets injuries, New York Mets, Pitching, rick peterson, Subway Series, velocity
The Best Time To Face The Yankees
Many talk about how the Mets are reeling and it’s a horrible time to face the Yankees and Phillies. I disagree, I think it’s time for them to rise up and face the challenges, but either way this is the perfect time to face the Yankees.
The Yankees are riddled with injuries, and they’re going into the Subway Series five games out of first place. (the Mets are six) Both teams have not played very well as of late. Usually these series are best, regardless of talent, if both teams are both at least playing reasonably well, but maybe both of them playing badly works too; who gets up off the mat better?
Maybe the Mets anemic offense, despite double digit runs Thursday, gets the Yankees pitchers into a groove? Or maybe the Yankees tattered and faulty bullpen is what the Mets need to wake up the sleepy bats. The Mets are just trying to get back to .500 and get some momentum before they play division-leading Philadelphia. The Yankees are hoping to right the ship and not erase what was an excellent start to the season. This series is more about not losing than it is about winning.
The Mets have their two best pitchers going in this series, and certainly a fair chance to win each game. Winning at least two out of three is not only possible, but would actually create a lot of good will and confidence going into the bigger divisional series against the Phillies. The Yankees are indeed supposedly better, but they’re losing lately, they’re injured, and even great teams lose 50+ games a year. The lowly Pirates beat the Phillies and Halladay last week, for instance. So It’s time for the Mets to make the most of their wins, and get them in these next six days. No time like the present for a hot streak.
The Yankees are no juggernaut. Their biggest key to success last year may have been health, and that’s eluded them this year. Posada will not play. The bullpen is a wreck, Vazquez is very sketchy this year.
I’m headed out to the Citi today and Sunday. I’m planning to enjoy myself. Let’s have a fun weekend of baseball, an orange and blue Empire State Building on Monday, and momentum for the Phillies.
Tags: Baseball, best pitchers, Citi Field, empire state building, injuries, Mets, momentum, new york, new york baseball, New York Mets, orange and blue, reeling, Subway Series, Yankees, yankees suck
Subway Series at the Better of the Two New New York Ballparks
Yankees get their first taste of the better stadium in New York.
The Subway Series part two, at Citi Field, takes place this weekend. The Yankees won’t be able to get many cheap pop-fly home runs here. Most of them will have to be earned, and while the Mets don’t have the best pitchers going, I suspect the Yankees will be kept in the park anyway.
The Yankees come into this series having won a series, but having struggled since the last Subway Series match-up. Andy Pettitte was removed from Thursdays game early, and the Yankees needed to use their bullpen, including Mariano Rivera, for 4.1 innings. This needs to be the focus of attack for the Mets. C.C. Sabathia has been exploitable when he goes deep into games, but if they can get him out semi-early, they can get into an already taxed bullpen that’s not very good to begin with.
In fact, the Yankees bullpen in 2009 seems awfully like the Mets bullpen of 2008, and we all know how that ended. The Yankees of 2009 also struggled to beat the Marlins and the Nationals, something that was part of both Mets collapses. So was poor play against a rival in 2007, much as the Yankees have yet to beat the Red Sox this year.
The Mets lineup is depleted, while the Yankees are mostly healthy. It’s not a full strength match-up, but it’s still one the Mets can win. The Yankees pitching can be exploited, their home runs will be down playing in a fair park, and the Mets have actually been hitting the ball lately.
A lot of this depends on the lineups. The Yankees have to juggle outfielders, worry about having no DH, and worry who to play where. The Mets need to keep Fernando Tatis on the bench, start Evans in left, Murphy at first, and probably Jeremy Reed over Fernando Martinez, who has looked mostly over matched at the Major League level so far. I have a feeling he’ll have a good series, if he plays, but right now I think Reed can provide some defense and maybe a hit here or there, and maybe Sheffield will be healthy enough to play a game or two, or at least get some key pinch hits off the bench late.
There is also scoreboard watching fun going on this weekend. The Phillies, who are a half game ahead of the Mets, play the Blue Jays, who are one game behind the Yankees. Additionally the Rays, who are two games behind the Yankees, play the Marlins, who are a half game behind the Mets. The Yankees could be anywhere from second to fourth following this series, and the Mets could be anywhere from first to third. It’s a volatile series, and it should be fun to watch.
