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Subway Series Recap and Notes

empire-190Some 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.

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More Than They Appear

Mar 05, 2007 04:14 PM

Baseball is more than stats and numbers. The Mets are more then they appear. A lot of people are talking about a lot of issues the Mets have; Unknown back end of the rotation, questions at second base, iffy corner outfielders. They compare the Mets to other teams, like the Phillies, and match them up position by position. Appearances are not all they appear however; the Mets are more valuable then they would appear on paper.

Can you quantify the effect a player like Jose Reyes, who is always playing 150%, always smiling, and leaves no doubt that he absolutely loves what he’s doing? How about the zany antics of Pedro? The incredibly intelligent book-keeping of Delgado on all the pitchers he faces, and his willingness to impart his knowledge in the clubhouse? What about the competition imparted by having nine competitors for the last three spots in the rotation, and the knowledge that even after they get it, there are a bunch of guys possibly pitcher well in triple-A that could take the spot? Not to mention that they’re still competing within the rotation because Pedro is coming back to claim one of the spots.

What about the bench? A lot of big plays and moments come from players who are just bit players. This was probably one of the Mets problems last year, and Omar worked at fixing it for this year. There are a couple of players that are looking good this spring, and players like Endy Chavez still looks good. I’d like to see him get 40-50 starts this year.

The Mets rotation will likely continue to be good this year. Heilman, Sanchez and Wagner should still be good, and some other guys in camp, like Joe Smith, are impressing.

Overall baseball is about more than stats and formulas. The Mets may not be as impressive on paper to be a sure thing to win the division, but there are factors there that people are missing. The drive of individual players is very important. Delgado, Reyes, and Beltran are just some of the everyday players that have come out early in camp talking about their statistical goals for the season, the ways they are going to improve. Expect good things from the Mets this year, and you won’t be disappointed.