The inevitable new park comparisons will come into play, especially Sunday Night on ESPN. I don’t think there is much to discuss. Citi Field wins hands down. Besides having better, readily available food and cheaper, higher quality beer, it’s just a prettier ballpark. Yankee Stadium has it’s perks, but most of them are away from the field of play. The Mets have some work to do with getting some more history into the place. I loved the MVP wall that featured images of all the MVP winners for the Yankees, and I love seeing all the scenes from different years of play above the concessions and around the concourse. However, that’s only about 2-4% of the trip to the ballpark, and once you get to your seat, you might as well be sitting in the same Yankee Stadium from 1923, 1953, or 1983. I’m sure some Yankee fans will be making their first trip to Citi Field this weekend, and I hope they’re not too disappointed when they see the Mets have a better stadium, a better team, and a better fan base.
Tags: bullpen, Citi Field, Home Runs, Mets, Pitching, Subway Series, yankee Stadium, yankee stadium iii, Yankees
Subway Series greets the new Yankee Stadium
Welcome to the first Subway Series at the House That Ruth Cursed. The Mets get their first shot at the crosstown new Yankee Stadium, but sadly it’s without Delgado.
The leftfield situation with the place has been very favorable to lefty pull hitters, like Delgado. Given the stadium, I can’t see any reason the Mets lefties shouldn’t start in all three games. Church and Murphy especially. I think Schneider should get at least two of the starts, and you probably want to give Fernando Martinez a shot at his first major league home run.
On the flip side, you want to be careful how you pitch to batters here. Certain batters are getting home runs on check swings so caution is tantamount. I have more faith in the Mets’ pitchers than the Yankees’ so hopefully all will go well even if Fernando (that’s Fernando number three if you were counting) Nieve will be pitching in the series.
Imagine how Babe Ruth’s ghost feels watching the Yankees knock down his house, and then building a place where he could probably hit a home run while sitting down. There is only one major league stadium still standing where Ruth played a major league game, so it’s no surprise the Red Sox have been having success lately. I’ve been wondering if the Mets will have more wins at Fenway Park this year than the Yankees. It seems likely.
The Yankees have been better lately, Red Sox series aside. Are they a better team? I don’t think so. Their pitching is suspect. Pettitte has been having poor second halves as he wears down, Burnett is doing is Pavano imitation, Wang has still not returned from the injury to what he was, and Joba has been merely average. They’ve reinforced their bullpen with starting prospects, but it still reminds me a bit of the 2008 Mets bullpen, and we all know how that turned out. Hopefully they can play a solid series and get out of their with at least two out of three.
Tags: Babe Ruth, Carlos Delgado, house that ruth cursed, lefties, new yankee stadium, new york, new york baseball, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Subway Series, yankee Stadium
The Next Two Weeks
These are two big weeks coming up. I would like to see the Mets with a couple of games lead in the division by the time it’s over, even with the injuries. While the Mets play seven games against Pittsburgh and the Nationals, the Phillies play the Padres who have been good again, and then four against the Dodgers. The Braves also have a tough stretch, against the Cubs and the Brewers.
The following week the Phillies return to Citi Field where they haven’t won a game. The Mets face the Phillies and Yankees that week, two teams that have some offense, but struggle in the pitching department. These are teams that a good pitching team like the Mets should beat. The Phillies get three against the Red Sox while the Mets do the Subway Series thing.
So these next two weeks are a great time for the Mets to start putting distance between themselves and the rest of the division. Let the Phillies start looking over their shoulder at the Braves instead.
Oliver Perez already had a setback in his recovery to replace the struggling Redding, but if Jose Reyes gets back on target on Friday, and this stomach bug moves along, this team should be ready to go.
Angel Pagan getting injured yesterday wasn’t great news. Yet another outfielder hurt, which has been a theme the past three years. However Pagan doesn’t make or break this team. Given all the injuries, if his MRI today doesn’t say he’ll be back tomorrow, you have to DL him and replace him on the roster. My vote would be for Nick Evans. I know he’s been struggling in the minors, but he played well last year, and in Spring Training. Maybe the boost of being on a major league team is what he needs. While still facing a team like the Pirates that’s basically AAA anyway. Corey Sullivan or Bobby Kielty are both acceptable guys in my eyes too.
Tags: Angel Pagan, Atlanta Braves, Baseball, Citi Field, Jose Reyes, New York Mets, nick evans, NL East, Philadelphia Phillies, Spring Training, Subway Series
Mets Believe Mets Fans Believe They Can Win
I was at the Subway Series games this weekend, and while a lot of the juice has gone out of it, there was still excitement in the air. The lack of juice could be attributed to both teams struggling. I didn’t hear one “Jet-ers Boy-Friend” chant for A-Rod. No Hip-Hip You’re-Gay! No Captain Cologne! (Admittedly, some of these are better left unsaid) There were still a good amount of Yankees fans being positive, cheering “Der-ek Jet-er” and other assorted lame Yankees chants. Despite the Yankees being in arguably a worse position than the Mets, their fans are still more optimistic.
The argument everyone always falls back on is they’ve won in the past. But winning in the past doesn’t do anything for winning in the present. The only thing it affects is confidence, and part of that is fan confidence. Who do you think has more confidence in their team, and their own performance? Cano, or Castillo? Both are playing badly, but one guy is having his head called for constantly and booed. The other is certainly souring faces, but he’s not yet being chased out of town or having fans seriously consider releasing him. Sometimes if you tell someone that they are a certain way enough, they believe it themselves. When Delgado comes up to the plate, everyone at Shea is convinced and screaming at him that he’s going to ground out to second, so he’s thinking about grounding out to second. Just like you can’t stop thinking about the giant elephant in the room. Conversely, Derek Jeter comes up in a big spot thinking he’s going to come through because that’s what everyone always tells him he does. So he hits roughly the same ground ball, but instead it seems to go a little faster, and just seems to find that hole between second and first.
So how about we go about our business as Mets fans with a little bit of swagger and confidence. We just crushed the Yankees, winning the series 4-2. Play that way all season and the Mets would win well over 100 games. We’ve gained on the Phillies, and we’re coming with a vengeance that they should be frightened of. Even bad teams can win frequently, and whether you think the Mets are good, bad, or somewhere in between, lets go out there and root like we think and know they will win the game instead of constantly telling them how they’re going to fail and not good enough for us. Maybe they’ll start to believe it too.
Oh, and Jerry Manuel telling everyone that the it’s the Yankees town isn’t helping. All it did was give fodder to the newspapers to continue talking about the Yankees and treating the Mets like the second team.
Tags: attitude, Confidence, fans, Mets, mets rule, optimism, phillies suck, Yankees
Mets Grab the Holy Grail
The Grand Slam is a jolt of confidence, a great turning point in any game, providing a sudden 4-run swing in the runs column. These are some things the Mets sorely needed, and even better is that it came with two outs, so it was a dazzlingly clutch RISP hit also. (picture not from today’s game)
It’s just one game, although it set a record for RBIs by a Mets player in one game, but even better would be if this was a turning point for Carlos Delgado to finish the season, and maybe even his career, on a warpath to a championship. Of course, the Yankees may be clamoring for him to be their DH next year with his performances at Yankee Stadium.
Now everyone gets to head over to Shea to face Sidney Ponson. Let’s get this party started!
Subway Series Makeup
Friday at 2pm is an awful time to make up the Subway Series game.
Subway Series loses some luster, but the Mets gain some
The Subway Series this year was very subdued. I’m still a fan of it, I like how it takes over the city and the general feel of it, but most of the novelty has worn off. It’s certainly no longer a David versus Goliath type match up like it was when it started, or when it reached what I think was it’s peak in 2000. It’s no longer a competition to see who is the better team, but who isn’t the worse team. Both clubs had issues to work out, and the opponent at the moment wasn’t important enough to matter. The fans, excepting when trying to shout down opposing chants and cheers, were almost quiet. I only saw half a dozen fights at the Stadium Sunday night. I’m sure a lot of that atmosphere was due to the game being a blow out, but it was more important that the Mets won, than it was who they beat.
And they did beat them. They played better baseball; hitting, fielding, and pitching. Derek Jeter, who always does well in these competitions, did well with the bat, but was average at best everywhere else. He failed to make the only high-caliber move he has at shortstop, his leaping throw to first, early on Saturday. He also got thrown out trying to stretch a single in that game. On Sunday he couldn’t keep his foot on the bag while fielding a bad throw from Giambi during the Mets first rally.
The Mets, particularly Church, played great defense, hit the cut offs and made great plays. They hit, Reyes hit, Wright hit, and they scored 18 runs. They also pitched well, Santana to Wagner on Saturday and Perez went as far as Santana before giving the ball to Smith and Schoeneweis.
More importantly, whether a result of a team meeting or something else, the Mets played with enthusiasm. They played with energy and heart and they really came alive during these two games. Wright was already on the mound encouraging Perez by the time Matsui’s ball went over the fence, everyone was excited when they got hits and scored runs. Maybe the Mets fans’ unwillingness to boo their own players in the hostile environment of Yankee Stadium helped, and maybe the Mets can go and put together a nice streak of games over the next seven so that when they return to Shea, there isn’t a single person we want to boo….besides Hanley Ramirez of course.
Tags: 2008 mets, David Wright, energy, fielding, hitting, Jose Reyes, Mets, Pitching, Yankees